A Visit to Orange County

Most of you know I'm a bit of a history nerd (there's a reason I do trivia!!!). One of my bucket list projects is to attend all the presidential libraries. There aren't as many as you think -- officially they started with the Hoover administration (1928-1932).

Of the five I've visited so far -- the one that intrigued me the most was Nixon's. It was January of 2022.  I just did a quick trip so that I could see two libraries -- Reagan's and Nixon's.  I went to the Reagan Presidential Library first, on top of a hill in Thousand Oaks, with an incredible view of the valley below.  It was breathtaking.

Just like Nancy Reagan, I thought.  Nancy's stamp was all over the library and grounds.  There were even two big banners of her flanking the front entrance. Inside, everything was clean and tasteful.  The Reagan Library has a decommissioned Air Force One that you can walk through. Wow.

Presidential libraries are interesting.  They are slanted journalism, of course -- look at all the wonderful things this man did (still all men, at least officially).  It's interesting to look at some of the timeline and say -- hm, that's not exactly how I remember that...  

Knowing that the prejudice will be ingrained -- I really wondered how the Nixon Library was going to tackle Watergate.

As it turns out -- in your face.

Most libraries have a predictable format.  You first watch a short over-view video, then walk through the man's life, presidency, and post presidency life.  

As I sat down in the small theatre to watch the opening film regarding Nixon, I expected the same.

The lights went down -- and there was Nixon, sitting behind that huge Presidential desk, resigning from office.  

The rest of the film briefly outlined the Watergate fall-out.  

No one said that Nixon was right.  

Regrets?  For all his faults -- there's no doubt in my mind that Nixon had them.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda.