Posted on 09/04/2011 7:00:48 PM PDT by Rufii
Library Throws Book at Nixon
by Brian Calle
Some controversy over the recently revised Watergate exhibit at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda has provoked some questions over presidential libraries, their value, purpose for public consumption and their role in the remembrance of past presidents.One docent at the Nixon library, my Register colleague Will Alexander, opted to resign in protest of the new exhibit after 10 years of volunteer service. And friends and former colleagues of Richard Nixon have been critical of the museum's new director, Timothy Naftali. Some critics have even suggested that the Nixon library is becoming an anti-Nixon monument.
On March 31, the library opened a new exhibit on the Watergate scandal that forced Nixon to resign the presidency in 1974. It replaced the original Watergate exhibit, which dated back 15 years and in which Nixon was involved in curating. The new exhibit offers a much harsher depiction of Watergate.
The visual imagery and titles reflect a strongly critical vibe, if not a completely anti-Nixon tone to the presentation. The start of the gallery features big, bold, red and black letters spelling out “Road to Resignation.” Other parts of the exhibit are labeled “Dirty Tricks and Political Espionage” and “The Cover-Up, Break-In and Evidence,” just to give a few examples. After walking through the gallery, one would be hard pressed to feel warm and fuzzy about the former president, who died in 1994 and is buried on the library grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
LOL!
Well, they turned control of the library from the private foundation to the government... So...
LOL Like that one?
Nixon = Wage and Price Controls + Environmental Protection Agency + Federal Affirmative Action Plan (Philadelphia Plan) + Recognition of Red China + Support of the “Equal Rights Amendment” + Lowering Voting Age to 18 + elimination of the draft.
Nixon was a poor President and HARDLY a conservative.
National Archives ? Isn’t that the crew that lets Democrats stuff their shorts with classified documents? Naftali’s just living up to the image.
To be regarded as a "real" presidential library, they figured that they needed to have the presidential papers, which by law are held by the National Archives. So they became a National Archives facility--and in so doing, made a Faustian bargain.
I suspect the reason for the break-in is buried deep in all the memorabilia.
Origin of the name "Naftali" is Hebrew and it means "to wrestle".
Leni
I’m sorry to state this, and I hope I’m wrong, but twenty years from now, you’ll see the same thing happen to the Reagan Library. Rather than focus on what Reagan did to win the Cold War, you’ll see big features about Iran-Contra, homelessness during the Reagan era, etc.
Likewise, we have a sitting president who may be the worst since James Buchanan. But his library (and legacy) will be celebrated - his many failures will be glossed over.
By the way, JFK’s team wiretapped MLK. I won’t hold my breath to see that exhibit at the JFK Library.
It is true that President Nixon gave conservatives little to cheer about. However, perhaps his greatest foreign policy accomplishment was saving Israel.
A few days after the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973, Israel turned to the US as its only hope for replacing the heavy losses in tanks, planes and munitions that it had suffered. Nixon, over the objections of senior members of his administration, pledged that "anything that flies" would be used to resupply Israel--and it was done. Later, he alerted US nuclear and conventional forces around the world as he faced down Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who had threatened to intervene in the conflict. Brezhnev backed off, and a ceasefire soon came about.
Bout as likely as the stained dress exhibit at the Clinton Presidential highrise mobile home.
Beautiful library and grounds. It made me sick to see that they were devoting a section to Watergate. I wonder if there is a section devoted to Lewinsky in the Clinton library?
I believe that Nixon was our most intelligent and insightful president. The left hated him for this and were out to get him at every turn. They skewered him, and loved every minute while they were doing it.
History will be kinder to him in the future once the current batch of libs and commies in the press die off.
Even a broken clock......
If the truth were known, the stuff that went on in the Kennedy and Johnson years would make Watergate pale in comparison. This is my opinion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.