Library & Birthplace

President Nixon’s Private Study

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:47:35 +0000

President Nixon’s Private Study – a part of the room from his New Jersey home, exhibited as it was on April 18, 1994, the day the President suffered the stroke that led to his death. Handwritten letters and speech notes are on the desk and tables; the briefcase was a gift from King Hassan of Morocco. Made possible by the Nixon family and the President’s friend, Charles G. Rebozo.

Domestic Affairs Gallery

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:47:01 +0000

Domestic Affairs Gallery, reminiscent of the Capitol rotunda in Washington, features Richard Nixon’s achievements in Space, Civil Rights, the Environment, Energy, Urban Affairs, Crime, the Economy, Health and other issues. President Nixon’s Presidential Limousine, a gift of the Ford Motor Company, has been recently added to the Domestic Affairs Gallery as a permanent exhibit.

The Gowns

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:46:32 +0000

The Gowns gallery features wedding gowns worn by Julie Nixon on occasion of her marriage to David Eisenhower (President Eisenhower’s grandson), and by Tricia Nixon on the occasion of her Rose Garden wedding at the White House to Edward Cox. A bridesmaid dress is also displayed next to Julie’s gown as well as a light blue garter worn by Julie as “something old” passed down to her by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Pat Nixon’s mother-of-the-bride dress worn during Tricia’s wedding is also on display, as well as her second inaugural turquoise gown. The red coat with fur trimming she wore during the President’s historic trip to China in 1972 is also on display.

The Lincoln Sitting Room

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:45:55 +0000

The Lincoln Sitting Room is a historically accurate re-creation of one of President Nixon’s favorite rooms in the White House family quarters. Furnishings include the actual brown armchair and ottoman used by the President.

The Ambassador of Goodwill

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:43:27 +0000

The Pat Nixon Gallery is a walk-through of the life and times of one of America’s most popular and endearing First Ladies. Born in Ely, Nevada and raised during the Depression on a hardscrabble California farm, after college Pat traded a promising teaching career for political life as Richard Nixon’s indispensable partner. She was his most trusted advisor and, as First Lady, a globe-trotting ambassador of peace to 78 nations; she was the first First Lady to visit a war zone, the first to travel to Africa, China, and the Soviet Union, and the most widely traveled First Lady (until Hillary Rodham Clinton twenty-five years later). Photos of Mrs. Nixon growing up and later as First Lady hang on the walls, as awards presented to her are displayed in the glass cases. Continuously playing is a video highlighting her achievements and popularity with the American people.

Also displayed is a treasure case filled with priceless artifacts, jewelry, and other objects presented to Mrs. Nixon, including personal gifts from her husband and those of heads of state. The oldest item in the museum’s collection is displayed here, a Carnelian necklace with round and lotus-shaped beads, a gift from Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel and dated to the 12^th to 11^th century BC.

Berlin Wall

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:41:53 +0000

An authentic 12-foot section of the Berlin Wall, which split East and West Berlin for close to 40 years, adorns the Structure of Peace Gallery. The Wall stands as a permanent reminder of America’s struggle against Communism, of which Richard Nixon was apart for over half a century. The Wall was a gift of the Carl N. and Margaret M. Karcher Foundation.

Structure of Peace Gallery

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:41:31 +0000

It was President Nixon’s goal throughout his time in office to create a new, lasting structure of peace in the world. In his first inaugural address in 1969, RN stated that “The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker.”

The Structure of Peace Gallery is among the museum’s largest and chronicles the President’s foreign policy initiatives, namely his groundbreaking overtures to the Peoples Republic of China, the establishment of a new relationship – détente – with the Soviet Union, and the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War.

The gallery opens with life-sized statues of President Nixon shaking hands with Chou En-lai and displays portraits and paintings by various artists commemorating the President’s February 1972 trip to China, the first for an American President. Among the collections is a rare piece of art known as Shungmianxiu, or double-sided embroidery. Included are photos and schedules on the day-to-day breakdown of the trip itself. Dozens of photographs adorn the wall chronicling the Nixons trip to the Soviet Union in May 1972, also the first for an American President. A copy of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and other mementos are on display. A replica of a South Vietnamese house serves as a dramatic backdrop to the exhibit on the Vietnam War, which follows the war in its entirety, but places special emphasis on President Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization and the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. Uniforms belonging to former POWs are proudly displayed, as are their personal belongings during their time in captivity, until released after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

World Leaders

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:41:06 +0000

This exhibit featured life-sized, paper machete statues of ten world leaders chosen by President Nixon himself as those who shaped the world during his lifetime and, in his words, “made a difference.” They are as follows:

Mao Tse-Tung and Chou En-lai, China
Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet Union
Anwar el-Sadat, Egypt
Golda Meir, Israel
Winston Churchill, Great Britain
Konrad Adenauer, West Germany
Shigeru Yoshida, Japan
Charles deGaulle, France

Presented in glass cases alongside the figures are priceless gifts given to President and Mrs. Nixon by heads of state and government while in the White House. Gifts include an ivory elephant tusk from William Tolbert, the Vice President of Liberia in 1969; a necklace, earrings, ring, brooch, and bracelet made of emeralds and diamonds from Fahd bin Abd Al-Aziz, the Prince of Saudi Arabia in 1969; a statue of the goddess Isis in gilded bronze, dating from the 6^th century BC, from Anwar el-Sadat, President of Egypt in 1974; silver and gold peacock statues by Garrard which symbolize longevity, from the Right Honorable Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1970; and a fossilized and opalized snail shell from the Right Honorable John Grey Gorton, Prime Minister of Australia in 1969.

The Vice Presidency

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:40:37 +0000

This exhibit highlights the travels of one of our nation’s most active and visible Vice Presidents, Richard Nixon. Commissioned to run with Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, the young contender was suddenly elevated to the national scene. After delivering the famed “Checker’s Speech” to clear himself of alleged (and later conclusively not proven) wrongdoings, the public backed Nixon and the ticket was inaugurated in 1953. President Eisenhower sent the Vice President and his Second Lady on tours of goodwill around the world, often the first time a high-ranking American official visited such places as Southeast Asia, the Soviet Union, and South America. On one such trip, the Nixons braved anti-American protestors wielding clubs and rocks, assaulting their motorcade and injuring members of the official party. In addition, Nixon assisted in expanding the Vice Presidency into a more visible position.

Road to the Presidency

Nixon Foundation — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:39:27 +0000

The exhibit halls begin with the Road to the Presidency, which features displays on Richard Nixon’s military service in the Pacific theater from 1942 to 1946 and subsequent careers in the House of Representatives and Senate. Prompted to run for the House office from California’s 12^th Congressional district, Nixon served two terms – from 1947 to 1951 – as Congressman. Nixon developed a name for himself as a strident anti-Communist, pursuing a case against suspected Soviet spy and Communist sympathizer Alger Hiss at a time when almost all others believed it to be a lost cause. He ran in 1950 in a special election to fill California’s junior Senate seat, and won after a hard-fought campaign against Democratic Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas. He was again outspoken in his opposition to Communism and criticized the mishandling of the Korean War while favoring additional rights for minorities.