INTIMATE LOOKS AT THE MEN WHO RAN AMERICA

INTIMATE LOOKS AT THE MEN WHO RAN AMERICA Story and photography by Margaret & Eric Anderson [Photography: Some images are published on Anderson's America by courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, all rights reserved; some by courtesy of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, and the Archives of the Richard Nixon Library, all rights reserved; and some are in the public domain. All others are by Margaret & Eric Anderson.] Southern Californians are fortunate to have two presidential libraries fairly close to San Diego though those driving to the Reagan one may wonder -- as they wander the Simi Valley -- if their journey will ever end. There are presidential libraries elsewhere to be sure and, indeed, those curious about the role of the Presidency in the United States may find their questions best answered in Hyde Park, NY where the Presidential Library System began in 1939 with Franklin D. Roosevelt's donating his private and presidential papers to the Federal Government.
	Each library since has brought back those indelible times when some mother's boy became the most powerful man in the world. America's legacy was not always so conveniently displayed. Before FDR, the handling of the memoirs of previous presidents was a haphazard procedure. Widows and heirs had cleared out countless documents, uncaring of any historical significance. Jackson had lost his material in a fire, and Adams had given his to the Massachusetts Historical Society. There was no system. The Library of Congress was spending millions each year trying to locate and collect the private papers of previous presidents. Reasoning there had to be a better way, Roosevelt acted like a typical politician. He formed a committee.


Roosevelt, however, followed its advice and raised the money for his Hyde Park building while his mother donated the land. His Presidential papers demonstrate the growing role of government after the New Deal. There are 110,000 photographs of FDR throughout his life. Unbelievably, this is the same number of pictures taken of President Nixon during his eight days in China. All presidential documents up to the era of Hoover are still fewer than the eight million pages from Roosevelt's life. Yet Ford's 28 months in office produced 15 million pages.
	Dr. Donald B. Schewe, former assistant director of the Roosevelt Library once told us: "A scholar can study all Lincoln wrote but nobody can read 15 million pages. It would take more than a lifetime. No one person will ever be able to give a complete, objective report on any president from Ford on." In some ways it's easier to figure out Harry S. Truman. He was man of strong language but his working Bible at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri is well-marked in his own hand.