The Bell Curve -- Joseph N. Bell

The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda has been in

the local news lately on two counts. First, Nixon’s two daughters have

been jaw-to-jaw over how to use the money left to the library by the

death of Nixon’s old buddy Bebe Rebozo. And, second, the library

administrators ran an ad in the Los Angeles Times, accompanied by a

“media advisory” marking the 30th anniversary Monday of the Watergate

break-in.

On the surface, this seems rather like Napoleon’s flacks suggesting

the date of the surrender at Waterloo as a national holiday. Actually, it

is a classic example of the Vince Lombardi dictum that the best defense

is a good offense.

These events were of special interest to me because one of my favorite

destinations in six decades of driving across and up and down this

country has been the presidential museums and libraries scattered about

the nation.

I’ve explored most of them -- including some you possibly didn’t know

existed. I’ve visited Dwight Eisenhower in Abilene, Kan.; Harry Truman in

Independence, Mo.; Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill.; Lyndon Johnson

in Austin, Texas; Jimmy Carter in Atlanta, Ga.; and Franklin Roosevelt in

Hyde Park, N.Y.

I’ve also spent time with Herbert Hoover in a town right out of “Music

Man” called West Branch, Iowa. And with probably the worst president in

our long history -- although this is always debatable: Warren Gamaliel

Harding. He was the first president elected after women got the vote --

I’ll let you wrestle with that one -- and several members of his cabinet

were involved in the Tea Pot Dome scandal, which held the record for

corporate greed and deception until Enron won that mantle last year.

Harding is buried in Marion, Ohio, which will take you a few miles off

the interstate but is well-worth the trip to see the Taj Mahal-like

monument erected over his grave.

With such a background, I could hardly avoid paying my respects to the

president closest to home: the Nixon Museum and Library. I’ve been there

several times, usually with visitors from the East Coast who share my

admiration at the manner in which the Nixon history and persona have been

re-created by the folks who put this national artifact together. The

Nixon Library, you see, is the only such presidential facility not under

the management of the National Archives and Records Administration. As a

result, historical objectivity is about as hard to come by there as the

case for reasonable gun control at the National Rifle Assn.

Let me preempt two cavils before they come in the mail. The Clinton

Library has also not been turned over to records administration but will

be when it is completed next year. And isn’t the lack of historical

balance in the Nixon Library just as true in the other presidential

facilities?

After exploring seven of the 10 existing presidential museums and

libraries, I would answer an unequivocal “no.” A few specific examples

will illustrate. When I visited the Roosevelt and Truman museums, they

were both loaded with long galleries of exquisitely critical -- and often

downright cruel -- cartoons that reflected the political realities of the

time. The Carter museum offered a straight factual account of his failure

to rescue the Americans held hostage for so long by Iran. And the tragedy

of the Vietnam War and the powerful opposition to it in this country was

dealt with head-on in the Johnson museum.

Contrast this with the spins put on history at the Nixon museum. The

“smoking gun” tape that visitors are invited to listen to is the best

example. It is so intercut with explanation, defense and denials that it

plays almost like gibberish. The Watergate display, itself, is more

notable for what is left out than what is included.

Two other examples among many: We are told in the “Talking Nixon”

display that the vicious Red-baiting campaigns against Jerry Voorhis and

Helen Gahagan Douglas that launched Nixon’s political career were just

friendly scraps with old political pros. And unless things have changed

since I was last there, I defy you to find any mention of Nixon’s running

mate, Spiro Agnew, the only sitting vice president in American history to

resign from office -- which would seem to be of more than passing

historical interest.

Now we are told in a newspaper ad that 30 years later, thepeople who

run the Nixon museum have discovered the o7 realf7 reason Watergate

took place. Nixon, they explain, was just trying to keep the lid on

national security and “end America’s involvement in Vietnam with honor”

when he said and did all those things that got him in trouble. So if you

aren’t out buying any bridges or gold mine stock next weekend, you might

want to stop by the Nixon museum and get the “whole story” on Watergate.

And on the way you might want to ponder that while presidents Truman,

Reagan and George Bush Sr. all strengthened the original law requiring

presidential papers to be forever accessible to the public, the current

president has issued an executive order that strips the national

archivist of authority to provide such access and allows a former

president to indefinitely delay their release.

On reflection, maybe that’s not quite as bad as rewriting history.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.