Posted on 04/10/2006 6:57:37 PM PDT by FloridianBushFan
WASHINGTON - A historian of the Cold War with expertise in presidential recordings has been selected as the first federal director of the Nixon presidential library.
Timothy Naftali, 44, who directs the presidential recordings program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, will begin his new job Oct. 16, the National Archives and Records Administration announced Monday.
By then the library in Yorba Linda, Calif., should have completed its transition from private to public institution. The letter of offer formalizing the hand-over was transmitted to the House and Senate last Thursday, and must remain before Congress for 60 legislative days before the transfer is formally complete.
The Nixon library, built with private money in 1990 some 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles, has been the only presidential library not part of the National Archives system. That was because of a post-Watergate law mandating that Nixon's presidential records remain in the Washington, D.C., area. Lawmakers were afraid he would destroy documents necessary for the Watergate investigation.
The prohibition against their removal was lifted two years ago by legislation pushed by California Republicans eager to incorporate the Nixon library into the national system.
Naftali said in an interview Monday that he's intent on making the library newly challenging to scholars and the general public. The name of the facility is changing from the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace to the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
"The Nixon era in public affairs covers most of the 20th century, and I believe that knowing the past is essential to making sense of the present," Naftali said.
Naftali, who has a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University, has written several books on Cold War topics and counterterrorism. At the Miller center he oversees scholars transcribing and annotating conversations and meetings by a number of former presidents.
I visited. It's fantastic! My favorite item was the honkin' big gun that Elvis gave him. I kid you not!
This isn't quite the case. The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, is not a National Archives library.
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