08 Apr 2023
Orange County, CA is a cultural wasteland. We needed a way to kill time while our grandchildren were in school and Nixon Library was all the Google turned up. We spent two hours at the museum, could have spent another two and came away very impressed. We were expecting hagiography, but museum is incredibly balance. Intro film opens with Nixon's resignation speech. There's a lot of space dedicated to Watergate. But the spaces dedicated to Nixon's accomplishments were eye-opening: founded the EPA and OSHA, desegregated southern schools, promoted women in his administration and fought for hispanic and indigenous people's rights. Who knew? And he went to China.
Docents were great and, for better or worse, we had the entire museum to ourselves for the first half-hour or so after opening. Even at noon it wasn't crowded. Well worth a visit.