Cast your vote for one of these 10 presidential libraries.
By Debora Toth
CAUGHT IN THE GLARE OF PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS? Tired of the endless campaign stops and televised debates? Before you cast your vote in this year’s presidential election, visit the museums and libraries of previous office holders. These exciting presentations bring history to life with interactive exhibits, computer-generated presentations and audio tours.
Stepping into a presidential library puts a unique spotlight on each individual and their years in office. Not only does it provide a glimpse into the politics of the time, but it also allows you to delve into the personality behind the presidency, their families and closest advisors. Here, you can experience these former Commanders in Chief’s years in office almost as if they were leading the tours themselves.
NOWHERE IS THIS MORE TRUE THAN THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN LIBRARY in Springfield, Ill. (about 1 1/2 hours from St. Louis), especially when the 16th president comes to life during the Holavision presentation. Special effects create ghost-like visions of historical figures: At one point in the show, as the live actor reads the Gettysburg Address, the ghost of Lincoln materializes, looks over the actor’s shoulder and begins to read the speech along with him. And that’s just the beginning. Sound-and-light shows, interactive displays and special effects will entice you to learn more about one of our best known presidents. Want to learn what Lincoln thought? A touch-screen computer allows visitors to ask 50 different questions. Pick your question, enter a mini-theater and Lincoln will answer in his own words.
The Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. (the library is two hours away in Ann Arbor, Mich.), makes similar use of interactive, video and holographic displays. Travel via video with Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to various spots around the globe: Take a holographic tour of the Ford White House, and experience a day in the Oval Office through a sound and light show. The replica contains dramatic overhead lighting synchronized with recorded voices of actors portraying Ford, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, Kissinger and others. An interactive Cabinet Room allows visitors to take part in presidential decision making. Visitors can view videos that highlight three major events: the pardon of Richard Nixon, the seizure of the Mayaguez and the New York City financial crisis.
Throughout this year’s election process, pundits have declared a few of the candidates great orators, leaders who are able to raise a nation’s hopes and dreams by virtue of his or her words. Two former presidents had similar gifts: Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy. Reagan’s library in Simi Valley (40 minutes from Los Angeles) allows visitors to listen to the stirring speech delivered for Barry Gold-water’s presidential campaign that catapulted Reagan’s political career, first as governor of California and then as president. The library also gives you the chance to board Reagan’s Air Force One aircraft as well as a Johnson-era Marine One helicopter.
One of Kennedy’s most famous, electrifying speeches took place in front of the Berlin Wall, when he announced, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). Whether he is speaking to Germans seeking freedom or visitors honoring his memory at his presidential library and museum in Boston, Kennedy’s commanding voice is hard to ignore. His inspiring words can be heard in exhibit rooms that show visitors his journey from his birth in 1917 in Boston through his World War II service to his career as a U.S. senator and his short-lived term as president.
While most of the country is glued to television sets watching the presidential debates, many might not realize that the first president to appear on television was Herbert Hoover. On April 7, 1927, Hoover, then Secretary of Commerce, helped Bell Lab engineers test long-distance networks. This crude transmission system, which led to modern day television, can be seen at Hoover’s library in West Branch, Iowa (about two hours from Des Moines). A 22-minute film introduces the Hoover story, from his early life as an orphan to his years as a law student at Stanford University, where he met his beloved wife, Lou. Outside, visitors can peek inside the two-room cottage where Hoover was born in 1874, watch a working blacksmith shop (similar to his father’s), and see the austere Quaker meetinghouse where Hoover and his family worshiped.
Nixon—another Quaker office-holder—was famous for collecting reels and reels of conversations on tape in his Oval Office. Now those tapes are readily available at his library and museum in Yorba Linda, Calif. (about 40 minutes from L.A.). A new permanent Watergate exhibit just opened, complete with the burglary tools, Nixon’s Oval Office taping systems and his letter of resignation. An interactive display of press coverage with CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite’s announcement of Nixon’s resignation can also be viewed.
Hopefully, whoever wins this year’s election won’t face a term as difficult as those of Harry S. Truman or Lyndon B. Johnson. “Give ’Em Hell” Harry’s impressive library and museum in Independence, Mo. (about 20 minutes from Kansas City), depicts the hard-charging, straight-talking Truman in a variety of interactive displays that include one of his 1948 election campaign speeches, where a supporter yelled out Truman’s lifelong slogan.
Johnson’s Austin-based library and museum contrast the difficulties of his presidency with its more light-hearted moments. Johnson wrote that 1968 was “…one of the most agonizing years any president spent in the White House. I felt like I was living a continuous nightmare.” The Vietnam War and assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. characterized the era and are illustrated and set against ’60s music, while First Lady Ladybird Johnson narrates her poignant recollections of the John F. Kennedy assassination in another room. On a lighter note, an animatronic version of Johnson standing at a fence entrances visitors with tall tales and jokes. Visitors can also watch never-before-seen Johnson family home movies.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower spent much of his time in the military—he commanded the Allied Forces during World War II—and the Eisenhower Presidential Library & Museum (about two hours from Kansas City) reflects this. Eisenhower’s presidential years in the 1950s are captured in sound, video and electronic games. You can hear him give advice to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam, respectively. To commemorate his signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, a computer game allows visitors to build their own interstate highway complete with an assigned budget.
At the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library & Museum in Atlanta, visitors can actually meet the former commander in chief. The Carter Center shares the property; it is here that Carter lives and maintains an office. At the Presidential Museum, visitors can listen to Carter’s soft Southern accent describe his experiences in a replica of the Oval Office. An interactive “town meeting” video allows Carter to answer your questions on subjects ranging from world affairs to his personal life. And another interesting participatory video lets you respond to some of the challenges that Carter faced during his presidency.
Looking into the past—and studying how important decisions are made—not only tells us where we are coming from, but also informs where we are going in the future. This is just one of the reasons why these libraries should be an important part of our present.
GETTING THERE
JIMMY CARTER PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Atlanta
www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Abilene, Kan.
www.dwightdeisenhower.com/ library-museum
GERALD R. FORD MUSEUM & LIBRARY
Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor, Mich.
www.ford.utexas.edu
HERBERT HOOVER PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
West Branch, Iowa
www.hoover.archives.gov
LBJ LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
Austin
www.lbjlib.utexas.edu
JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Boston
www.jfklibrary.org
ABRAHAM LINCOLN LIBRARY
Springfield, Ill.
www.abelincolnmuseum.org
RICHARD NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND BIRTHPLACE
Yorba Linda, Calif.
www.nixonlibraryfoundation.org
THE RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM
Simi Valley, Calif.
www.reaganfoundation.org
HARRY S. TRUMAN PRESIDENTIAL MUSEUM & LIBRARY
Independence, Mo.
www.trumanlibrary.org
All of the museums are open daily with the exception of Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving. Most are open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
