A
merica’s presidential libraries are as remarkable and di- verse as the presidents themselves. From the hilltop perch of the Ronald Reagan library, with its Simi Valley vistas, to the JFK museum whose jet-black I.M. Pei tower looms
over the Boston Harbor — the libraries are troves of invaluable doc- uments and priceless national treasures. Today, there are 13 presidential libraries
and museums in the National Archives sys- tem. Each refl ects the singular character and unique legacy of its particular commander in chief. To enter these libraries and explore their
thought-provoking exhibits is to peer through a keyhole to witness a president’s life and times. They represent a living, vital connection be- tween the people and their presidents. The libraries strive to engage everyday Americans that way, linking them to the lead- ers who have been blessed to attain entry into that most elite coterie of all, the club of U.S. presidents. Some 225 years later, it is an asso- ciation that numbers just 44 members. May marks the offi cial opening of the latest
presidential center to join that list: the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, on the stately, tree-lined campus of Southern
Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Best- selling presidential biographer Douglas Brin- kley writes in the following pages that it could play an important role in shaping the Bush legacy, as historians gain a better understand- ing of the leader who kept America safe from attack in the tumultuous years following 9/11. As if the opening of the Bush library weren’t
enough, two other presidential-library mile- stones occur this year. In September, Ameri- ca’s fi rst president, Gen. George Washington, will fi nally receive his own library at Mount Vernon. It will make Washington’s estate on the Potomac even more of an attraction for scholars than it already is. And the Hyde Park library of FDR, now undergoing a major reno- vation, will be rededicated in June. Now, in this year of the presidential library,
America’s presidents will be able to connect like never before.
— David
A.Patten
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