Visiting the Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Yorba Linda, CA Site the Birthplace of the 37th American President
Oct 18, 2009
Richard Milhous Nixon, the thirty-seventh President of the United States, played a pivotal and often controversial role in modern American politics. The presidential library dedicated to Nixon near Los Angeles is as unique as its subject, and worth a visit no matter what one thinks of him.
Richard Nixon's California Birthplace
Richard Nixon was born in 1913 in a small two-story house, built from a kit by his father, in the town of Yorba Linda, California. Though the Nixons moved to nearby Whittier in 1922, the house remained standing for many years. It was eventually bought by a group of Yorba Linda businessmen, anticipating its historic significance after Nixon was elected President in 1968.
During the 1980s, the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace foundation began planning to use the old Nixon property as the site of a private Nixon library and museum. The facility was dedicated on July 19, 1990.
The museum covers highlights of Nixon's life and career, from the "Checkers" speech to Watergate. It features memorabilia such as a copy of John Kennedy's Profiles in Courage autographed to Nixon, and an antique handgun given to Nixon by Elvis Presley.
Other Attractions of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace
The Nixons' Yorba Linda home is once again furnished almost entirely with the family's original belongings, which had, by chance, been kept together in storage. Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, are also buried adjacent to the Birthplace on the Nixon Library grounds.
The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace also features a replica of the East Room of the White House, while the VH-3A "Sea King" Presidential helicopter, which was used by Presidents Kennedy through Ford, is on permanent display on the grounds. It is most famous for transporting Nixon from the White House following his resignation on August 9, 1974.
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace in Transition
Since 2007, the Richard Nixon Library has been co-administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (or NARA), making it a federal facility within the presidential library system. NARA has been gradually moving many of Nixon's presidential materials from Maryland, and updating the exhibits at the Nixon Presidential Library's museum.
Visitors to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library will notice that the process is not yet complete. For instance, an introductory video – made before Nixon's death in 1994 – stresses Nixon's post-resignation comeback in the same terms as Nixon's apologists. Moreover, the exhibit on Watergate remains under renovation, though some parts of the amateurish old exhibit remain.
Thus the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace has a unique blend of attractions for visitors: Nixon fans will appreciate the reverential treatment of Nixon's many undoubted accomplishments, while Nixon-bashers will be amused by the kitschy and whitewashing overtones.
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