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| Visit to Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, 2004 |
There are
13 federally
operated presidential libraries and museums in the US. Macrine and I
have only visited
four of them.
The first library we visited was the
Lincoln Library in Springfield, Illinois. The second and third were the
Truman Library in Independence, Missouri and the Eisenhower Library in
Abilene, Kansas. The fourth library was the Reagan Library in Simi
Valley, California.
For the list of the other presidential visit the
website:
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/visit
Here are some information from Wikipedia on the four libraries that we have visited:
1.
LINCOLN: The museum contains life-size dioramas of Lincoln's
boyhood home, areas of the White House, the presidential box at Ford's
Theatre, and the settings of key events in Lincoln's life, as well as
pictures, artifacts and other memorabilia. Original artifacts are
changed from time to time, but the collection usually includes items
like the original hand written Gettysburg Address, a signed Emancipation
Proclamation, his glasses and shaving mirror, Mary Todd Lincoln's music
box, items from her White House china, her wedding dress, and more. The
permanent exhibits are divided into two different stages of the
president's life, called "Journey One: The Pre-Presidential Years", and
"Journey Two: The Presidential Years", and a third, the "Treasures
Gallery". Temporary exhibits rotate periodically. Past exhibits have
dealt with the Civil War and Stephen A. Douglas. As of February 2014, a
collection of Annie Leibovitz's photography, including photos of
Lincoln's items, is on display.
2. TRUMAN: The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum is the
presidential library and resting place of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd
President of the United States (1945–1953), located on U.S. Highway 24
in Independence, Missouri. It was the first presidential library to be
created under the provisions of the 1955 Presidential Libraries Act, and
is one of thirteen presidential libraries administered by the National
Archives and Records Administration.
History: Funeral services in 1972 for Harry Truman—president of
the United States 1945—1953. His wife opted for a private service rather
than a larger, state funeral in Washington, D.C. Built on a hill overlooking the Kansas City skyline, on land donated by
the City of Independence, the Truman Library was dedicated July 6, 1957,
in a ceremony which included the Masonic Rites of Dedication and
attendance by former President Herbert Hoover (then the only living
former president other than President Truman), Chief Justice Earl
Warren, and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Here, President Lyndon
B. Johnson signed the Medicare Act on July 30, 1965. On December 11,
2006, Kofi Annan gave his final speech as Secretary-General of the
United Nations at the library, where he encouraged the United States to
return to the multi-lateralist policies of Truman.
Truman's office: when Truman left the White House in 1953, he
established an office in Room 1107 of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas
City at 925 Grand Avenue. When the library opened in 1957, he
transferred his office to the facility and often worked there five or
six days a week. In the office, he wrote articles, letters, and his book
Mr. Citizen. In 2007, the Truman Library Institute announced a $1.6
million preservation and restoration of his working office to preserve
the artifacts it contains and allow for easier public viewing. The
three-stage project completed in 2009 and features an enclosed limestone
pavilion for better access and viewing and an updated climate control
system. The office appears today just as it did when Harry Truman died
on December 26, 1972.
Truman's funeral services Funeral services for Truman were held
in the Library auditorium and burial was in the courtyard. His wife,
Bess Truman, was buried at his side in 1982. Their daughter, Margaret
Truman Daniel, was a longtime member of the Truman Library Institute's
board of directors. After her death in January 2008, Margaret's cremated
remains and those of her late husband, Clifton Daniel (who died in
2000), were also interred in the Library's courtyard. The president's
grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel, is currently honorary co-chair of the
Institute's board of directors.
Exhibits and program: Two floors of exhibits show his life and
presidency through photographs, documents, artifacts, memorabilia, film
clips and a film about Truman's life. The library's replica of the Oval
Office is a feature that has been copied by the Johnson, Ford, Carter,
Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush libraries. In an
educational program called The White House Decision Center, school
students take on the roles of President Truman and his advisors facing
real-life historical decisions in a recreation of the West Wing of the
White House. The mural Independence and the Opening of The West by
Thomas Hart Benton adorns the walls of the lobby entrance. The mural,
completed in 1961, was painted on site by Benton over a three-year span.
3. EISENHOWER: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library,
Museum and Boyhood Home is the presidential library, museum, and resting
place of Dwight David Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United
States (1953–1961), located in his hometown of Abilene, Kansas. The
museum also includes his boyhood home, where he lived from 1898 until
being appointed to West Point in 1911. It is one of the thirteen
presidential libraries under the auspices of the National Archives and
Records Administration (NARA). Admission to the Visitor Center, Boyhood
Home, Place of Meditation (gravesite), and the archives is free.
Admission to the museum is $12 for adults. The complex is open every day except New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
4. REAGAN: The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for
Public Affairs is the presidential library and final resting place of
Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States
(1981–1989), and his wife Nancy Reagan. Designed by Hugh Stubbins and
Associates, the library is located in Simi Valley, California, about 40
miles northwest of Downtown Los Angeles and 15 miles west of
Chatsworth. The Reagan Library is the largest of the 13 federally
operated presidential libraries. The street address, 40 Presidential
Drive, is numbered in honor of Reagan's place as the 40th President.
When the Reagan Library opened it was the largest of the presidential
libraries, at approximately 153,000 square feet. It held that title
until the dedication of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and
Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, on November 18, 2004. With the opening of
the 90,000-square-foot. Air Force One Pavilion in October 2005, the
Reagan Library reclaimed the title in terms of physical size; however,
the Clinton Library remains the largest presidential library in terms of
materials (documents, artifacts, photographs, etc.).
Like all
presidential libraries since that of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Reagan
Library was built entirely with private donations, at a cost of $60
million (equivalent to $137 million in 2015. Major donors included
Walter Annenberg, Lew Wasserman, Lodwrick Cook, Joe Albritton, Rupert
Murdoch, Richard Sills, and John P. McGovern. For fiscal year 2007, the
Reagan Library had 305,331 visitors, making it the second-most-visited
presidential library, following the Lyndon B. Johnson Library; that was
down from its fiscal year 2006 number of 440,301 visitors, when it was
the most visited library.
On March 6, 2016, Reagan's widow Nancy Reagan died at the age of 94 of
congestive heart failure. After the funeral, she was buried next to her
husband at the library on March 11, 2016.
Meanwhile, enjoy this video-Adagio from the Secret Garden
https://youtu.be/uSDqT8ATBxU
Si Malakas at Maganda-The first Pinoy couple
