Could the Donald Trump presidential library – or theme park – lie ahead?
On the night Donald Trump won the US presidency in 2016, he gave his supporters a thumbs up and delivered a victory speech in the ballroom of a midtown Manhattan hotel. On either side of the stage were two mounted glass cases. Inside, like untouchable holy relics, were two red caps emblazoned with the words “Make America great again” (Maga).
It was the type of reverential display that visitors might expect to see at a future Donald J Trump Presidential Library and Museum – if, that is, such a complex ever gets built. Whereas the last 14 occupants of the White House are commemorated in official archives and exhibitions around the country, the divisive figure of Trump is hardly known for his embrace of norms.
He has not expressed an interest in a post-presidential foundation or library and is under no legal obligation to build one. Indeed, as the reality of his election defeat by his Democratic challenger Joe Biden slowly dawns on him, he is said to be contemplating another run for the White House in 2024.
On the other hand, a Trump presidential library, or centre, or theme park, could prove an irresistible branding opportunity. Museum displays could serve up Trump’s version of history, from the “hoax” Russia investigation to the “stolen” election. And the gift shop could be a money-spinner.
All told, it has the makings of a commercial hit, not only as a Maga shrine for the 74 million people who last month voted for Trump but for morbidly curious domestic and international tourists trying to understand an undeniably historic presidency.
“Will I pay $29.95 to go to the Donald Trump presidential centre and spa?” asked Paul Musgrave, assistant professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. “Probably I will find some way to make it tax deductible in true honor of the president. But I think that you really can learn a lot about a political culture from these sorts of presentations of self.”
America is sprinkled with buildings that offer scholars access to former presidents’ official papers – managed by the government’s National Archives – and visitors a museum experience
usually overseen by that president’s foundation, often including a period replica of the Oval Office and displays of the first lady’s dresses.
The network has grown unevenly and remains something of a patchwork. For more than a century and a half, former presidents’ papers were considered their private property that they could take with them when they left office. Some documents suffered wear and tear, some were destroyed deliberately and some sold off by family members.
But in 1938 Franklin Roosevelt, an enthusiastic amateur historian, saw the value of giving papers, photos, books and memorabilia from his administration to the nation for posterity. He shrugged off criticism that he was trying to build a monument to himself and raised funds for a library in Hyde Park, New York, to house the vast collection, then donated it all to the government’s National Archives.
Twelve more presidential libraries have followed, again privately built – each requires years of fundraising – but maintained by the federal government. Barack Obama is breaking from tradition with plans for a structure in Chicago billed as “the first fully digital presidential library”: his original records and artifacts will be kept off site at a National Archives facility.
In addition to the 14 libraries in the National Archives system, there are independent entities such as those dedicated to Abraham Lincoln and
Rutherford Hayes in Springfield, Illinois, and Fremont, Ohio, respectively. There are also plans for a Theodore Roosevelt presidential library in Medora, North Dakota.
Not for the first time, Richard Nixon might offer a blueprint for Trump. In 1990 he opened a private library at his birthplace in Yorba Linda, California, that was run by loyalists and not intended to hold his official records. Its exhibition on the Watergate scandal, which caused Nixon’s resignation, was widely ridiculed as propaganda designed to exonerate him.
Musgrave, who worked for the National Archives, recalled: “This was not a presidential library. It was just a museum dedicated to the greatness of Richard Nixon with a very small archive consisting of some pre-presidential and post-presidential records, which were only open to a select number of researchers.
“It was basically a Potemkin library to give Richard Nixon the same standing as everybody else but it wasn’t part of the federal system because Congress had decided that Nixon couldn’t be trusted with his records because he would probably destroy them. That’s why the records remained in the Washington area.”
Nixon died in 1994. Thirteen years later, the Nixon library finally joined the National Archives system and took possession of his official records. “The price of admission was redoing the museum,” Musgrave continued. “A new Watergate exhibit went in, it told the truth about Watergate, it didn’t refer to it as ‘a coup’ led by a Democratic House of Representatives. All of this sounds familiar, right?”
Should Trump decide to follow suit and go it alone, he too could present a mythical narrative of his presidency – from his inauguration to race relations, from impeachment to the coronavirus pandemic – free from federal constraints on accuracy. Past form suggests that he would have little trouble raising the necessary funds.
Jonathan Alter, a biographer who spent long hours researching at the Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter libraries, said: “He has a number of rich, rabid supporters and they might give him enough. I think what he’ll do is he’ll build a museum to himself and just say screw the library part of it.
“It’ll be a splashy museum that celebrates him, that whitewashes anything that went wrong, that doesn’t mention being impeached except as a witchhunt. And mostly it’ll be an opportunity to monetise his legacy.”
But where? Last month Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian, invited his Twitter followers to suggest potential locations for a Trump presidential library. The responses included a federal prison, North Korea, Moscow, an outdoor toilet and Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Philadelphia.
Joking apart, the libraries are typically located in the president’s home town and often prove to be his final resting place – visitors can stand at the graves of Truman, Reagan and others. For Trump, who officially switched his residence from New York to Florida, the home state of Mickey Mouse seems to be the leading contender.
Michael D’Antonio, author of The Truth About Trump and the upcoming A Consequential President, said: “I could see him having a broadcast centre somewhere in Florida and it would welcome visitors almost like a little Trump theme park where they could see programmes being done, eat at Trump restaurants, stay in Trump hotels and there might be Trump carousels for the kiddies. Your imagination isn’t sufficient to conjure what might happen.”
Each library has distinct features. John F Kennedy’s sailboat Victura is displayed outside his in Boston, while the story of his assassination is told in sombre, understated terms in a dark corridor. Nixon’s has the helicopter on which he departed the White House in 1974. Ronald Reagan’s Air Force One plane is on show at his in Simi Valley, California. Students visiting George W Bush’s in Dallas, Texas, can test their leadership potential in a recreation of the Situation Room.
The one thing that seems certain about Trump’s is that it would not be low-key. Musgrave commented: “He could absolutely do what he wanted. People joke, ‘Oh, is everything going to be gold-plated?’ I mean, honestly, why not?
“Do we think that he’s going to be restrained by good taste? Look at Mara-Lago: that is not a difficulty that he labors under. What Donald Trump is selling to the people who will be giving to build this is Donald Trump and so
I think that you could very well have a physical edifice that gets built to advance Trump’s interests and looks fairly imposing.”
He added: “Donald Trump is not going to be an ex-president like any other ex-president and we shouldn’t expect his presidential centre to obey any of the norms that we have come to expect.”
Just as Trump has expressed contempt for his predecessors and will be an awkward member of the ex-presidents’ club, so his library – if it ever happens – is unlikely to fall neatly into place. Clifton Truman Daniel, honorary chairman of the board of the Truman Library Institute, said: “My grandfather designed his presidential library as a teaching tool, not a monument to him. President Trump’s will be the opposite. The truth of his presidency will be written by others.”
Congress had decided that Nixon couldn’t be trusted with his records because he would probably destroy them
Paul Musgrave