JOSEPH N. BELL
The Yorba Linda branch of Disneyland is being given a makeover, thus
depriving me of my favorite place to take visitors. First-timers
always want to visit Disneyland, and when I explain to them that
Fantasyland has set up shop at the Richard Nixon Library and
Birthplace in Yorba Linda, they want to go there, too -- especially
the retired editors from Manhattan with whom I used to work.
They have never been disappointed, surfing with wonder through the
Watergate exhibit, which made it clear that it was the media and not
Nixon that should have resigned; listening to the "smoking gun"
recording, in which the interpretation of Nixon's words took up a
great deal more time than the words themselves; and exchanging bon
mots with the Talking Nixon, which might be the only quiz show extant
-- except, perhaps, for questions about the existence of weapons of
mass destruction -- in which the answers preceded the formulation of
the questions.
Now, the feds are going to move in and turn this imaginary land
into a reality show and thus destroy the innate charm of the place
that our guests have always enjoyed. The Nixon Library is the only
presidential museum or library that was created and has remained
staunchly in the hands of personal and political supporters. This has
led to some fascinating spins on history that contributed heavily to
its site rejection by UC Irvine and its enthusiastic embrace by
elderly Republicans and liberal journalists looking for an idea for a
column.
That will all be changed when federal archivists arrive in Yorba
Linda with several tons of presidential papers held, until now, in
Washington. These papers will be converted into a true library rather
than a spin factory by the archivists and will eventually be
accessible to scholars, historians and members of the general public
who would like to know what really took place during the
administration of our only president ever to resign his office.
It's not clear at this point what will happen to the Talking Nixon
when the archivists take over. In case you haven't met up with him, I
urge you to visit the Nixon Museum before the feds impose some sense
of dull objectivity on the proceedings there. The Talking Nixon holds
forth in a small theater where a computer in the rear starts you with
a list of 22 categories of questions. Each time you select a
category, a bunch of subcategories come up until you finally get down
to specific questions.
When I asked, for example, "Was your first political race [against
