Yorba Linda's new high-tech museum for a home-town boy - Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace

Sunset, Nov, 1990

Coming home on a hot, hazy morning alive with the sounds of marching bands and the praise of his successors, the country's only California-born president emerged from the wilderness once again and for another day found himself at the center of American political life.

Richard Nixon returned to Yorba Linda for last July's opening of his presidential library, a $21-million archive and museum sited next to both the small white farmhouse he was born in and a 150-year-old California pepper tree he played in as a boy. The high-tech facility covers all the major events of his long roller-coaster version of the American Dream-from the early years when trains rumbling through Yorba Linda inspired thoughts of foreign lands to his downfall in the Watergate scandal and return years later as an elder statesman.

Like most things in Nixon's career, the library has generated some controversy-particularly the Watergate section.

Whatever your feelings about him, though, the museum offers rewarding looks at post-World War II America and at a long-lost Southern California.

"Won some. Lost some. All interesting."

So went Nixon's succinct analysis of his political career at the opening ceremony. The museum captures him-in both triumph and defeat-in words, video, photographs, and recordings.

A display case in the main lobby features memorabilia from Nixon's early years in Yorba Linda and Whittier; the library's design lets you look out large windows, across a reflecting pool and formal gardens to Nixon's birthplace. Never Give Up: Richard Nixon, In the Arena, a 28-minute film on Nixon's life, runs continously in the 293-seat auditorium.

Rooms in the museum focus on different stages of Nixon's career. Artifacts abound, ranging from a "Click With Dick" clicker from his 1960 presidential campaign to the actual recorders used to make the Watergate tapes (including the one in use when the famous 18-minute gap in the record occurred).

Another kind of tape-video-plays a big part in telling Nixon's story. Vintage television sets show the Checkers speech, from the 1952 presidential campaign (Nixon was running as Ike's V.P.), and clips from the 1960 debates with Kennedy. The displays show how Nixon's political career paralleled the rise of television.

In the Presidential Forum, visitors choose from 300 questions-ranging from Nixon's memories of Elvis Presley's White House visit to the China policy-and Nixon appears on a large screen in the 40-seat theater to answer (responses are from previously televised interviews and 10 new hours recorded for this exhibit).

In another memorable room, 10 life-size bronzes depict such heads of state as Mao Tse-tung and Anwar Sadat in casual poses; visitors can retrieve information about them on a computer screen. Walking among the bronzes rather humanizes the leaders, in part because it's somehow fascinating to discover how you compare in height to some of the 20th century's most notable figures.

To reach The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace (open 8:30 to 5 daily), take State 91 to Yorba Linda Boulevard, then go east to the corner of Yorba Linda and Eureka Avenue. Prices are $3.95 for adults, $2 for ages 62 and older, free for ages 11 and under; (714) 993-3393.