Kenneth (kensmind) wrote in potus_geeks,
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The Dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library

This past week, with this month's theme of Presidents in Movies, I neglected to comment on two relevant potus_geeks stories of note. The first was the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, which too place last Thursday (April 25th). All five living American presidents past and present gathered in Dallas Thursday to celebrate one of their own at the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. All of the five living Presidents (Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama) were present at the event in Dallas on the grounds of Southern Methodist University (SMU) for the dedication of the vast library and museum.

042513g12Bush+Library

All Presidents (past and present) spoke at the event. Bill Clinton applauded the “vast and beautiful building” and jokingly called it the “latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history.” The first President Bush spoke briefly, and received a standing ovation when he rose from his wheelchair to acknowledge the crowd. Others attending the event included such foreign luminaries as former British prime minister Tony Blair, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. A crowd of 10,000 assembled to dedicate the center, where interactive exhibits invite scrutiny of Bush’s major choices as president, such as the financial bailout, the Iraq War and the international focus on HIV and AIDS.

President Barack Obama travelled to Texas to attend the dedication ceremony as well as a memorial ceremony for those killed in the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas.

At the ceremony, George W. Bush said that the museum would vindicate his embattled legacy, stating “When future generations come to this library … they’re going to find out that we were true to our convictions. We liberated nations from dictatorship and freed people from AIDS.” He teared up briefly as he finished his speech, saying “I will always believe our nation's best days lie ahead.”

On display at the museum is the bullhorn that Bush used amid the chaos at Ground Zero three days after the September 11 attacks, when, addressing a crowd of rescue workers amid the ruins of the World Trade Center, he said: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

Bush’s library will feature the largest digital holdings of any of the 13 presidential libraries —including more than 70 million pages of paper records, 200 million emails and about 43,000 artifacts — under the auspices of the National Archives and Records Administration. Situated in a fifteen acre urban park, the centre includes 226,000 square feet of indoor space.

A full-scale replica of the Oval Office as it looked during Bush’s tenure sits on the campus, as does a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. In the museum, visitors can gaze at a container of chads — the remnants of the famous Florida punch card ballots that played a pivotal role in the contested 2000 election that sent Bush to Washington.

Former first lady Laura Bush led the design committee, with a stated goal of ensuring that her family’s Texas roots were conspicuously reflected. Architects used local materials, including Texas Cordova cream limestone and trees from the central part of the state, in its construction.

Following is a video with a brief description of the library:



and here is a PBS report about the ceremony and the remarks of the five living presidents, and it concludes with a very good panel discussion about the legacies of past presidents. (One of the panelists is my favourite presidential historian H. W. Brands.)

Tags: barack obama, bill clinton, george h. w. bush, george w. bush, jimmy carter, presidential libraries and museums
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