Jimmy Carter's Inn

Obscure inn boasts room fit for president

When we went to visit the Jimmy Carter Museum and farm in Plains, Ga., we were surprised to learn there are no motels in this small town. We asked a museum attendant where we might stay, and he gave us directions to the Historic Inn and Antiques Mall, a complex he said had been renovated by Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter.

When we arrived at the inn, Jan, the hostess, informed us that Wayne had mispronounced Rosalynn's name; it is pronounced as two words, Rosa Lynn, those being the names of two of her ancestors. Jan said she had frequently traveled with Rosalynn during the campaigns for the presidency.

 

 

 
Despite the large number of visitors to Plains, it has remained too small a town at 700 people to warrant a regular motel or hotel. This concerned Jimmy Carter, who felt the area should have some place for visitors to stay. In 2000, the Carters undertook the creation of the Historic Inn. He decided that a large empty storage area above several shops could be turned into rooms for a bed and breakfast. Using his skills as a carpenter and his experience working with Habitat for Humanity, he designed the area. With help from prisoners, seven rooms and a living/dining area were constructed. Six of the rooms rent for the same price, and the presidential suite costs a little more.

Rosalynn helped design the décor of the rooms, each around a particular decade starting with the 1920s. Jan said every room is a history lesson and encouraged us to examine each one before making our choice. The rooms are large, complete with a sitting area with couches, desks, telephones and bookcases of the period and period-appropriate books and magazines. The '30s bathroom has a claw-foot tub, and the '40s room has twin beds, which were in fashion during that era. The only thing that didn't fit was the modern television sets. The mod '60s bedroom, with its colorful red and white accents, met our mood for the evening. We were surprised to find that only one of the other rooms was taken right then, but Jan said their existence is not well-known, and tourists usually make arrangements to stay in the nearby town of Americus.
Some visitors make special arrangements to stay at the inn so they can attend Sunday school classes at the Plains Baptist Church, taught by Jimmy Carter when he is in town. We were told we would need security clearance to attend. There are also some specific rules of conduct; never applaud and only take pictures at the opening, when Carter gets in front of the mike.

We had dinner at the family restaurant where Carter often has coffee in the morning. He maintains a highly personal relationship with the people here and continues to be interested and involved in local activities. I found it interesting he could keep these intimate relationships given the security team that stays here to protect him. Our impression is that when he is not traveling, he is probably living the most "normal citizen" lifestyle of any of our former presidents.

 

Tuman/Benton Exhibition at Truman Library

THE TRUMAN/BENTON EXHIBITION AT THE TRUMAN LIBRARY

 

The Thomas Hart Benton mural at the entrance to the Truman Library

 

How does a great mural get made?  The new exhibition, “Benton and Truman, Legends of the Missouri Border,” at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence,  documents how two great Missourians, former president Harry S. Truman and artist Thomas Hart Benton, collaborated to create the mural, Independence and the Opening of the West, that adorns the museum’s entrance.  The exhibition, which runs until October 14, focuses on their parallel careers, the process involved in creating that mural, and on a collection of Benton’s paintings and sketches, some of which were loaned by the State Historical Society based in Columbia.

We were given a preopening tour by Clay Bauske, the museum curator who had organized the exhibition.  Workmen were still making minor changes, but the main materials were in place.  Raymond Geselbracht, a special assistant to the director of the library, gave us additional background information particularly on the remarks of Truman and Benton.

            Both Truman and Benton were born in western Missouri in the 1880s and died there in the early 1970s, both were committed Democrats who spoke their minds bluntly and freely, were voracious readers particularly of history, and were great tellers of tall tales. 

            Both spent 1906 to 1921 searching for identities and both gathered strength for their future by serving in WWI.  They built their initial reputations from 1922 to 1940 and gained additional attention during World War II.  Several of Benton’s paintings from that time are on display. 

When they first met in 1949, Truman bantered, “Are you still painting those controversial pictures” and Benton retorted, “When I get a chance.” Later in the 50s Truman had some reservations about the possibility of a Benton mural in the presidential library.  He had not liked the mural that Benton had painted at the capitol in Jefferson City.  An unsent letter in the exhibition says, “I won’t encourage him to do any more horrors like those in Missouri’s beautiful capitol.”  Truman was noted for writing scathing letters when annoyed, which his secretary sometimes delayed in sending allowing him time to reconsider when he had cooled off.  He particularly resented the image in that mural of his mentor Tom Pendergast, a controversial political boss, until he learned that Pendergast had posed for it.   But once past such initial misunderstandings and fueled by a bit of bourbon Truman and Benton had great discussions about art, literature and politics, and Truman approved the library’s choice of Benton as muralist for the project.  

 

Truman and Benton working on the plans for the mural, Legends of the Missouri Border.
 

            Then the question became what would the mural in the library include.  They early on decided that it would not be about Truman’s life and contributions to history, but instead would focus on Independence as the starting place of the greatest migration in history as trappers, explorers, and pioneers used it as the stepping off place to the West.

In 1958-1959 Benton toured the West gathering information. He wanted the details of the landscapes, costumes, weapons and facial features to be accurate, because he believed you must draw from life and “the historical detail must be absolutely accurate,” and that if he made a tiny mistake “people come down on me like a ton of bricks.”  

A major part of the exhibition shows the step-by-step process to create the mural.  In a 14-minute film Benton describes the historical background that led to the way he arranged the characters in the painting.  Benton created and played on his harmonica the background music in the film with his daughter Jessie playing the guitar and singing.

At the dedication ceremony in 1961 Truman told the crowd that Benton was “the best muralist in the country,” and that this was his best mural.  Benton noted that Truman “possessed the equipment, as a historian, to be a really disturbing kibitzer if he’d wanted to…Instead, he permitted my work here to develop on its original plan.”  Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren, the featured speaker, said, “The knowledge of our heroic past will open vistas for them (visitors) into our future.”   An art historian writing 30 years later called it “Benton’s greatest tour de force in the field of history painting.”

 A painting of Harry Truman by Thomas Hart Benton

 

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Carter's Boyhood Home

JIMMY CARTER BOYHOOD FARM AND HOME

 

As we toured the Carter Boyhood Farm in Plains, Ga., we could see how his early experiences there contributed to the development of the attitudes and strengths that led Jimmy Carter to become our president in 1977.  The National Park Service bought the farm in 1994 and restored it to its condition in 1930. 

At each stop we almost felt like we were having a personal tour led by Carter himself.   Recordings of him chatting about his life as a child were available at the house, barn, outbuildings, and equipment.

On the first tape he talks about how important it was that everyone play a role in doing their fair share of the work, even the animals.  He sounded like he had a little guilt about the pony he got for a birthday because it didn’t do any work and just was available for him to ride in the little free time he had. And there was work--it sounded like most people on the farm worked from four in the morning until eight at night. 

When Carter wasn’t working, he was reading.  His energetic mother, Miss Lillian, saw to it that he read the right things, and he early fell in love with books.  He indicated this was part of the reason he wrote so many of his own.  The bookstore at the museum had 20 books written by him--I couldn’t resist buying the one about his early farm life.

We could see attempts had been made in modernizing; for example, the farm equipment progressed from a hand pump for water for the animals to a windmill and finally to an electric pump. 

Carter viewed Plains as a big city and didn’t feel a part of that community as a boy.  Instead his friends were both the black and white boys in the area who didn’t make racial distinctions.  When he was 14, he was shocked to see the black boys now deferring to him, which changed the whole relationship.  

            The black Jack Clark, who was in charge of the 25 mules and horses, was an alternate father to him.  Clark and his wife Rachel taught Jimmy many things, and he stayed with them when his parents were gone.  The Clark house has been reconstructed along with the barns and outbuildings.

Carter often stayed with a black family in this cabin when his own family was away

Carter’s father had a store on the land because many of the locals didn’t have much cash to buy things and needed some place to charge on credit.  It was officially open only on Saturdays, but Jimmy relates that he seldom could eat dinner without someone coming over to get something from the store that they absolutely needed.  Sometimes that something only cost a nickel.  The store is stocked as it would have been in the 1930s.   Carter tells the story of the neighbors gathering to hear the Joe Louis/Max Smelling fight on the battery radio in the Carter’s living room.     

I don’t remember ever being at a museum where the person of note gave such a personal introduction to his life.  For example, he told how the most memorial experience of his life was not winning the presidency but the first time he was allowed to plow with a mule.  It was a coming of age experience for him.  He also talked about the early influence of his Uncle Tom Gordy who served in the navy.  Carter later graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

 A pail with holes in the bottom served as the family shower

The family garden has some notes about what they grew, some vegetables I had had little experience with like black eyed peas, yams, velvet beans, collard greens and sugar cane.  The machine run by mule power that squeezed the juice from the sugar cane and the cooker for making syrup was still on the grounds.

As a boy Carter led a hard demanding life, but he was surrounded by caring people--that seemed a fitting background for a future president.

 

 

 

Franklin Roosevelt's Little White House

ROOSEVELT’S LITTLE WHITE HOUSE

 

 

 

When Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921, it seemed that his hopes of becoming president had been smashed, but in 1924 he discovered Warm Springs, Ga., and those hopes revived.  Although the waters did not cure him or make it possible for him to walk without braces, they did improve his spirit and gave him the opportunity to discover new forms of treatment and to help other polio victims.  He returned to Warm Springs frequently staying in the small house he designed, which became known as the Little White House.  Here as president he developed a number of the New Deal Programs, such as the Rural Electrification Administration, based upon his experiences and contacts with local people in this small out-of-the-way Georgia town.

 

  Franklin Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia where he died

Roosevelt died here in his favorite home in 1945.  While his portrait was being painted by Elizabeth Shoumatoff, he quietly fell forward.  He was moved to his small bedroom where he died and was embalmed.   Our guide explained that his smoking had probably contributed to his death.  He had for years smoked three packs a day of unfiltered cigarettes but had been slowly cutting back.  The furniture throughout the house has burn marks from his cigarettes.   

The furniture and equipment have been left as they were the day he died.  Constructed with local materials, the furniture was built by a company owned and developed by his wife Eleanor.   Our guide pointed to a special feature of the bathtub that allowed Franklin Roosevelt to rescue the soap when it slipped away from the soap dish.  In the dining room/office he had a recording machine as part of his radio/record player.  His secretary Missy Leland, whose tiny bedroom is included in the tour, would type the material promptly. 

  Eleanor seldom visited him here, but her small room was frequently used by their children and other guests.   Present when he died were his daughter Anna and Lucy Mercer Rutherford, a factor that added to Eleanor’s grief as she had been told he was no longer in contact with his former mistress.  Although he and Eleanor had reached the point of separate bedrooms earlier, they had continued to be very supportive of each other, and she was in many ways his eyes on what was happening in the country.  

Originally the basement of the house had been used as a museum.  Now a new modern building has been constructed with a large theater that shows a 20-minute film of his life with emphasis on his connection to Warm Springs.  The museum is similar to the standard presidential museums giving the story of his life with many pictures, video clips and excerpts from his fireside chats and other speeches.   Brief bios are given of the people closest to him\-- many such as his cook, secretary, and advisor, Louis Howe, he had with him for years. His patio furniture, part of his stamp collection and an impressive collection of canes sent to him by admirers are also on display.

 Franklin Roosevelt’s 1938 Ford especially equipped to be driven with hand controls.

Roosevelt developed or invented some equipment, such as hand controls for cars, making it possible for him to drive.  One of the cars, a ‘38 Ford is in the museum and a ‘40s Willys roadster is in the garage at the house.   He enjoyed driving around the area talking to the locals. The guide said he spent time showing the farmers how to rotate crops and use new methods to improve their lives.  We missed seeing, Robert Prater, a Roosevelt re-enactor who is sometimes available at the house and who appears around the area in role.

After Roosevelt’s death an editorial in the New York Times stated: “Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House.”

 The unfinished portrait of Roosevelt that was being painted as he dropped forward dead.

Roosevelt's fight against polio

FRANKLIN ROSSEVELT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIGHT AGAINST POLIO

On our recent visit to Warm Springs, Ga., we were surprised to learn how much President Franklin D. Roosevelt had influenced present physical rehabilitation treatment programs for people with handicaps.   When as a polio victim he started treatment here in 1924, he was impressed with the amount of improvement he felt when he spent time in the warm waters.  The Indians in the area, who had used the waters to treat various ailments and wounds, felt a special healing spirit was here.  Roosevelt agreed and decided to buy land and start a treatment center.  To help finance a center he originally wanted to provide a resort for well people also, but quickly discovered that many well people avoided physical contact with polio victims from fear of catching the illness themselves.

We toured the campus of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute of Rehabilitation with a delightful lady guide, Linda Creekbaum, who had been closely involved in the program for years and had met many of the people who had been here as children who returned to visit as adults because the treatment program had been so important in their recovery.  They had often cried when their parents left them, but then cried when they were taken home because this place had been so important not only for their physical rehab but also their mental rehab. 

 

Franklin Roosevelt had the Warm Springs Institute of Rehabilitation designed to look like the University of Virginia

Little rehabilitation had existed before the institute had been established.  Roosevelt felt that attention was needed not only to physical treatment but also to the individual’s mental attitude.  As the children had often been treated as cripples whose lives were over, Roosevelt tried to present an image of someone who was successful in spite of his paralysis. The seriousness of his handicap had not been made known to the rest of the world and only three pictures taken by family are available of him in a wheelchair.   Roosevelt’s paralyzed legs would not allow him to stand without braces, but in the waters he found he could.   A movie shows him playing happily in the water with children who had polio--a movie that was never shown to the general public during his lifetime.

In describing the facility the term campus is used rather than hospital and the campus is structured on Roosevelt’s orders to look like the University of Virginia with covered walkways and connecting hallways.  A special area gives the hall of fame of polio with the work of A. B. Sabin and J. E. Salk being highlighted.  With their work on vaccines the need for polio treatment diminished, leading the institute to develop into a treatment institute for stroke victims and others who need physical and mental rehabilitation. 

 The Polio Hall of Fame honors those people who contributed to the eradication of polio in most of the world. 

The concept of treatment was so new many treatment techniques and much of the equipment used here needed to be developed from scratch.  Because mental attitude was important, Roosevelt felt self sufficiency needed to be developed, resulting in the children being given considerable freedom to try different activities.   One of the patients from Missouri was Congressman Ike Skelton whom our guide knew well.   In her stories about him she stressed how he had worked to make a handicap friendly environment with low curbs, wide doors and elevators eventually becoming a national priority. 

We examined one of the small pools.  The 88-degrees water comes out of the ground at over 900 gallons a minute.  Visitors for a small payment can experience what it is like to use one of the pools. The campus is now a National Historic Landmark.  The dining hall by Roosevelt’s order was upscale for the patients with waiters in coat and tie and special attention to the quality of the food.   Roosevelt drove his own car around the area and used it as an opportunity to talk to the locals, which introduced him to a whole new way of life he had little way of knowing about from his rich, protected background.

Roosevelt’s work had a wide influence.  For example, his ideas were used when the University of Missouri became the eight-state center in the Midwest to become environmentally friendly for handicapped students in 1960s.

 

President Bush Presidential Library & Museum

GEORGE BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY & MUSEUM

 

 

George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum

 

We walked away from the Presidential Library and Museum of George H. W. Bush in College Station, Texas, with the feeling that he had had almost an ideal background as preparation to serve as our president.  Before his inauguration in 1989, he had been a war hero, a Congressman, an Ambassador to the United Nations, a Director of Central Intelligence and a Vice President—all of this experience giving him a multi-sided view of the world and considerable ability to deal effectively with negotiations and crises.  

On the audio tour the commentary by George, Barbara and their daughter Dorothy gave friendly, intimate information including the couple’s love-at-first-sight meeting in college.   He had already been a World War II bomber pilot who flew off aircraft carriers, had been on 58 combat missions, been shot down, lost the other two men on his plane, been rescued at sea, and had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. One exhibit includes a life-size model of his Grummam TBM Avenger aircraft hanging from the ceiling, a model of the aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto, and a model of the submarine that rescued him. 

After the war Bush went to Yale on the G.I. bill, graduated Phi Beta Kappa in two and half years and still starred on the baseball team, playing in the college world series of baseball—a picture shows him receiving recognition from Babe Ruth.  

His early life with Barbara is recorded on a big television screen.  Through her writings we could understand the strong effect on them of the death of their daughter Robin at 3 from leukemia.  The family moved to Texas where he started an oil drilling business that made him a millionaire.  He felt that “any definition of a successful life must include service to others.”  He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1966 and 1968.

In 1971 and 1972 under Nixon he became the Ambassador to the UN, an experience narrated by his daughter. After some illegal activities had been exposed, Bush took on his next job as Director of the CIA and worked to restore the agency’s reputation.  Reagan beat him for the Republican nomination for president but asked him to be his vice president.  While Vice President from ‘81 to ‘88 he did much traveling around the world meeting leaders from other countries, covering 1,300,000 miles or the equivalent of 52 trips around the world. 

            We had forgotten how much had happened when he served as president from 1989 to 1993: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the revolution in Eastern Europe, German reunification,  the end of the Cold War, more freedom in the Baltics, the coup against Gorbachev, the dissolution of the USSR, the invasion of Panama, the protests in Tiananmen Square, and Desert Storm.  By touching screens we could see the news stories and learn of Bush’s policies and reactions.

            In the reproduction of the White House Situation Room visitors could experience how the president could consult with his advisors.  A Desert Storm barracks room had been rebuilt to show how the troops lived and a video gave Bush’s reactions to the war.  Outside the room the manikins dressed as troops included a woman, which we appreciated since our daughter Debra had served as an army major in active duty in Desert Storm.  On the home front we learned about the passage of bills such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.  

 When he left office Bush had a 91 percent approval rating.  However, he lost his bid for re-election in 1992 to Bill Clinton, partly because of the economic recession and Bush’s reneging on his pledge: “Read my lips: no new taxes.”  In the last display Bush and Barbara talk about their lives after the presidency and how they have continued to be involved in a variety of activities including the Library and Museum dedicated in 1997.  In retrospect we feel that Bush is among the most ethical of all our presidents.

 

THE DAY THE WALL CAME DOWN

 

A memorial to the fall of the Berlin Wall at the George Bush Library and Museum

Especially impressive to me was the sculpture, The Day the Wall Came Down, in the central courtyard of the Library and Museum of George H.W. Bush in College Station, Texas.  Seeing the five horses, leaping over the rubble of the demolished Berlin Wall commemorating the November 9, 1989, fall of the barrier between East and West Berlin, brought back memories of the Cold War and the two and half years I was a civilian instructor at Air Force bases in Europe

The sculptor, Veryl Goodnight of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said after she saw the people streaming through the collapsed wall, she dreamed of horses escaping into freedom and used them as a symbol of that freedom.   Some family members had not seen each other for 28 years. In some places the wall had been doubled and the space between had been called the “death strip.”  Goodnight had placed the stallion, symbolic of man, entirely in what would have been East Berlin, and the four mares, symbolic of family, as passing the “death strip’ and entering to freedom.       

Another casting of the sculpture, a gift of the American people to the German people, was delivered by the US Air Force on the 50^th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, was installed by the German army in the Allied Museum in the former American sector in a reunited free Berlin, and was unveiled by George H. W. Bush in 1998.  

The second memento in the Bush Museum is a four-foot-wide section of the Berlin Wall bright with graffiti on the West Berlin side, gray on the other.  It is protected from visitors’ need to touch by a transparent covering. 

Carla and I and our children lived in Europe at a time when tensions were high, and we could feel a sense of danger all around us.  The pilots I worked with seemed to be anticipating the Russians coming across the border at any time.   At one base there were 21 F-4 Phantom Jets, each loaded with a nuclear bomb ready to take off at a few moments notice.  At other bases pilots practiced getting into the air in minutes in order to meet the threat of Russian bombers crossing the danger line.

When we were stationed in Germany, Carla and I made a visit to Berlin.  We had to leave anything that identified us as being with the military at our apartment near Wiesbaden and used only our passports for identification.  The Wall was 14 feet high, 105 miles long and was built in 1961 to keep the East Germans from escaping to West Germany.  Like the sample piece at the Bush Museum the West Berlin side was covered with colorful graffiti, but the East Berlin side was grey and undecorated. 

We passed through the wall into the dismal section that was East Berlin, with unsmiling people moving furtively past dimly lit under stocked stores.   It was an unhappy place.  That 900 people were killed trying to escape was understandable.

George H.W. Bush was influential in ending the Cold War and the Berlin Wall fell during his administration.   It is fitting that he gets recognition for what was a major world event.

 

After retirement Bush continued his active life by skydiving

 

 

 

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum

Reagan museum surprises visitors with diverse displays

 

A statue of Ronald Reagan greets visitors at the entrance to the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum

When I first visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum north of Los Angeles in 2001, a special exhibit featured 40 paintings Norman Rockwell made for The Saturday Evening Post and Look magazine. Art critic David Hickey wrote that Rockwell "portrayed a world in which the minimum conditions of democracy are made visible, a world where decency, tolerance and basic goodness are manifested and lived daily."

That these folksy paintings were on display at the Reagan museum was appropriate because Reagan and Rockwell had similar values and were both accused of "cornball sentimentality." I don’t know if Rockwell was Reagan’s favorite artist, but I suspect he was.

I have visited most of the great art museums of Western culture. I really love them, but the atmosphere is often hushed, and a sense of great significance hangs in the air. Rockwell might have been dismissed as only an illustrator, but the audience visiting the Reagan museum talked about the pictures and laughed with recognition at situations. The friendly nature of the visitors’ interaction, along with the impact of Reagan’s speeches and the historical memorabilia on display, contributed to an emotional experience.

In 2004, I returned for a second visit. The Air Force One Pavilion was under construction. The Boeing 707 first used by President Richard Nixon in 1973 and then by Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Reagan and the first President George Bush would be housed there. Also included were Reagan’s presidential parade limousine and a Marine One helicopter.

IN FILM AND MEMENTOS

The pavilion was the future, but I continued to find the museum impressive in its own right.

Visitors start their tour by watching a movie of speech excerpts, with Reagan giving background commentary. As I listened, I remembered how he could bring out strong feelings in others with his own emotional responses, which sometimes included tears. In the film, the faces in his audiences convey a symphony of feelings. Another short film gives an overview of Reagan’s life.

On my second visit, the temporary entry display contained great paintings of all our presidents, accompanied by short biographies.

In the museum, much is done with montages. One is a collection of the posters of Reagan’s films. In other areas are mementos from his radio and Army days and costumes from his movies. One display mirrors his family’s kitchen from his childhood, where he developed a taste for his favorite foods: eggplant lasagna, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and split-pea soup.

Reagan’s life was frequently recorded on film, and throughout the museum, televisions and movie screens play the important moments in his life. In one room, an ancient TV shows him in the early days of campaigning for office. Another plays excerpts of his films, with some emphasis on his favorite roles as George Gipp in "Knute Rockne" and as Drake McHugh in "King’s Row."

The display that put the biggest lump in my throat was the film on the assassination attempt by John Hinckley. It is little known how close to death Reagan came; his humor and good will were important in handling a critical situation.  As he lay in the operating room with a bullet an inch from his heart, doctors reported that he grinned and murmured, "Please tell me you’re Republicans."

There are films of most of the great events of his administration, such as his Brandenburg speech: "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

To emphasize his success in dealing with the Cold War, outside the back door of the museum is a section of that wall covered with graffiti by Germans unhappy with being forcibly divided by the Soviet Union.

A replica of Reagan’s Oval Office

In a replica of Reagan’s Oval Office, a guide relates how the president hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed for the rebuilding of the military. Here, as in other places, are guides who answer questions and give short presentations.

A large area is devoted to Reagan’s love of physical activities, with mementos of his horseback riding, ranch work, swimming, target shooting and golf and many gifts from sports heroes. Through it all, there is much emphasis on Nancy and the important role she has played in his life.

EDUCATE, ENTERTAIN, STIMULATE

Staff members say their goal is not only to educate and entertain, but to stimulate visitors’ involvement in historical events. These goals are demonstrated by the choice of special exhibits. For example, I would have liked to have been there to see "Spies: Secrets From the CIA, KBG and Hollywood."

When we were there, a 4,000-square-foot gallery inside the new 25,000-square-foot Presidential Learning Center featured "Lewis and Clark: A Discovery for All Ages."

As the museum’s publicity materials say, "This hands-on exhibit incorporates movie-set-style replicas for visitors to explore: look at a 40-foot replica of their keelboat; walk up the Missouri River dock and examine the trade-goods Lewis and Clark brought with them on their expedition; peer inside a full-scale Teton Sioux tepee and learn what was used inside them; enter the gates at Fort Clatsop and see how the group spent their winter before returning home; and much more."

Even for visitors who are not fans of Reagan as an actor or a politician, this is an interesting and at times surprising experience.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan unveils the cornerstone for the Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on “February 6, 2004.

Reagan’s legacy elicits feelings of loss for many
A few months after my visit in 2004 Reagan died and I wrote the following column for the Columbia Daily Tribune.

 

Last week millions of people who didn’t know President Ronald Reagan personally, even some who were not alive when he was president, showed strong emotional reactions to his death. The media have done numerous recaps of his life and contributions and gave complete coverage to the funeral.

I’ve been asked a number of questions, such as, "How come such a strong reaction?" "Isn’t all this emotion unusual?" "Why are even teenagers who weren’t alive when he was president showing grief?"

Each of us has a different combination of reasons for mourning, but some common factors are related to our basic nature as human beings.

Most of us are by nature cooperative because alone we are relatively helpless. As part of this willingness to cooperate for mutual benefit, we respond positively to leaders who can get us to work together toward a common goal.

Reagan convinced us he wanted only the best for us, and even his detractors didn’t question his sincerity. As the "great communicator," he acted as a unifier of the citizens, not a divider.

Charisma

A charismatic leader often projects an image that might have little to do with who he or she is as a person. Because he had been an actor, Reagan was accused of playing the role of a lifetime as president. I would suggest that the presidency is a role regardless of who fills it and that to do it right, it is necessary for a person to act presidential. The incumbent becomes the role.

Leaders with a charisma that includes much charm, humor and touches of humanity, such as Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan possessed, elicit special feelings of loss when they die, and a whole nation mourns. A rush to memorialize them includes naming streets, schools and public buildings after them. A movement already has started to put Reagan’s portrait on the $10 bill.

This need to memorialize a dead leader also seems to go with our human nature. This behavior can be found in our earliest recorded history as communal mourning when a leader died. Even prehistoric remains found in graves suggest that leaders were buried with special ceremonies and often with the sacrifice of wives and servants buried with them.

Super parent

Some psychological factors are related to leaders in general. By reason of their personalities, they become parent figures to us, and we place a great deal of faith in them to take care of us and see to our welfare. For most of us older than 30, Reagan is an integral part of our history. We were reminded, by sound bites from his speeches and tributes by other important leaders, of our anxieties at the time he served and how he calmed them. His death brings closure to a time we lived through, and so a part of what we are is gone.

Many people will feel as if a close relative has died. In some cases, we mourn more at the death of a leader than we do for a relative. I remember the public showing similar feelings of personal loss when Roosevelt and Kennedy died.

Finally, young people who didn’t know him as president probably are showing a sympathy response. When others around us are sad or showing strong emotion, most normal people will respond with similar feelings. I suspect that if a 15-year-old is feeling a sense of loss, he or she probably caught it from relatives or by watching too much television.

Grieving a loss is normal when we have felt a connection to a person. Part of Reagan’s legacy is the number of people who felt a strong connection with him, even people such as me who disagreed with many of his policies.