Dear Richard M Nixon

 
 



 

There is something of vital importance that you should know about me -- I am a bit of a history lover, and hope to one day dub myself as a bonafide history buff.

It all started when I began skipping class my sophomore year in high school (shameful, I know, but I think I turned out alright). Generally kids play hooky to escape the grips of academia, but not me. Apparently I just preferred it in the comfort of my own home, string cheese in one hand and crackers in the other. Hours upon hours were spent watching every last show on the History and Discovery channels. In fact, I probably gleaned more knowledge and insight about the world watching television than I did in class. There were always too many distractions, and it didn't help that I had a huge crush on my US History & Economics teacher, or whatever the name of that course was. See that? I can't even remember the name of the class! But, I can tell you all of the important information and dates marking world wars and events that changed the course of this nation. And how the brain functions on a biological level. Thank you, History and Discovery channel. You were mah-velous instructors.

Alright, now that that has been clarified, you can imagine my excitement as we toured the Richard Nixon Presidential Library &Museum. It is located in Yorba Linda, where he was born and is now buried. Isn't that awesome?

A few of my favorites included letters his friends wrote him as a child assuming he would one day be president, letters from children when he ran against Kennedy and lost ("I'm a small Republican... I beat my brains out working for you!"), the dollhouse model of his childhood home (see my bucketlist item #27), and then touring through that actual home. There are so many beautiful antique items, including the bed he was born in! Did you see that patchwork quilt? It's gorgeous! I think I need to make that my next project. And let's talk about that piece of the Berlin Wall. My stomach dropped and I released an audible gasp when I came upon it. For some reason I felt a bizarre emotional connection to it, as if I could feel the terror, hate, sadness and liberation emanating from its concrete core. That's my favorite thing about museums.

All of the exhibits document the entire life of Richard Nixon, but I have to say the Watergate gallery was the most educational for me. It was very informative and intriguing, because let's face it, the Watergate scandal is rather confusing to follow if you don't have all of the facts in front of your face. Don't know what the Watergate scandal exactly entailed? Let's see if I can sum it up for you in one sentence... While Richard Nixon was president, he had a team of people who worked for him steal information from the Democratic party so he could use that information to politically get ahead, and he tried to use his presidential power to cover it up from the FBI, but he got caught and resigned before they could impeach him. The end.

I highly recommend going to a Presidential Library & Museum if you have one in the state you live and you love history like I do. They're the bee's knees.