When historians analyze the Watergate scandal that doomed former President Richard M. Nixon’s second term in office, transparency is not a word usually deployed to describe Nixon’s response to the situation.
So when the National Archives took over the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, in 2007, the institution had an opportunity to put on display for the public what actually transpired in a non-partisan manner.
In the time of Wikipedia and rampant misinformation on the Web, which can further misconstrue the president’s role in the matter, curious people may have found a go-to source to learn about the scandal — a new Watergate gallery opened up last week.
For Nixon’s legacy outside of Watergate to be fully appreciated (e.g. Nixon goes to China), the whitewashing must stop.
This is possible because of the innovative and interactive nature of the new exhibit, which has a myriad of features on the web. As Tim Naftali, director of the library and curator of its Watergate section, told USA Today, the new exhibit is directed at “the 14-year-old visitor who is texting while you are telling them about people not only their grandparents' age, great-grandparents' age, but from a different era and culture,” he said.
Museums have been forced to respond to the changing attendee. It is encouraging to see a presidential library fully appreciate the realities of trying to entice both the interested adult and the reluctant pupil that was assigned to do a report on Nixon.
According to NPR, prior to the National Archives running the library, a group of Nixon loyalists were at the helm. Unsurprisingly, they decided to leave much of the actual story out of the Watergate exhibit.
Fervent presidential supporters do not lose their zeal even approaching four decades. For example, last year, we saw the influence extended over the television world when Kennedy supporters brought down a critical portrayal of the family set to air on the History Channel.
Nixon will never be confused with Lincoln in prestige or stature. Yet, other president’s and their supporters are surely just as guilty in attempts to manicure their tenure in office.
Lincoln’s personal philosophy to have African-Americans relocated to a different country or FDR’s utter failure to help Jewish peoples in Europe during the Holocaust are both blotches on their record which receive far less attention than their triumphs.
Additionally, American museums and exhibits must be consistent with the ideals of our country being forthright and open; the other option is to do what China has recently done to its recently remodeled National Museum of China.
But, apparently spending 400 million dollars and over a decade renovating the museum does not ensure the real history of China will be told.
According to the New York Times, “China will not confront its own history” through the museum because the museum chose to leave out the disastrous Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution which resulted in the loss of millions of Chinese lives at the hands of the Communist Party’s policies and actions.
It is a good thing that the Nixon museum has avoided the course that this museum went down. By fully examining each president’s shortcomings in the public eye as the new Watergate exhibit does, we can fully appreciate our past leaders as human beings with shortcomings — not infallible mythical leaders.
Naftali told USA Today, "The public deserves an objective, non-partisan presidential museum for their money.”
Amen to the new exhibit and a group that realizes our leaders’ actions must be held to account. With great privilege comes great responsibility, and that means being truthful about bygone matters — even for a president whose time has passed.
Contact Zach at: zlevinep@asu.edu
