We visited the libraries of Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush (41), Bill Clinton (42), and George W. Bush (43) over a period of six days last week. In addition, we visited Dealey Plaza and the museum in the School Book Depository in Dallas. Below I offer some observations.
Settings
All three of the buildings housing these libraries and museums are big, imposing, well-designed structures surrounded by a lot of open space. The Clinton library is on the edge of downtown Little Rock and its construction was the spark for a revitalization of the downtown. I'm not sure to what extent the downtown area had fallen off before the library was built, but now it is a lively place, with good retail and restaurants. For example, we had dinner at the Flying Saucer, a great place featuring hundreds of beers. Oh, pardon me, I have been redundant ("great" and "hundreds of beers").
The George W. Bush library is on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It is very new and beautifully designed. (It's on SMU Drive, which our GPS voice referred to as "SMOO" Drive.) The maintenance of this library has not yet been taken over by the federal government, so it's still private, and admission prices are double those at other libraries. There is an atmosphere of "newness" here, and I was disappointed that they do not yet sell those commemorative little spoons that I am collecting: "No, jeez, we're tryin' to get spoons," the student in the gift shop said.
(Each President has to raise his [or her, one day, let us hope] own funds to build a library and museum, and then, if it becomes an "official" presidential library/museum, the federal government takes over its maintenance.)
The George H.W. Bush library is the most modest of the three we visited, but it has a catch-and-release pond for fishing in the back, and it is there that the senior Bushes will be buried when they die. It is on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, which is a more remote and much smaller city than Little Rock or Dallas. The library/museum doesn't seem any smaller physically than the others, but one example of its more subdued nature is that there is no restaurant--we had lunch at both "42" in Little Rock, and at "Cafe 43" in Dallas.
Exhibits and messages
We visited the Clinton Library on Dr. Seuss's birthday, and the greeter outside as well as staff were dressed in Cat in the Hat costumes. There were 300-400 school children attending that day, and the atmosphere was loud. Students were lively and animated but not ill-behaved, and I marveled at the staff's tolerance and willingness to yell out stories about the Presidency and the displays. The exhibits are organized as my linear mind might have: one alcove for the highlights of each year of Clinton's presidency, and then a separate display for the most important programs. Yes, they covered the impeachment, but it was pretty subdued. The primary message seemed to focus on his work in moving the economy and social programs forward. Other than a short history of his early life in the opening film, there was little reference to his personal life.
Visiting the Geo. W. Bush Library in Dallas, one first steps into a very large, square ante room with high ceilings. Once visitors are gathered there (no seats), the upper 10 feet or so of all four walls becomes a screen for the most technologically wondrous video presentation I've ever seen. There was no narration, only music; it consisted of images of people and land and the images moved around all four walls. The resolution was perfect. When it was done, I said to Bill, "Marshall McLuhan should be here: that was a medium without a message. But it was fabulous." I thought about it the rest of the day, and periodically erupted with my various opinions--poor Bill. But I kept thinking about Nick saying, after a movie, "It was crap, but the special effects were fantastic." Most disturbing of all, I'm re-thinking my often-repeated belief that "technology is but a tool. It is only a means to an end, which is communicating a message." I just don't know any more. Maybe the tool is enough, especially in our times. You might well observe that buying fabric and tools for quilting seems to be an end for me, even when there's no quilt forthcoming.
The W Library, of the three we visited, seems the most intent on driving home a positive message about the President...and its driver, if you will, is the President's leadership following 9/11. Most of the libraries start with a 15-minute video, and W's led with his throwing out the first pitch at the Yankee game after 9/11.
The George H.W. Bush Library in College Station has, as noted, no restaurant, and the gift shop is much more modest than at the others. This is the most background-and-family oriented of the three libraries, and we learned a lot. The President and Barbara (nee Pierce, somehow related to President Pierce) were married after he served as a Navy pilot in WWII, when they were in their very early twenties. I didn't know they moved from the East to Texas, where he built a successful oil business and then went into politics only after he had earned a bajillion dollars and could educate his family. There were a lot of displays about WWII, and I was left with the impression that this was truly a member of the "Greatest Generation." I'm afraid I did not know that his plane was hit on a mission in the Pacific; he was able to land it on a carrier, but two others who were in the plane did not survive.
It is helpful to see these libraries in order to understand the times in which the Presidents were in office. For example, during Bush 41's single term, the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And as much as we want to not see it, politics plays a role in everything: in the Clinton and Kennedy gift shops one can purchase reproduction jewelry similar to that worn by Jackie Kennedy Onassis. But there's no sign of that at the Bush libraries; instead, one can purchase reproduction 3-strand pearl necklaces of the type worn by Barbara Bush.
Other Highlights
"Spies, Traitors, and Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America" is a temporary exhibit now at the Clinton Library. The exhibit was created by the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. The first entries are about the plethora of German people who were in the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century, and who were playing dirty tricks to retard the ability of America to prepare for entering WWI. There was quite a bit of history of the Ku Klux Klan--now apparently splintered into many smaller groups who have chosen to fight immigration as their primary stated cause. And of course I loved the references to the anarchists.
Bill had been to Dealey Plaza and the School Book Depository. Displays in the SBD are fairly ordinary--with too much copy on placards for the number of people visiting--but I thought the best feature was that they created the museum right in the space from which President Kennedy was shot. They have glassed in the corner where Oswald shot from--a chilling piece of history.
We were happy to have been able to see these three libraries within 6 days. I continue to be amazed how different it is for us when we visit museums of the presidents whose terms we lived through as adults...from visiting the museums of, say, FDR or Hoover, who served before we were born.
Now we are goofing off in Corpus Christi, Texas for three days; we'll leave for Destin, Florida on Monday, stopping in Baton Rouge for a night. Nick has already sent us about a dozen recommendations for restaurants in Baton Rouge--we'll be there one night.
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