On the Way Home ... the Nixon Museum

Soooo, as a journalist and a friend of another comms person who made me read "All the President's Men" one day (thanks Gracie), I am really interested in learning about Richard Nixon and Watergate stuff. I've read a bunch of books on it and I guess it's a little silly, but, too bad?

Anyway, since we were in southern CA, on our way back home we stopped in Yorba Linda at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. It was pretty awesome. When it was owned and operated by the family, the place was very focused on everything BUT Watergate (understandably), but recently it ran out of money and is now run by the federal government (I think). Sooo, now there is a big Watergate section at the end, with a very different tone and presentation.

Jon and I thought all the non-Watergate stuff was really interesting, as it gave context to all the Watergate stuff we knew about and put it in perspective. However, I do wish that I had spent a little less time on everything else so I could have spent more time in the Watergate section (we were there for three hours, which meant we were a little burned out by the end). Still, it was pretty fascinating. Excuse the blurry pictures, camera flashes weren't allowed in the museum.

 

(In the last picture I am listening to the 18-minute gap!)

Probably the coolest thing was to see and hear all the original stuff I've read so much about, like the 18-minute gap, Rosemary Woods' testimony, and the "smoking gun" section from the tapes. So ... yay Nixon Museum!