Metroactive Features | Dueling Presidents

[ Features Index | Metro | Metroactive Central ]

"I'm Going to Impeachmentland!"

Tricky Dick's Toon Town vs.
The Gipper's Spaced Mountain
Disneyland and Universal Studios duke it out for the lion's share of tourist action in Southern California, but the Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon presidential libraries are also locked in an intense battle for hearts and travelers checks. Their respective brochures--slightly sun-faded in the motel lobby, next to the tar pits pamphlet--campaign for your esteem as if in a conservative's dream Primary. If one host is slightly more anxious to please, perhaps it's just his way of saying, "Now that I'm rehabilitated and buried, I'm going to the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace!"

Richard Nixon
Library & Birthplace Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library
Be Our Guest! "A high-tech roller coaster ride through a half century of California, U.S., and world history!" "Operated by the National Archives and Records Administration"--a claim the nearly impeached Nixon can't make.
Counter-punch "The First Presidential Museum to be built and operated entirely without taxpayers' funds." Cheaper admission prices
Location, location, location On site of actual Nixon "birthplace home" in Orange County, home of suburban Republicans and revanchist anti-Communists No actual birthplace home on the premises; however, Simi Valley location was birthplace of Rodney King verdict
Fantasyland "View an inspiring 28-minute movie, 'Never Give Up: Richard Nixon in the Arena.' " Visit the "Prosperity Gallery" and "Legacy Video Theater"
Whose is bigger? "Authentic 12-foot high section" of Berlin Wall
Building size: 52,000 square feet, not including "the birthplace home"
Site size: 9 acres
"Authentic Section of the Berlin Wall... 9.5 feet tall"
Building size: 153,000 square feet
Site size: "29 acres on a 100 acre tract"
Presidential Seals Appearing in Brochure 6 1
Presidents not named in library title who showed up for "Dedication Day" 3 4
Tactful reference to scandal-plagued administration Experience the "controversy" of Watergate; "RN's achievements in Space, Civil Rights, the Environment, ...crime" "I have no fears of [history's judgment], for we have done our best." --brochure excerpt from Reagan's dedication speech
Visits by ex-Soviet presidents 0 1
Credit-grabs for fall of Communism Picture of Berlin Wall slab; picture of eerie-looking Chairman Mao statue; two "Peace and Freedom" references Two pictures of Berlin Wall slab, one with dazed-looking real-life Gorby; "Peace and Freedom Gallery"
Scary sideshow attractions "See the pistol presented to the President by Elvis Presley"; "stroll among life-sized world leaders," see piano Nixon "learned to play as a boy"; "have a video 'conversation' with Richard Nixon"; "witness... White House events through the eyes of Pat Nixon." "Meet the President Reagan Interactive Video Theater"; experience "The First Lady's Gallery."
A Magic Kingdom! "Southern California's most exciting historical attraction" "Before documents can be made available to the public, they must be reviewed by archivists according to the provisions of the Presidential Records Act of 1978."

[ Metro | Metroactive Central ]

	Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace	Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Be Our Guest!	"A high-tech roller coaster ride through a half century of California, U.S., and world history!"	"Operated by the National Archives and Records Administration"--a claim the nearly impeached Nixon can't make.
Counter-punch	"The First Presidential Museum to be built and operated entirely without taxpayers' funds."	Cheaper admission prices
Location, location, location	On site of actual Nixon "birthplace home" in Orange County, home of suburban Republicans and revanchist anti-Communists	No actual birthplace home on the premises; however, Simi Valley location was birthplace of Rodney King verdict
Fantasyland	"View an inspiring 28-minute movie, 'Never Give Up: Richard Nixon in the Arena.' "	Visit the "Prosperity Gallery" and "Legacy Video Theater"
Whose is bigger?	"Authentic 12-foot high section" of Berlin Wall Building size: 52,000 square feet, not including "the birthplace home" Site size: 9 acres	"Authentic Section of the Berlin Wall... 9.5 feet tall" Building size: 153,000 square feet Site size: "29 acres on a 100 acre tract"
Presidential Seals Appearing in Brochure	6	1
Presidents not named in library title who showed up for "Dedication Day"	3	4
Tactful reference to scandal-plagued administration	Experience the "controversy" of Watergate; "RN's achievements in Space, Civil Rights, the Environment, ...crime"	"I have no fears of [history's judgment], for we have done our best." --brochure excerpt from Reagan's dedication speech
Visits by ex-Soviet presidents	0	1
Credit-grabs for fall of Communism	Picture of Berlin Wall slab; picture of eerie-looking Chairman Mao statue; two "Peace and Freedom" references	Two pictures of Berlin Wall slab, one with dazed-looking real-life Gorby; "Peace and Freedom Gallery"
Scary sideshow attractions	"See the pistol presented to the President by Elvis Presley"; "stroll among life-sized world leaders," see piano Nixon "learned to play as a boy"; "have a video 'conversation' with Richard Nixon"; "witness... White House events through the eyes of Pat Nixon."	"Meet the President Reagan Interactive Video Theater"; experience "The First Lady's Gallery."
A Magic Kingdom!	"Southern California's most exciting historical attraction"	"Before documents can be made available to the public, they must be reviewed by archivists according to the provisions of the Presidential Records Act of 1978."

Web exclusive to the Nov. 2-Nov. 8, 1995 issue of Metro

This page was designed and created by the Boulevards team.
Copyright © 1995 Metro Publishing and Virtual Valley, Inc.

Foreclosures - Real Estate Investing

San Jose.com Real Estate