washers, and tree planters were all working furiously to gussy up the place for dedication day. Some of the museum spaces have been given names
like Freedom Plaza and Freedom Hall. The landscape feature I found most captivating was the Texas Rose Garden, which seemed like an English-inspired place to read a book on a spring day. Spinning history is an art form. The Reaganites
and Kennedyites are the Michelangeloes of the genre. It will be interesting to see if the Bush Library’s gam- bit to showcase our 43rd president’s eff orts to fi ght the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa and his promotion of the “temporary guest-worker” program for Mexican immi- grants track with the media. Great eff ort is made at the Bush Library to treat No
Child Left Behind and Medicare prescription drug benefi ts for seniors as historical administration suc- cesses. It will be very interesting to see how conserva- tives digest this quasi-liberalism-cum-compassionate conservatism on display. I was very surprised to see that the SMU library curators thought to honor Bush’s environmental legacy. In his 2006 State of the Union
address, Bush announced that “America is addicted to oil.” He subsequently launched a pioneering alterna- tive energy initiative. Even more impressive was his creating the largest
national monument on record: the Northwestern Ha- waiian Islands. How many Americans know that Bush saved over 84 million acres of marine habitat? But, in the end, this one at SMU pays homage to
war and military might. Bush 41 won his war against Iraq and the Soviet Union, but the ramifi cations of Bush 43’s war on terror are still being assessed. The takeaway from the Bush Library is that 9/11 was
the defi ning moment in his White House tenure. The museum evokes how shell-shocked our nation was that unforgettable September day, and how President Bush calmed the waters with his reassuring leadership. It’s easy to criticize Bush for the Iraq war, but the
museum suggests that Bush’s greatest achievement was preventing another attack on U.S. soil after 9/11. This is a hard argument to sell in the sweepstakes of history. Promoting what did not happen from 2001 to
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard Yorba Linda, California 92886 714-983-9120
www.nixonlibrary.gov
Gerald R. Ford Library 1000 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 734-205-0555
www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov
Jimmy Carter Library and Museum 441 Freedom Parkway Atlanta, Georgia 30307 404-865-7100
www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum 40 Presidential Drive Simi Valley, California 93065 800-410-8354
www.reaganlibrary.gov
George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
1000 George Bush Drive West College Station, Texas 77845 979-691-4000
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum 1200 President Clinton Avenue Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 501-374-4242
www.clintonlibrary.gov
MAY 2013 | NEWSMAX 55
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