Our first stop is the Presidential Library of Richard Nixon, our 37th President.
The Nixon Library welcomed us with a private session on Watergate. Our teacher was Mindy, who later became half the groups tour guide. There are only 13 Presidential Libraries. This is attributed partially to the fact that in the past, an ex-President’s documents, furniture, and other personal items would be of value, and the families would sell them for the money. At that time the documents were considered their property.
Watergate changed the rights of documents that Presidents have. Now those documents go into the National Archive for us, the citizens of the US. Then she began to explain Watergate, and the series of events that led to it. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the Watergate break-in to the Democratic Party's National Committee offices on June17, 1972 which is believed to be the beginning of the Watergate scandal. We listened to key segments of the Watergate tapes and viewed some of the documents! The library obtained these documents with a guarantee that good or bad they would be transparent and not hide or gloss over the issues.
Upon
completion of the private session, we divided up into groups and I was with a
group led by Mia (that is kind of what
it sounded like, so we will call her that!).
The library was originally privately funded by a group, and it wasn’t
until 1990 that the library became part of the Presidential Libraries.
They were celebrating Pat Nixon's centennial, and those who wanted could sign a scroll today that will be placed in a time capsule!
Amid the scandalous Watergate, which began 40 years ago, Nixon is still credited with many accomplishments.
A few accomplishments and interesting facts included in his presidency include:
- The end of the draft
- Instilled some new anti-crime laws
- American Astronauts made the first moon landing
- Reduced tensions with China and USSR
- Developed a broad environmental program
- A treaty with Russia to limit strategic nuclear weapons
- An accord with North Vietnam to end American involvement in Indochina.
With impeachment a probability, Nixon resigned as President in a speech on August 8, 1974.
How intriguing your first stop sounds. Looks like you all had a great time at the Nixon Presidential Museum. Thanks for the background on why there aren't more presidential libraries. I cannot believe belongings we're previously sold.
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