Richard Nixon Foundation
Encyclopedia
Yorba Linda, California
Yorba Linda is a suburban city in northeastern Orange County, California, approximately northeast of Downtown Santa Ana, and southeast of Downtown Los Angeles....
. It was founded in the late 1980s by Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, 37th President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, and served as the governing body for nearly twenty years. Today it serves in an advisory role to the the Nixon Library which is run by the National Archives and Records Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration is an independent agency of the United States government charged with preserving and documenting government and historical records and with increasing public access to those documents, which comprise the National Archives...
, an entity of the federal government of the United States.
The Nixon Foundation founded, controlled and operated the Nixon Library from the library's dedication on July 19, 1990 until July 11, 2007, at which the Foundation invited the National Archives to take control. The two entities signed a joint operating agreement which allowed the library to become officially known as the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, welcoming it into the national system of presidential libraries. This move allowed President Nixon's White House documents to be moved to his library in Yorba Linda.
The Nixon Foundation is governed by a Board of Directors, led by Nixon's staff member Ronald H. Walker
Ronald H. Walker
Ronald H. Walker is an American executive. Walker served in the administration of President Richard Nixon, first as the first Director of the White House Office of Presidential Advance, and later as Director of the National Park Service...
. The board include President Nixon's daughters Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Julie Nixon Eisenhower
Julie Nixon Eisenhower is the younger daughter of 37th U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and sister to Patricia Nixon Cox....
, his brother Edward Nixon
Edward Nixon
Edward Calvert Nixon is an American entrepreneur and the youngest and last surviving brother of former United States President Richard Nixon. He coauthored his memoir, The Nixons: A Family Portrait, with Karen L. Olson. The book was published in 2009.-Early life:Born in Whittier, California,...
, former Ambassador George Argyros
George Argyros
George Leon Argyros is the former United States Ambassador to Spain. He is also a successful real estate investor, and was the owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners from 1981 to 1989.-Early and personal life:...
and longest-serving Vietnam War POW Everett Alvarez, Jr. The Foundation's President is Sandy Quinn.
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
and several vice presidents
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
. Also hosted have been public affairs commentators such as Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
, academics such as Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court....
.
The library includes "Meet the Presidents," in which presidential impersonators speak to several hundred school-aged children. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, the Nixon Foundation brought 16 tons of warped steel from the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
and a damaged, first-responder FDNY firetruck to the Nixon Library for viewing.
Before the National Archives took over its management, the Nixon Library had been accused by several media outlets of glossing over Nixon's 1974 resignation with "whitewashed" exhibits. In 2007, the National Archives removed the Watergate exhibit that had been in place for 17 years and, after three years, the new exhibit was scheduled to open in July 2010. The Nixon Foundation objected to the proposed exhibit, specifically the process by which the proposed exhibit was crafted due to the fact that the Nixon Foundation was not consulted in the way that other presidential foundations are in similar situations. The Foundation filed a 158 page memorandum to the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries expressing their dissatisfaction and NARA stated a committee would review the objection but gave no timeline for when that process would be concluded. The exhibit opened on March 31, 2011.