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+--- Thread: Presidential Library Opens $11 Million Exhibit That Reconsiders LBJ (/thread-10108.html)
Presidential Library Opens $11 Million Exhibit That Reconsiders LBJ - Adele Edisen - 18-12-2012
Mon, December 17, 2012 10:29:28 AM
Presidential Library opens $11 million exhibit that reconsiders LBJ
From: Ed T <uncleed33@hotmail.com>
> Subject: Presidential Library opens $11 million exhibit that reconsiders LBJ
>
> Presidential Library opens $11 million exhibit that reconsiders LBJ
> By Michael Barnes
> American-Statesman Staff
>
> http://www.statesman.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/shaping-history-wi
> th-lbj/nTXQp/
>
> This week, a major Austin institution will attempt to reshape American
> history. The rebranded and updated LBJ Presidential Library will open its
> $11 million high-tech permanent exhibit - three years in the making - to the
> public at 10 a.m. Saturday.
>
> "It takes at least a generation for us to get an objective view of a
> president and his times," said library Director Mark Updegrove, a
> presidential historian and former media executive. "For LBJ it took longer
> because passions around Vietnam ran so deep. We are now to a point where the
> long shadow of Vietnam is beginning to recede from LBJ's legacy. People are
> beginning to appreciate the prodigious accomplishments of LBJ."
>
> The only presidential library that cost nothing to visit will begin charging
> admission - topping out at $8 for most adults - to pay for the exhibit
> (opening day, Dec. 22, will be free). The project was also backed by large
> gifts from former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and Austin benefactor Ann Butler as
> well as LBJ's daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.
>
> Incorporating hundreds of photographs, films, audio recordings, interactive
> flat screens and assorted ephemera, the new exhibit is stacked on three
> floors of the 10-story complex. Telephone handsets throughout the exhibit
> allow the visitor to hear LBJ conversing with other leaders on public issues
> from the 1960s.
>
> "What makes the LBJ Library distinct is the rich collections of audio tapes
> of LBJ's conversations in the Oval Office," exhibit design team leader
> Patrick Gallagher said. "It allows us to tell the story through his voice
> and emotions. I don't think there is another library out there that could
> make that claim."
>
> The complicated exhibit evolved through the sustained efforts of historians,
> artists, technicians, fundraisers and behind-the-scenes power brokers.
>
> The LBJ Library renovation "is the perfect example of a truly dynamic
> revolution," said Susan K. Donius, national director of the Office of
> Presidential Libraries. "And what can be accomplished when so many come
> together with a common cause."
>
> While not ignoring the controversies of LBJ's presidency, the displays build
> a case for Johnson's ongoing impact on American life. One elaborate display
> allows the visitor to trace how the president's initiatives affect the
> individual visitor today.
>
> "I don't think many people realize the profound impact LBJ has on their
> lives," design leader Gallagher said. "I also believe they will come away
> with a very different understanding of the events of the Vietnam War. They
> will see the deeply emotional and personal struggles of LBJ."
>
> The idea for revamping the library's primary public attraction came early in
> Updegrove's tenure. In 2009, he discussed the idea with Larry Temple,
> chairman of the LBJ Foundation, which helps fund the library along with the
> LBJ School of Public Affairs.
>
> Updegrove, whose book "Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency" was released
> in March, had done research in all the U.S. presidential libraries. He later
> visited the country's newest historical museums and renovations to get a
> sense of what could be done here.
>
> "I think this is our best historical exhibit in the United States," he said.
> "That sounds like a Texas brag. But we had a very clear vision that came
> from what Johnson wanted: a balanced look at his presidency."
>
> For the design, the library leaders chose Patrick Gallagher and Associates
> from Silver Spring, Md., responsible for the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles,
> the revised Jimmy Carter Library and Museum in Atlanta, and the Ronald
> Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., among other major
> projects.
>
> Historians and designers agreed that the exhibit needed a transparent
> narrative.
>
> "You always need to think about the young student who walks in today and
> says, 'What does this story and this presidency have to do with me?' "
> Gallagher said. "What is the contemporary context of how this complex story
> affects my life today?"
>
> Library officials estimate that more than 100,000 people visit the museum
> annually. They expect that number to increase by one-third after the new
> exhibit opens.
>
> The LBJ planners leaned heavily on historians such as Robert Dallek and
> Michael Beschloss, who have reminded the public about LBJ's influence on
> civil rights, Medicare, education, immigration, ecology, poverty and the
> arts. Other prominent historians - Douglas Brinkley, Doris Kearns Goodwin
> and Robert Caro, for instance - joined them in video clips that are part of
> the exhibit.
>
> Special attention is paid to the long and traumatic battle for civil rights
> and voting rights.
>
> "There's no president since Abraham Lincoln that comes close to the
> achievements of LBJ on civil rights," historian Goodwin says in the exhibit.
>
> Beschloss suggested that the library address LBJ's faith. One display
> relates how the president bore the burden of office partly by attending
> several Sunday services at different churches. As LBJ explained to his
> daughter Luci, "When you're in this position, you need all the help you can
> get."
>
> Among the most common historical misperceptions, according to Updegrove:
> LBJ simply completed things the assassinated JFK would have done, including
> the crucial Voting Rights Act of 1965.
>
> "He took that and other causes far further than others imagined,"
> Updegrove said. "LBJ had a knack for it."
>
> Given the historical lessons featured in the new exhibit, what might LBJ
> think of the current federal budget negotiations, which could significantly
> alter his achievements?
>
> "It's important to know LBJ saw the law as chalk on a blackboard,"
> Updegrove said. "Not something that was etched in cement. He saw something
> that needed to be done at the time, not something that would remain on the
> books forever."
>
> Historian Dallek, who wrote a two-volume biography of LBJ and provided
> material for the exhibit, had no problem providing his own updated
> assessment of the president's legacy as reflected in the exhibit.
>
> "What he does changes the face of America forever," Dallek said. "It is a
> social revolution that we'll never go back on."
>
> More:
>
> http://www.statesman.com/interactive/LBJ-library/
Adele