With Presidents' Day just around the corner, you may have 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and its legends on your mind. The presidential library system commemorates the nation's recent presidents and their accomplishments, and there are two such libraries within driving distance of CMC: The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace and The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

These libraries preserve the presidents' papers, records, and other historical materials. The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace is a privately supported, non-profit institution committed to educating the public on the life and career of President Nixon, as well as promoting an interest in history and public affairs. The Reagan Library, also located within an easy drive, is part of the presidential library system, established by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. President Roosevelt began his own library by donating personal and presidential papers to the federal government, along with part of his Hyde Park estate to hold the museum building. At the dedication of his library on June 30, 1941, he gave his reasons for establishing such a resource:

"To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future."

Nixon Library & Birthplace
18001 Yorba Linda Blvd.
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 993-3393
Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays
Admission: Adults $5.95, Students $3.95, Active Military and Seniors $4.95

Permanent galleries include:

• President Nixon's faithfully restored birthplace home.
• The Road to Presidency
• World Leaders, featuring gifts given to the Nixons and life-size statues of 10 world leaders.
• Berlin Wall Freedom Presentation: authentic 12-foot section of wall
• Ambassador of Goodwill: Pat Nixon
• Area 37: Richard Nixon and the History of America in Space
• Lincoln Sitting Room: recreation including brown armchair and ottoman used by Nixon
• Gowns of the First Lady and daughters Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox.
• Presidential Limousine
• Watergate Gallery
• Memorial site of President and Mrs. Nixon

Special Events in February include:

• Feb. 8: temporary exhibit opens on Secret Treaties: Tools and Artifacts of Diplomacy, featuring the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, which is being displayed in the U.S. for the first time. The treaty ended the Thirty Years' War and provides the basis for the modern system of nation-states.

Reagan Library
40 Presidential Drive
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(800) 410-8354
(805) 522-8444
Open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission: General $5
Research Room open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Permanent galleries include:

• The life and career of President Reagan
• A section of the Berlin Wall
• A deactivated Cold War missile
• An exact replica of Reagan's Oval Office
• Ranch items
• Movie years memorabilia
• President Reagan's presidential limousine.
• Air Force One (72-27000), retired in Sept. 2001, will be a part of the Museum of Presidential Travel, opening in 2004, along with Reagan's limousine and Marine 1 helicopter.

Special Events in February include:

• Feb. 6: President Reagan's 91st Birthday celebration
• Feb. 12: Peggie Noonan book signing
• Feb. 17: temporary exhibit opens on Spies: Secrets of CIA, KGB, and Hollywood

Outside the Reagan presidential library.

A gallery in the Nixon presidential library.