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.
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