Nixon Library: History of an Enigma

I write not only about art but about museums displaying and interpreting heritage, and few are more telling than presidential sites. I visited the Nixon presidential library and museum three weeks ago. It’s in Yorba Linda in Orange County, Calif., with not only a handsome, informative, and engaging museum but an auditorium, reception space, garden, and the house Nixon’s father built and where Nixon was born in 1913. The Nixon family lived there, next to an orange grove, until 1922.

Nixon (1913–1994), more than many of our presidents, was sui generis and seismic. This year is the 50th anniversary of his downfall. His exit followed the drip, drip, drip of scandal and revelation, with the dénouement on August 9, 1974, when the man who said “I’m not a quitter” quit.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

I write not only about art but about museums displaying and interpreting heritage, and few are more telling than presidential sites. I visited the Nixon presidential library and museum three weeks ago. It’s in Yorba Linda in Orange County, Calif., with not only a handsome, informative, and engaging museum but an auditorium, reception space, garden, and the house Nixon’s father built and where Nixon was born in 1913. The Nixon family lived there, next to an orange grove, until 1922.

Nixon (1913–1994), more than many of our presidents, was sui generis and seismic. This year is the 50th anniversary of his downfall. His exit followed the drip, drip, drip of scandal and revelation, with the dénouement on August 9, 1974, when the man who said “I’m not a quitter” quit.