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Richard Nixon Library
Rating Details »
18001 Yorba Linda Blvd
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 993-3393
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 993-3393
- Hours:
Mon-Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
20 reviews for Richard Nixon Library
OC's very own homage to a provocative president and Cali native. Can't say i'm much of an expert on President Nixon- only hear the Hollywood smears on the man. As far as I know, he was right on the issues that mattered- a strong national defense, lower taxes, and a limited federal government. According to Lou Cannon, Richard Milhous Nixon was an indispensable private counsel to the great Ronald Reagan. Like Reagan, Nixon hated communism with a fervent passion but Nixon lacked Reagan's eternal optimism and good humor. Let that be a lesson to you, nobody likes a gloomy gus.
The Nixon Library is a special place to learn about the man who shaped so much of the 60s and 70s. You can visit his birthplace and burial as well as marvel at the fierce political campaign against JFK. Touch the actual Lincoln Continental that carried Nixon to important meetings and get slapped by an usher hollering, "Don't you dare touch that!" There's a room devoted to Nixon's trips to China. and another one spotlighting the Watergate scandal.
The museum hosts special events like the "Meet the Presidents" series, where school kids get a chance to hear Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt impersonators make grand speeches and answer questions about their presidency. I worked at an event here in the East Room and got a chance to see both CRP Chairman Ron Nehring http://www.ronnehring.com/ and the tech savvy- charismatic Chuck DeVore (70th) http://twitter.com/chu.... They are the future of the GOP in this state and they're reaching out to change the brand of the party from predominantly White and male.
On your way home, drop into the fantastic presidential gift shop where you can bring home an Elvis meets Nixon t-shirt and a collectible baseball signed by all 44 presidents. Off imperial highway and Rush's beloved Yorba Linda.... In the 1960s Nixon received zealous support from actor John Wayne, who rejected JFK's weaker position on fighting communism. Other popular luminaries like Joe Louis, Wilt Chamberlain, Johnny Ramone, Billy Graham and Green bay packer QB Bart Starr also pulled the lever for Nixon over Kennedy. http://www.pophistoryd...
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I love History and oh boy, is this place rich in History ala Nixon style. While definitely slanted in Nixon's favor , it was very enjoyable to walk down the memories of my childhood with regards to the President. I have always found a strange connection to President Nixon because I was born and spent a chunk of childhood in Whittier and I raised in a Branch of Quakerism as he was. His presidency was quite memorable and became a large point of interest for me as I became a history buff. The museum is very nicely kept with beautiful gardens and a memory pond .The far end of the building tastefully echoes the White House Architecture which was great for the kids to see!
The museum was actually suggested by our oldest faux daughter who wanted to see his grave site. We actually saw way more , the birthplace/ family home, presidential helicopter and limo as well tons of memorabilia and interesting bits of important events of Nixon's time such as the Vietnam POWs , Watergate tapes, Russian events, Berlin wall and statues of world leaders. The kids ages 10 - 18 all were very interested and enjoyed all the displays We found for family it opened some great discussions about communism, changes in media, presidential responsibility and roles of women in the presidency.
Check it out next time you are in North Orange County..
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I once asked my father why he owned a service station after he had received a degree in History from the University of Iowa. His answer was that his degree taught him how to think and work with people and that his business was one result. And to this day, one of my Dad's biggest enjoyments is to read long history books, many involving politics that he often disagrees.
One key historical figure is Richard Milhous Nixon (aka Tricky Dick). I still vividly remember the summer night he resigned as President on national TV. My Dad's comment was something to the effect that he was a crook and that the bastard deserved everything he had coming to him!
And while my father later read many of Nixon's books, my historical exploration became more focused on Presidential Libraries. So far, my personal visits have been limited to the Truman Library in Independence Missouri, the LBJ Library in Austin Texas, the Hoover Library in West Branch Iowa and of course the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda. I haven't yet visited the Clinton Library, although I hear that it's the first one to offer "Ladies Night".
This is a nice facility and an excellent learning experience. The outdoor pool and garden area is pretty and relaxing and the indoor exhibits are well considered and comprehensive. The viewpoint of course is a "bit" biased, but there's a lot to learn and appreciate (or not) about this man historically. After all at the time, "Only Nixon could go to China".
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I came here for a wedding and this location is a dream. The wedding was held in the library's gardens. The garden was absolutely beautiful and smelled of roses! There is a pond in the middle of the garden, which gives a tranquil and romantic feel to the place. The reception was held in the library's hall and to me it looked like a place that royalty would marry in.
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I am spoiled living so close to the Reagan Library, and this one just can't compare. Nixon laid the museum out himself, and truly the room with all the life size figures of world leaders was very interesting. But wow, to come to the Watergate exhibit, and see..."coming soon." Gee, the guy was forced to resign because of unethical conduct related to the Watergate affair about 35 years ago. How long does it take to complete the exhibit?
It was worthwhile seeing all the things that were accomplished during Nixon's tenure in office, and the contributions made by Pat Nixon, the first lady. It inspired Sis and I to think about visiting all the presidential libraries.
Just went back the other day and they have added the Marine 1 helicopter that can be walked through, and the East Room has opened up and is very nice.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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9/14/2009
This library is not as good as the Regan library but it is still very good. The room with life size… Read more »
I am not a big Nixon fan but I enjoyed the museum which I went to for extra credit. The outdoor pool and garden area is breathtaking, a nice relaxing place to be. I enjoyed the various memorabilia inside, there was so much to read.
They played a movie about Richard Nixon, it was enjoyable, especailly for not being a big Nixon fan. I later visited the office areas where they had replica's of white house areas. The gift shop was nice, the courtyard was a must see. I did not see too much interaction betweent he museum goer's, it was rather quite.
Parking was easy, tons of parking, service was freindly, in that (can't tell if its real or fake) kinda freindly.
Go with STUDENT ID and pay $5.95 instead of $9.95.
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A great learning experience and as interesting as it gets if you are a fan of history or appreciate America.
The exhibits are surprisingly attractive. There are audio stations, TV stations, vivid mini-exhibitions, and many historical items that are 'right there' for you. They have a real car and helicopter that were used by Nixon. You can actually board the helicopter! You can go in and view the house that Nixon was born in. There's a nice garden/pool area once you exit the museum building. The graves of Nixon and wife are also there.
Along the tour there are many older men who offer their knowledge about the items nearby. They are passionate about history and it was fun to listen to them.
A great experience - I love history but was expecting a standard "museum experience" but this place was much more interesting than your average museum because of the superior 'setup' and enthusiastic volunteers.
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learned a lot about RN and why he was blamed for being a crook.. or why he even had that saying.. great place to enjoy the weather, if it's too hot, stay in the galleries! super fantastic air conditioning. if you don't like crowds, i suggest going m-sat.. sundays they have family concerts going on. check the website for more details.
nice to walk around and kill time too.
Since my first name is Richard, is one of reason why went to the Nixon Museum, sure he doesn't had good pulic or media praise, but he should is very popular from foregn leader, in the musum he has tons of collection of gift from other leader. There's a statue of he handshake with the prime minister of china. And there's large section of his campaing. when i went there summer of 2007 there's no section of water gate, but it said is in contruction.
It has the marine one helicopter in the museum, and his birth home.
I'm unable to spin this into anything resembling a review, horrible as my reviews can be. OH CUT ME SOME SLACK, I'M FUCKING TIRED AND I JUST WANT TO LEAVE THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN IN MY SEA-KING HELICOPTER AND GET HEAD FROM MY CONSORT KISSINGER.
I'll simply give you my impressions:
1. There must be a fucking clone requirement in order to join the GOP because when I visited the Library and Birthplace with The Ex, ALL of the docents looked like Pat Nixon, complete with Miss Clairol blond dye jobs and Ann Taylor business bitch outfits. Including the men. Okay, I'm kidding about the men, being a docent is a WOMAN'S JOB, along with cooking me dinner and bearing my 317 children, RIGHT?!?
2. Yes, they actually have a replica of the house Papa Nixon built from a kit in 1910. Yes, you should get a guided tour through the house. And YES, people were apparently MUCH SMALLER back then because yours truly had a tough time getting through the hallways -- NOW THAT'S FUCKING SMALL. All I'm gonna say is HALLELUJAH for the hormones in our food! I mean, fuck, if it wasn't for the hormone-laced beef and chicken I consumed as a child, who knows how short I'd be!
3. Almost all of the Nixon White House tapes are here for persual. 'Nuff said. Oh, it was Professor Plum in the Study with the Lead Pipe.
4. Nixon is buried here, so you can pay your respects if you so choose. Or, if you're Daniel Ellsberg, leave a brown bag brimming with shit.
5. The gift shop is cute and filled with kitchy paraphernalia. So of course I bought a bunch of useless crap that would enable me to wax nostalgic about the Good Ole Days when I wasn't even alive. I was disappointed, however, to discover that there were no "I LIKE DICK" 1968 election replica pins.
6. I can do an EXCELLENT voice impersonation of Nixon. I've even got the bad posture and bitterness down pat. Countless hours were spent entertaining The Ex with my Nixonian mannerisms.
7. Visiting this Library led to an awful revelation: I'd take Dick Nixon as President over Dubya ANYDAY. Please kill me now. Thank you.
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One of the best president libraries. Period.
Nice main building with a fabulous courtyard. Inside, you would find lots of information, I was especially interested in what happened to him in his youth. And of course his later diplomatic endeavors and Watergate. Lots of interesting pic's. I could not help taking some pic's of those pics.
His old childhood house was worth touring too. I was surprised to see those old kitchen utensils, stove and furnitures.
And then there is this president chopper that you could tour. This was the only place that I decided to include me in the pic taken as well :-)
Love the experience!
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I have to confess that I finally went to the Richard Nixon Library largely because I found the idea of it absolutely hilarious. I was curious to see how the museum would portray the man who is the political definition of sneaky, and how seriously it would take the president who has been villified to the point of caricature.
The museum in itself is really nice and has an impressive fountain out in the front and a gorgeous garden in its yard. The building is handsome, though I do feel that the design of the building took only the basic considerations for what the museum needed, but didn't really engineer the building specific to Nixon.
The biggest treasure is the actual house that Nixon grew up in, the one his father had built the home out of a do-it-yourself kit. Richard Nixon shared a small room upstairs with his three brothers, and most of the furniture and belongings were the actual property of the family. The house is wonderful not only because it's a great example of historic preservation and education, but also because it really gives light to Nixon's background, especially compared to that of JFK, who for me, will always be Nixon's political foil.
The coolest piece is the actual Air Force One helicopter that had been used by JFK, LBJ, Nixon, and Ford. You could go inside of it, and it's actually surprisingly small and sparse.
I got the sense that in a desperate act to de-villify Nixon from the public, the museum focused a lot on his personal life, showing what a human he was, and tried to deflect Watergate by mentioning his international contributions, but I do felt that the library was overly editing his life.
Also, they had very little material on the actual domestic poltiics, like how he, as a republican, addressed all the reforms JFK and LBJ put in for the development of a welfare-state.
And, to top the previous review who commented on how someone went here for a date... a family friend of mine actually got married here. A well educated Pomona-graduate, law school attending friend of mine actually got married here fully knowing who Nixon was. My mother did say that the wedding was very nice though.
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I mostly went to check out the exhibit on the moon landings, and secondarily to see how a pro-Nixon museum would spin his presidency (especially Watergate). The moon landing exhibit was much smaller than I anticipated (just one room). A lot of the "artifacts" were facsimiles and not the originals (the spacesuits, for example). There were lots of reproduction of plaques, commendations and letters of congratulation (not exciting). They did have some good video footage of the astronauts walking on the moon, which I'd never seen before. They also had some moon rocks on display. The highlight, though, was definitely the Defecation Collection Device, which was basically a plastic bag that they would tape to their ass to take a dump. As for the rest of the museum, it was blatantly pro-Nixon (hardly a surprise). The Watergate exhibit was "temporarily closed." What a crock. I guess even the most pro-Nixon nuts can't put a positive spin on that. What else...Nixon's presidential limousine and helicopter, the house he was born in, all worth seeing. Check out the life size statues of the world leaders from the 60's and 70's. Nikita Kruschev was a fucking midget. I definitely could've taken him. My personal favorite, though, was the photo of Nixon and Elvis, along with the gun that Elvis gave him. Legend has it that a doped up Elvis walked right into the White House with the gun loaded, only to be told by the Secret Service that he couldn't bring a loaded gun into the White House. He then asked Nixon if there was anything he could do to help combat drug use in America. I love it. Every one who works here is at least 100 years old. One of the docents had the most disgusting nose hair I've ever seen. It was longer than the hair on my head. You would think that someone would point this out to him (like his boss), and make him trim it. I felt sorry for the guy, but what can you do. You try to look away, but find yourself strangely drawn to it.
We took our 67 5th graders and my partner and I felt the docents were age appropriate and very knowledgeable!
My students found the world leaders display, Nixon's former home, the president's helicopter, the former limo, and the White House replica all interesting.
I personally liked the limo room because it displayed all topics of concern during Nixon's era; urban crime, environment, world relations, economy... the same concerns we share today.
In a time where politics and history is changing before our eyes we wanted to link our students to primary sources instead of just reading about it in books.
BTW my friend got married here and the garden was gorgeous.
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Even though the other reviewers have all taken cracks at RN, I have to admit that I'm a fan of his. I wrote a paper in college comparing the personalities of Nixon and Kennedy and found Nixon's biographies far more fascinating and human than Kennedy's. I never would have voted for the guy, but he was an interesting character. So I went excitedly to the Nixon Library!
I enjoyed:
1. The extensive photographs of Nixon and family during all stages of life
2. The posters, buttons, and memorabilia from his campaigns.
3. The letters, official proclamations and other primary source documents
4. The Presidential Helicopter...even though the exhibit was closed by the time we got out there, it was still cool looking.
5. The presidential limo!
6. The cleanliness and important look of the place
Needs improvement:
1. On our way out to see Nixon's childhood home, one docent was complaining loudly and bitterly that someone had swiped his guide book. Granted, he b*tching to a fellow employee, but it was rude and inappropriate.
2. Luckily for us, that same angry guide led us through the Nixon home. It was the world's shortest and least enthusiastic tour.
We're going to back to spend more time later. We arrived at 3:30 and the place closes at 5. By the time we finished seeing everything in the first half of the museum, it was 4:45. If you like history, politics or perplexing characters, you'll enjoy the Nixon Library.
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Finally, a library large enough to house Nixon's enemies lists in their entirety!
When my wife complains I don't take her and the kids anywhere, I often threaten to take them to the Richard Nixon Library. That confounds her every time.
They have cool stuff here, like a spacesuit, a moon rock, presidential limo, a copy of the Declaration of Independence, a chunk of the Berlin Wall, and of course, you can listen to the Watergate recordings. You can also stand at the front of the garden, outstretch your arms, hold out two fingers, shake your jowls, and exclaim, "I am not a crook!".
I'd like to point out that the myth that Nixon's head is cryogenically preserved in a jar as portrayed on Futurama is untrue. You should know better than to get your factual knowledge from cartoons. Nixon is safely buried on the library grounds, intact.
Another Yelper related to me the story of how a date took her to the Nixon Library. I can think of nothing more romantic than spending an evening with a special someone listening to Henry Kissinger discuss geopolitical strategy.
Be sure to visit the Children's Section at the library. When you enter, a recording of Nixon's voice greets your children with "Hel-lo, kid-dies". Make sure you ask the front desk to direct you to the Children's Section.
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The incredible train exhibit that extended its stay was our reason for trekking out to YL. I made it a surprise field trip, and he wasn't disappointed. Been here a couple of times, once to attend a concert for a co-worker's orchestra. Coming back on such a sunny day was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.
Checking out the helicopter and learning about the "football" seat was pretty cool. Like another yelper mentioned, there was a wedding party taking photographs outside. Especially enjoyed walking along the reflecting pool. Lots of places to pause and take in the surroundings. Also a pressed penny machine for those who collect.
Oh, and the cashier was cool. She asked if I had AAA, and gave me a discount for being a member. Sweet.
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As far as a museum about a presendent is concerned, this wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. I didn't see too much of the inside, but I got a short "tour" of the retired Air Force One helicopter and saw the inside of Nixon's birth house. I learned that Nixon played like 7 instruments, which is quite impressive, and makes me respect him a smidgen more.
While visiting, a wedding was taking place, which I thought was odd, because I wouldn't want my wedding at Nixon's house. Maybe they were big fans. Who knows. Also, it was really hot, and they were all in the sun. I think I'd die from heatstroke. They let loose a bunch of butterflies at the ceremony however, and I'm so stealing that for my own wedding.
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Okay, I have to admit that my bf and I didn't come here because we wanted to learn more about Nixon, but because we wanted to escape from the extreme heat that the weekend offered us. Being in an air-conditioned building for a couple hours and learning about a period of history that was before my time, I'm in (I'm a history/museum dork)! It was definitely and poignant point of view about one of the most controversial presidents during US history. I was most amused by were the gifts that were given to the Nixon's by dignitaries from other countries. At one point while we were there, we walked out into the insane heat to tour Nixon's birthplace (had ac) and to see the helicopter. On our way back to main building, we walked through the rose garden which were in full bloom and smelled rosy. Overall, a great place to spend a hot afternoon, while learning a little something.
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