Richard Nixon Foundation

History

The Nixon Foundation founded, controlled and operated the Nixon Library from the library's dedication on July 19, 1990 until July 11, 2007, at which the Foundation invited the National Archives to take control. The two entities signed a joint operating agreement which allowed the library to become officially known as the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, welcoming it into the national system of presidential libraries. This move allowed President Nixon's White House documents to be moved to his library in Yorba Linda.

The Nixon Foundation is governed by a board of directors led by Robert C. O'Brien, a former National Security Advisor. The board includes President Nixon's daughters Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, former U.S. Ambassador to Spain George Argyros, former California governor Pete Wilson, nationally-syndicated radio host and political commentator Hugh Hewitt, media pundit Monica Crowley, and longest-serving Vietnam War POW Everett Alvarez Jr. In 2021, the Nixon Foundation board of directors named Jim Byron, a 28-year-old executive at the Nixon Foundation, as its president and CEO. Byron took a leave of absence in 2025 to manage the National Archives and Records Administration and Joe Lopez, the Nixon Foundation’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, is Acting President and CEO.

The Foundation has hosted United States presidents, first ladies and several vice presidents. Also hosted have been public affairs commentators such as Bill O'Reilly, academics such as Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The library includes "Meet the Presidents," in which presidential impersonators speak to several hundred school-aged children. To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Nixon Foundation brought 16 tons of warped steel from the World Trade Center and a damaged engine from the New York City Fire Department for a display at the Nixon Library.

Before the National Archives took over its management, the Nixon Library had been accused by several media outlets of glossing over Nixon's 1974 resignation with "whitewashed" exhibits. In 2007, the National Archives removed the 17-year-old Watergate exhibit and, after three years, the new exhibit was scheduled to open in July 2010. The Nixon Foundation objected to the proposed exhibit, because the Nixon Foundation was not consulted in the way that other presidential foundations had been consulted with similar situations. The Foundation filed a 158-page memorandum to the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries expressing their dissatisfaction and NARA stated a committee would review the objection but gave no timeline for when that process would be concluded. The exhibit opened on March 31, 2011.

Footnotes

References

1. {{cite form 990. link
2. "2001622: The Richard Nixon Foundation". [[Secretary of State of Delaware.
3. (1 April 2011). "Richard Nixon library offers candid new take on Watergate".
4. Flaccus, Gillian. (July 12, 2007). "Federal Archivists Take Control of Nixon Library". [[The Washington Post]].
5. (2004). "George Argyros".
6. [https://www.nixonfoundation.org/board-of-directors/], NixonFoundation.org, accessed January 2023
7. (17 February 2025). "Nixon Foundation President Takes Leave to Manage U.S. National Archives".
8. (July 15, 2010). "Nixon Library and Birthplace Marks Anniversary: 1990-2010". PR Newswire.
9. Mello, Michael. (September 14, 2011). ["Justice courts Nixon library crowd"](http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-09-14/news/30162106_1_breyer-decisions-florida-supreme-court }}{{Dead link). [[The Orange County Register]].
10. Harris, Jebb. (August 16, 2011). "Richard Nixon's brother plays the president". The Orange County Register.
11. (September 4, 2011). "16 Tons Of World Trade Center Wreckage To Act As Centerpiece Of 9/11 Tribute At Nixon Library". CBS2/KCAL9 News.
12. Walker, Ronald H.. (August 2, 2010). "Memorandum for Sharon Fawcett, Assistant Archivist, Office of Presidential Libraries, National Archives and Records Administration". [[National Archives and Records Administration]].
13. Nagourney, Adam. (August 7, 2010). "Watergate Becomes Sore Point at Nixon Library". [[The New York Times]].
14. Terrell, Jessica. (August 11, 2010). "Editorial weighs in on Nixon exhibit controversy". The Orange County Register.
15. Nagourney, Adam. (April 1, 2011). "Nixon Library Opens a Door Some Would Prefer Left Closed". The New York Times.