Be Excellent To Each Other

We're not very fond of our prime ministers. We force them to face hostile questioning once a week, we mock them whenever possible, and, once their time is up, push them out of Downing Street with barely enough time to pack or say goodbye to the cleaners. Few of us can even remember the names of even a quarter of the fifty or so men and one woman to have held the top job in British politics. It's pretty rare for a PM to even be honoured with a statue - Churchill, Attlee, Lloyd-George, and Thatcher have made it, but you'd have to look pretty hard for one of Bonar Law or Henry Campball-Bannerman. The idea that ex-Prime Ministers would be able to raise millions to construct a museum to their legacy, or that people would willingly pay to visit a John Major Prime Ministerial Centre (and gift shop) is laughable.

Presidents of the United States, however, take their legacies seriously. Every president since Franklin D Roosevelt has a library and museum operated by the government dedicated to them, and under various laws each outgoing President has to find a location to store their archives. They undertake massive fundraising operations to build them, and their openings are grand affairs full of pomp and as many survivors of the ex-presidents' club as can be humanely gathered. With a few hours to kill in Little Rock, Arkansas, I decided to visit Bill Clinton's Presidential Library.



The building overhangs a river, to represent his 'Bridges to the Future' theme of his 1996 re-election campaign. There's a nicely landscaped park surrounding the centre, and a restored iron railway bridge you can walk over which represents a future bridge in a time of rising gas prices, or something. After going through security I paid my $7 entry fee and wandered into the museum. The only exhibit on the ground floor is Clinton's presidential Cadillac. It looked suitably comfy and there was a fun panel showing some of the equipment the secret service agents would carry on them as he went on his travels.



The first second floor contains the main exhibits. After looking at a panel of numbers showing how the economy had improved in his eight years, how much unemployment had fallen, and generally every other statistic that can be used to show that Clinton presided over a booming time for the United States, and sitting through a surprisingly not cheesy film on his life, narrated by Bill himself, you reach the main displays. Big panels shows key themes of Clinton's presidency, surrounded by documents from the time and other paraphernalia. The Northern Irish chess set was a particularly memorable gift, with an suitably large grin on the Blair figure. There was even a panel on Al Gore's many achievements during his vice-presidency, such as inventing the Internet (but nothing on the 2000 election).



You can visit an exact replica of the cabinet room in the Clinton-era White House and, brilliantly, sit in the large and surprisingly comfy leather chairs! Each one is labelled with the title of the office-holder, but I couldn't get a snap of me sitting in the replica 'President of the United States' or 'Secretary for Agriculture' chairs due to a school group who were playing with the interactive screens on the table which explains what a US cabinet minister does (or is supposed to do) all day.

Running down the centre of the floor is a large timeline of the events in Washington, the US, and the wider world during each year of his presidency. Samples of his daily schedules, suitably edited, for each month are also available, although when he wasn't making official visits or being inaugurated they mostly read 'meeting', 'meeting', 'meeting'.

Of course, the incidents everyone remembers about Clinton are only alluded too. There's a panel on his relations with Congress and the extreme antipathy of the Republicans towards him, discussing major division points such as the failed healthcare plans and the impeachment process, but as with the board on 1998 and 1999, it only refers to a 'serious personal mistake'. Hey, we're all human!

Climb the stairs to the second third floor and, after passing through a display of the typically tacky gifts world leaders are fond of giving each other and a cabinet of voters' drawings of the White House cat, is a large replica of the Oval Office as Clinton would have known it, correct to the tiniest detail. Sadly, you can only peer through the doors, as presumably they don't want visitors re-enacting important events from the Clinton presidency on the replica Resolute Desk.




Certainly, the purpose of the museum is to promote a version of the Clinton Presidency which Bill would like you to remember. Yet, despite its obvious 'the 1990s were brilliant and it's all down to Bill Clinton' angle, it's hard to look through its lists of his achievements (Northern Ireland, the balanced budget, and the economy, stupid) and not miss the guy. Having had my fill of 90s nostalgia, I looked longingly at all the blue boxfiles lining the walls, each showing an gold-embossed version of the presidential seal, took one last look at the Cadillac, and went on my way.

While that's quite impressive, if I was the 'leader of the free world', I'd be looking for better than Little Rock, Arkansas for my legacy.

Will they add to the collection? The stuff at the Reagan library looks very much worth a visit.

That's Slick Willy's hometown though, innit?

I think so. They have a large area for temporary exhibits, which was filled with stuff on the St Louis Cardinals when I visited.

Aye, although he comes from a town called Hope. And you can visit his first home. But I went to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky instead.

Isn't he, like, from Arkansas?

edit: Beaten! Twice!

I agree, we should do this too. I'd love to visit the John Major Museum in Cowsick, Bumsexingfordshire. It'd be a collection of his old trapezes and some of the peas he once ate. Then we'd be ushered in to the Hall of Employment where we learn of all the cunt companies he's worked for after his PMship, offering ins to the upper echelons of political manoeuvring.

John Major had the blandest Currie ever.

Whilst I'm not sure a Blair Museum or a 'World of Thatcher' (complete with dodgems that don't U-turn) would have a mass appeal, what's good about these libraries is that they provide a way to start beginning to understand the recent past. I can't think of any museums of contemporary British history, where exhibits talk about what's just happened and try, however simply and erringly, to place them in some sort of context.

Of course, having all their papers in one place makes life easier for researchers too.

Sounds to me as if this sort of thing incapable of being impartial. I doubt a Blairopolis would mention him being responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis, for example.

Did it show if he was a Nintendo or Sega man?

Also, did it mention the blackest mark on his presidency, being Waco?

I met Clinton's security when he visited Warwick University. He arrived in a huge helicopter. Or at least I thought he was in it - one of his agents said that the first one was full of hairdressers and PR people, and was effectively there to land first and take any surprise RPG's. The President arrived in the second one. The agents asked if I could spot any of the CIA snipers on the roofs. Then they posed for photos with us, pretending to arrest us and stuff.

Clinton's bodyguard rocked.

Blair and Prescott arrived together in a dinky Westland Lynx. It was a bit rubbish by comparison. Clinton's chopper was HUGE.

All that to meet Stephen Hawking giving a big speech too. Can't imagine Bush dropping everything to attend a Hawking event.

I wonder if the Bush Jr shrine will mention the people put to death under his rule as governor of Texas. It's an odd glossing over of the facts that really don't live up to the standards of putting recent history in some sort of context.

I was watching a documentary on Richard Ramirez "The Nightstalker" serial killer. It detailed the relationship he had with his psychopathic cousin who was a Vietnam veteren. Said cousin routinely took Vietnamese village women into the jungle, tied them up, tortured and raped them before killing them. All through the process he took photos and by the time he came home he had a shoebox full of them he used to show Richard. The voice-over man still called him a "war hero". Made me sick, that.

I don't remember seeing either of those mentioned, alas, but then I wasn't particularly looking out for them. There definitely wasn't a mention of Waco on the 'Law and Order' display...

No sign of the sperm splattered dress or one of his famous cigars in the museum?

I had no ideas that each president built a museum, can’t ever see this working in the UK.

Maybe it would for Thatcher as people either hate her or love her, don’t really know any other ex UK PM that generates this sort of emotion

Was there a copy of this?

Do single term presidents get a smaller library?

Great post, Kern -- fascinating stuff.

Pics!

Very interesting post there Kern, thanks for that.
Mind you, it does somewhat irritate me to hear the oft-repeated claim that Clinton was some kind of economic saviour? Sure, he was fortunate enough to preside over the US during a period of unprecedented global growth and prosperity (for the West) and favourable economic cycle, just as Blair was also, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that some of the things that were done by his administration could have sowed the seeds of our current gloom? Some stuff here, for example:

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/02/0 ... this-finan

... Anyway, I did chuckle at the exhibits. I was half expecting a dress complete with a good helping of Harry Monk to be in there somewhere.

The CRA had very little effect on the financial markets - most of the loans that were made under CRA terms were actually of lower risk than the non-CRA loans (which also made up the bulk of the subprime market).

http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds ... index.html

If you're after something to pin down on him, the repeal of the Glass-Steagall banking reforms of the 30s happened under his watch.

(Clinton's main economic achievement was pretty much raising taxes shortly after getting into power, which helped set the scene for the improving economy of the 90s and saving Mexico, but let's not forget, was also responsible for passing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the Defence of Marriage Act, and the total failure of healthcare reform. A horribly flawed Presidency, but aren't they all?)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell was a pretty weak compromise, but at least he repealed the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces at all.

Explain something to my muddled mind: If we have separate toilets for men and women, why don't we also have one for "men who like men" and "women who like women"?

I mean, what purpose are the separate male/female toilets meant to serve?

It's a strange idea, when you think about it

"People who tend to piss on the floor" and "People who don't"

Heh, I live about a mile from the Clinton Library and a block away from the Governor's Mansion which was his old home when he ran the state. Actually there's a very nice apartment at the top of the library building which is his hang-out when he visits, which is fairly often. Everyone in Arkansas has stories about him.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed it.

Hi Geeza!

Did you ever meet him?

I stayed over in Little Rock enroute to Pea Ridge, a battlefield at the far northwest of the state. The Ozarks, with their rocky and forested hills, were beautiful. If you're around at the end of the month, try and get to the 150th Shiloh - only a four hour drive for you!

Hello!

I've not met him personally, although I've seen him speak a few times and have overtaken his entourage on the motorway at least twice. I'm actually a Brit living in AR (don't ask) so don't have family here or wide connections. Bill is much-loved in the State although it's fair to say he is a divisive figure. Republicans, to a man, loathe him with a passion I've rarely seen which is odd in that he wasn't exactly a full-on Red Commie at all. Quite conservative in many respects. Still, I think he represented something that the other side of the political fence couldn't deal with on any level. It's hard to pin down. His rep with the ladies is infamous of course. It's odd though, with the economy the way it is, his time and the 90s in general are seen as good times, even nostalgic which is weird.

And I love the Ozarks, you're right, it's a unique and stunning place. The locals are, um, an interesting bunch. /scared.

Edit: And actually, if you've ever been to Hope, and I have, the fact that a President came from there is astounding. There is something "American" about that if you know what I mean.

Fuck a Margaret Thatcher museum, I've often said that so many people want to dance on her grave they ought to bury her under a nightclub.

Super thread Kern! (well, while it lasted )

WB GeeZa.

He's a regular library visitor?

Well, that locks him for Bestest President in my book. Presidents! Support your local library!

(Especially since Secret Service have to clear the place out of punters, and secret service people are very quiet library users who whisper.)