DAY THREE, PART ONE (21 September 2015):
Considering what we visited the day before, it
made sense to head to this destination today.
We’d been told this place was getting ready to close for renovations, so
visiting it was imperative. We were
smart enough to call over to make sure they’d be open before we drove over to Yorba Linda . Our destination was the Richard Nixon
Presidential Library.
We arrived at the appropriate time, as we were
informed the museum was getting ready to close for a few months while there
would be some modifications to location, including changing some of the
exhibits and updating the technology. I honestly
doubt it will be that drastic of a visual change when completed, but still
something to note that it may look different later.
The docent made some good recommendations of how
to tour the site. We were there right as
it opened, and the weather was still cool.
We were told we should go outside to the far side of the complex to see
the presidential helicopter first, then the boyhood home and rose garden,
before coming back in the air conditioned interior. The docent noted that when it got too hot in
the day, they may close access to the helicopter. Made perfect sense to us.
We passed a wing which had a special collection of Israeli
artifacts, but didn’t stop in, as we’d decide to hit that later. That section also had a recreation of the
East Room of the White House, which currently wasn’t open as a crew was
prepping it to be used as a setting for a film shoot.
The property used to be part of a large orchard which was
owned and maintained by the Nixon family for years. While much of the original acreage has been
parceled off and developed (which was not uncommon), there was enough space
available to place the VH-3A Sea King presidential helicopter.
Pictures were not allowed inside, but suffice to say the
ceiling was low, and the space felt cramped, even with just us few in
there. During an administration, the
helicopter was transported for use overseas to create a secure environment for
sensitive discussion, and reliable transportation. There was a photo inside of the helicopter
flying over the Great Pyramid of Giza which I thought was interesting.
Next to the area was the house which Nixon was born in. While the property remained in the family for
a time, it did change hands a couple times.
At one point a teacher for the local school lived there. Even though it had been modernized as time
went on, the interior had been restored to resemble what it looked like during
Nixon’s youth.
There was a flower garden, which presently didn’t have
anything blooming, and the burial sites of President Nixon and First Lady
Patricia.
Once we headed back inside, we watched a film on Nixon’s
career, both before and after his presidential terms. I found it interesting about the public
speaking he did for years afterwards.
There was also a diorama of the West White House (in San Clemente ; now a private residence), and
the brooches worn by Secretary of State Madeline Albright during her term of
service. Each brooch had a particular
theme she was trying to convey during the situations she was in. No pictures were allowed of the brooches,
which I believe was because they didn’t want the pieces to be copied.
From there, we were look at the various exhibits of Nixon’s
early career, from pins from his terms in the House of Representatives and the
Senate, and the unsuccessful presidential bid in 1960. I liked some of the promotional items which
were featured, like these ice cream wrappers.
A statue gallery contains likenesses of various leaders who
Nixon interacted with…
…and next to that is a room which contains a testament to
Nixon’s work on improving relations with China .
There’s also a piece of the Berlin Wall there…
…and beyond there is a whole section dedicated to Patricia
Nixon, and then one focusing on the space program.
You have to keep in perspective that while Nixon was
President during the historic Apollo 11 Moon Landing, he was also responsible
to slashing NASA’s budgets which forced the cancellation of the final Apollo
missions, and an ambitious plan for a permanent lunar base by the end of the
1970’s.
The flip-side of this was having those funds devoted to the
creation of the Space Shuttle program.
So that makes one ponder how the 1980’s and 1990’s would’ve been different
if we didn’t have the Shuttles? Would
the economic crises of the 1970’s ended the lunar base plans? Would we have the same level of technological
prowess now? Would the Hubble Space
Telescope, for an example, even been launched?
Leaving those questions to be pondered for another time, we
moved into the final section which had the presidential limo…
…and a breakdown on the events of the Watergate scandal
which has led to Nixon’s resignation. I do
want to note that Nixon was never actually impeached; that was done to a later
Chief Executive who remained in office after it, and wore the impeachment like
a badge of honor.
We arrived at the museum just as it opened, and by the time
we’d gone through all of these sections we were ready for lunch. Even if we’d looked at the replica of the
East Room and the special collections area, it probably would’ve only added
another hour. It made a great visit, and
we still had the rest of the day to explore other places in the area. It’ll be interesting to see what the museum
looks like after the renovations have been completed.
More Information on Places Visited or Mentioned:
Yorba
Linda (CA):
http://www.ci.yorba-linda.ca.us/
Richard Nixon Presidential Library: http://nixonfoundation.org/
Great Pyramids of Giza :
http://discoveringegypt.com/pyramids-temples-of-egypt/pyramids-of-giza/
West White House:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Casa_Pacifica
San
Clemente (CA): http://san-clemente.org/
Madeline Albright:
http://www.biography.com/people/madeleine-albright-9179300
Apollo 11 Moon Landing:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo11.html
Watergate Scandal: http://www.history.com/topics/watergate
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