Nixon Library Opens a Door Some Would Prefer Left Closed

[Gerald]

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Most presidential libraries are as much celebrations of a president as historical repositories. They are packed with official papers, photographs, limousines, proclamations and baby shoes representing the president’s life and times; dark chapters are traditionally ignored or at least understated.

That tradition was exploded Thursday as the Watergate Gallery opened here at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. The unveiling ended a nearly yearlong struggle between national archivists and the Richard Nixon Foundation, a group of Nixon loyalists who controlled the former president’s papers until ceding them to the National Archives four years ago. The fight was over how to portray the scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation.

From the first words a visitor sees entering the gallery — a quotation from Nixon, “This is a conspiracy” — the exhibit offers a searing and often unforgiving account of one of the most painful chapters of the nation’s history. The timeline methodically chronicles the stream of misdeeds leading up to the Watergate break-in, followed by the attempts to cover it up, which led to Nixon’s resignation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/01/us/01nixon.html?ref=us

Note: March 31, 2011

[Platapus]

Watergate is part of the Nixon history. Glad the library is addressing this.

[The Third Man]

I remember lieing on the floor in Kalamazoo Michigan, off Stadium Drive watching the hearings.

Nixon certainly made mistakes, but he at least had the personal honor to resign. If only a few Democratic presidents had the same honor........

[Bakkels]

Two posts and already the word 'Republican' or 'Democrat' is mentioned.
Political preferences aside; he broke the law. As a president. He lied about it and covered it op. Republican or democrat, I call somebody like that a crook.

[vienna]

Nixon certainly made mistakes, but he at least had the personal honor to resign. If only a few Democratic presidents had the same honor........

He hardly did an honorable act. He persisted in maintainig his position long after his activities in the planning of illegal acts and the subsequent attempts to abuse the powers of his office to conceal his and his accomplices' acts and to intimidate critics and investigators. If he had been at all honorable, he would have immediately owned up to his crimes, resigned and manfully faced the consequences of his actions. Instead, he struggled to cling to his power all the whille compounding his guilt. When he did resign, he did so only after a deal had been secured to pardon him for his crime while he left his most loyal accomplices and supporters to face prosecution and prison ("twisting slowly in the wind" is the phrase I recall Nixon once used to describe a similar situation regarding one of his enemies). As current news illustrates, petty cowards, political tyrants, and just plain empowered bullies are prone to overstay their welcome... or, as Gerald Ford put it "a long national nightmare"...

It is indeed a contrast to Nixon that his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, who faced with growing opposition to his policies, rather than put the nation through a even further divisive re-election campaign, chose instead to let the people of the U.S., through the ballot, to decide the course of their future. Sadly, they made an ill choice. I recall seeing an interview Johnson did after he left office (and during the beginnings of the "America, Love It or Leave It" fervor) where the interviewer asked why he didn't just hold out and make his policies "America's Policies". He responded that he could have wrapped himself in the Flag and probably would have won re-election, but it would have been wrong. He said his policies were just that -- his policies. If the people of the U.S. were so opposed to his ideas and actions, they deserved the chance to effect a change.

He was an honorable man...

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'Those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.' Ben Franklin

"When fascism comes to America, it will be win the wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." --Sinclair Lewis

[The Third Man]

Lyndon Johnson. I think you are the first fella I've known to defend him as a honorable man. You may be right for the reason you put forth, this place is bad, get out (like Sarah Palin). I have to think on Lyndon Johnson more.

[vienna]

I'm not saying Lyndon Johnson was a great man. I did have serious qualms about some aspects of his political actions. Some persons have called him an "ass" and worse. He may have been. But, ultimately, he owned to who he was and what he did. I might not like someone or their actions, but I do respect those who will own up and accept their fate. A person may be an s.o.b, but if he owns up to it, you know where you stand and you can proceed from a position of respect for their honesty. In conrast to Nixon, the facts speak for themselves.

[bookworm_020]

I remember seeing interviews with the staff of the Nixon Library on the Frost/Nixon DVD. You could see they were trying to put Nixon in the best light possible and downplay any wrong doing (not the only people who have tried to do that for their former leading light!)

If it sticks to the known facts, doesn't shield away telling the truth and explaining both sides of the story, then they can't ask for much more!

[mookiemookie]

I remember seeing interviews with the staff of the Nixon Library on the Frost/Nixon DVD. You could see they were trying to put Nixon in the best light possible and downplay any wrong doing (not the only people who have tried to do that for their former leading light!)

If it sticks to the known facts, doesn't shield away telling the truth and explaining both sides of the story, then they can't ask for much more!

That was a movie I found fascinating. I watched it on a whim, thinking it'd be very dry, but I was pleasantly mistaken. Nixon's foibles and flaws are very interesting.

[Gerald]

That was a movie I found fascinating. I watched it on a whim, thinking it'd be very dry, but I was pleasantly mistaken. Nixon's foibles and flaws are very interesting. What is the title of the movie?

[mookiemookie]

What is the title of the movie?

Frost/Nixon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870111/)

[Gerald]

Frost/Nixon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870111/) OK! Thanks

[Bakkels]

Seen it too. A couple of times actually, and I highly recommend it! Great atmosphere and tension. Great acting too.

[Skybird]

Calling acts like the immense conspiracy of the Nixon party leadership a "criminal act", is dubious in itself. I mean stealing an icecream for 80 cents is a criminal act, too.

Lying in fear of the parents about having stolen an icecream, or a physical relaxation intermezzo in the Presidential office due to shame over a moment when one got caught with pants down, is one thing. Lying about the roads to wars and the reasons why thousands had to let their lives, lying about state conspiracies and high treason and bypassing the very basis of a political system and its legislation and system of checks and balances, is something very different.

[bookworm_020]

Seen it too. A couple of times actually, and I highly recommend it! Great atmosphere and tension. Great acting too.

Both lead actors had played their caricatures in a stage play opposite each other.

[vienna]

An Op/Ed piece in today's L.A. Times:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wiener-nixon-library-watergate-20110405,0,2730479.story (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wiener-nixon-library-watergate-20110405,0,2730479.story)