The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California reopens today following a $15 million overhaul.
Previously criticized for a lack of modern technology as well as a partisan approach to chronicling the 37th president's controversial tenure in the Oval Office, the facility has been updated with videos, interactive touch-screen monitors, and a more even-handed, less overtly pro-Nixon version of events such as the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam war, and the president's historic trip to China.
The museum was built with private funds but was turned over to the National Archives in 2007. In addition to updating the site's look and electronic gizmos, that organization brought in a panel of four historians to make sure that exhibits were clear, fair, and accurate.
To provide context for contemporary visitors, there are oversize photos depicting the turmoil of the late 1960s and interactive displays that let you test your own decision-making in scenarios Nixon faced—the Cambodian crisis, Soviet relations, and so on—and compare them with what the president actually did.
Who knows? Maybe you'd secretly bug your office, too.
