Lessons From President Richard M. Nixon’s Library

The Nixon Presidential Library has been reinstalled and the curation is first-rate.

The exhibit starts with the turbulence of 1968 and the election as a backdrop. It is reminiscent of this moment. Having lived through it as a 22 year old, it seemed more violent than today, but the attacks on the media and the White House Twitter feed make 2018 feel more pervasive and ominous.

The exhibit newly interpreted Watergate section with tapes and news reels are especially relevant for today. One of the most important catalysts for the Watergate unraveling was “Maximum” Judge John Sirica. When conspirators knew serious jail time faced them, they flipped like a pinball champion.

The House indictment of impeachment had three charges:

• Obstruction (e.g., making false statements, withholding relevant materials, counseling witnesses to give false or misleading statements, interfering with investigations of DOJ, FBI and special prosecutor, payments for silence of witnesses)
• Abuse of power (abuse of IRS, misuse of FBI, violated constitutional rights of citizens, impeded lawful inquiries into the DNC break in and cover-up)
• Contempt of Congress (failed to obey lawful subpoenas of House of Representatives)

Sounds familiar.

All in all, a great museum.

Ciruli behind the Wilson Desk handling a few executive orders