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 ...
Thanks Rufii.
It seems to be a weakness of our system that we cannot easily create organizations that are not stealthily taken over by leftists for their own purposes. Perhaps this is because leftists are inherently decietful. I am not sure, but we clearly need a way to prevent this kind of stealth takeover.
same ol’, same ol’,
the family couldn’t get along with each other,
later they turned it over to the government, and the
government is socialist.
The Presidential Libraries are monuments to the egos of these guys.
I’m guessing that the book “Silent Coup” (implicates John Dean behind most of the nastiness) isn’t on display?
Related question: Will the next presidential Liebrary be built in Kenya or in Sunny Indonesia?
Nixon was probably one of the lesser egos among modern presidents.
Levenworth or gitmo
“Related question: Will the next presidential Liebrary be built in Kenya or in Sunny Indonesia?”
It should be on the site of his ancestral hut.
With all due respect (and there are some things to admire about RMN) I don't believe I will ever feel "warm and fuzzy" about the guy. He was not, overall, a credit to the office of the presidency.
I think I guessed right. Here’s from an article from 2009:
+++++++++++++++
Shortly after becoming director of the Nixon Library in 2007, Dr. Timothy Naftali invited the nation’s press in to witness the removal of the Nixon Library’s Watergate exhibit. Declaring, “I can’t run a shrine,” he gleefully presided over the destruction of the exhibit, which resulted in numerous articles reporting that the “whitewash of Watergate” was over at the Nixon Library.
Dr. Naftali went on to assert, “The challenge is to present a controversial, traumatic and important story in a fair and historically accurate way.” By any measure, he has failed his own definition of success. Two years later, there’s still no Watergate exhibit. And nothing points to that failure more persuasively than his hosting of John Dean at the Nixon Library.
Allowing John Dean to appear, without any counterbalance on the program, is not fair. Neither does it serve historical accuracy. It is, to put it charitably, nothing more than a cheap publicity stunt, unworthy of any presidential library operated by the National Archives.
From my perspective Nixon was considerably more honest than the past few democrat presidents. In fact. had Obama been a republican, he would have been impeached and convicted by now.
That and inherently obsessed with power and control. They are drawn to positions where they can throw their weight around like flies to sh*t.
It will not change the fact that the two worst recent Presidents were Democrats, and one of them when not golfing, or on vacation is the next President to lose in a giant land slide, the other one lost in a giant land slide, drools on Himself and still to this day embarrasses the Nation with His antics. There is no need for signs or protests, These two bozos speak for them selves, and accurately reflect the values and positions of their socialist party.
Note that leftists target institutions such as colleges and the federal judiciary for takeover. Once they're in charge of these institutions, they cannot be dislodged by simply voting them out, as is the case with legislative bodies.
This is the case with the Nixon Library. Although it is subject to congressional oversight as part of the National Archives and Records Administration, it will be all but impossible to dislodge the leftists who now run it--unless a new Republican administration appoints as National Archivist an activist determined to clean up the National Archives.
It most certainly is not.
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.