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Nixon library offers new take on Watergate scandal

History is being restored at the Richard Nixon Library, where the Watergate exhibit once told visitors nearly four decades after the scandal led to his resignation that it was really a "coup" by his rivals.

For years the library exhibit that retraces the former president's notorious saga was a target of ridicule, panned for omissions and editing that academics and critics said shaped a legacy favorable to the tainted 37th president.

On Thursday, archivists will present a revamped and expanded version of the exhibit at the library, a $500,000 makeover they say is faithful to fact, balanced and devoid of political judgment.

"What we tried to do is lay out the record and encourage visitors to come in ... and draw their own conclusions," said Susan Cooper, a spokeswoman for the National Archives.

Some material has never before been on public display, and it includes interviews with, among others, Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy and Nixon special counsel Charles Colson, who went to prison for seven months in 1975 for crimes related to the Watergate.

The exhibit opening marks a milestone for the library that has a tangled history marked by uneasy relations between Nixon loyalists and the National Archives, which took over the site in 2007 and oversees the presidential library system.

When the library opened in private hands in 1990, Nixon biographer Stephen E. Ambrose wrote that commentary heard on one heavily edited Watergate tape "would almost convince a listener that Nixon never ordered a cover-up or a payment of hush money." The private Richard Nixon Foundation, which ran the site at the time, makes clear on its website the exhibit was "President Nixon's perspective" of the scandal that brought down his presidency.

Nixon White House aide Bruce Herschensohn believes that Nixon's perspective should have remained, saying presidential libraries should be a shrine.

"I can only come to the conclusion it will probably be a hit piece," he said. "This is the Nixon library. This is his place. He's buried there ... and so is Mrs. Nixon."

He said the library has veered from archival work into politically charged interpretation since going under federal control in 2007.

The Watergate scandal began with a burglary at Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel complex in Washington, which eventually led to evidence of widespread wrongdoing in the Nixon White House and the president's resignation on Aug. 8, 1974.

The Nixon library, built with private money, was for years the only presidential library not part of the National Archives. That was because of a post-Watergate law mandating that Nixon's presidential records remain in the Washington, D.C., area. Lawmakers were afraid he would destroy documents necessary for the Watergate investigation.

The prohibition was eventually lifted by legislation pushed by California Republicans eager to incorporate the Nixon library into the national system.

Since the federal takeover, the foundation serves an advisory role. Last year it filed lengthy objections to the new exhibit, saying it lacked context to explain Nixon's decision-making.

Dismantled several years ago, the library's original Watergate exhibit was the largest of any at the site at the time, and the foundation stresses that no one found a factual error in its text or exhibits. Visitors followed documents, text and photographs arrayed along a long, darkened hallway.

Critics said it all amounted to a whitewash.

"The presentation makes the best possible case for Nixon, mainly in Nixon's own words, and is entirely self-serving," Ambrose, the historian, wrote in a Los Angeles Times column.

The library's website includes text and photos from the old exhibit. One section, titled "The drum beat swells," says: "Allegations took on the weight of fact in the minds of those who were determined to engineer a coup of their own."

The section goes on to say that Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who helped the newspaper win the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for the Watergate story and authored "All the President's Men," may have broken the law and violated ethics standards in their zeal to uncover wrongdoing and try to convict the president in the pages of the newspaper and their book.

Woodward and former Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee are scheduled to make their first visit to the library in April for a conversation about Watergate. Bernstein visited in 2007.

Presidential libraries often tend toward veneration, but there is no other president forced from office during his term. At President Bill Clinton's library, opened in 2004, visitors pass along hardwood floors through an open-air exhibit, and a timeline in the center marks Clinton's time in office. An alcove exhibit off the timeline addresses the former president's impeachment and acquittal over the Monica Lewinsky affair.

The archives' holdings from the Nixon presidency included more than 40 million pages of records, 4,000 hours of tape, 350,000 photographs and 2.2 million feet of film. A precondition for the exchange was that the Watergate exhibit be revised.

At one point, the American Library Association and 16 historians asked Congress to suspend the transfer of Nixon records for fear the library could limit public access to the materials and jeopardize their preservation.

Steve Frank, who worked on Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign in California, looks fondly on Nixon's presidency but welcomes a new, fuller treatment of Watergate at the library.

"I thought it was improper for them not to provide the whole substance of Watergate" in the original exhibit, said Frank, a conservative activist. "When you try to hide the facts, it makes it look worse than it is."

Mariani Landscape Creates Rhythm & Light Garden for Chicago Botanic Garden’s Antiques & Garden Fair

s Antiques & Garden Fair April 15-17, showcasing its specially created Rhythm & Light Garden at the annual fundraising event.

Lake Bluff, IL (PRWEB) March 29, 2011

Mariani Landscape () is participating in the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Antiques & Garden Fair for the second-straight year.

Mariani Landscape – a premier residential and commercial landscape design, installation and maintenance firm – will be showcasing the specially created Rhythm & Light Garden at the annual fundraising event, scheduled for April 15-17 at the Botanic Garden in Glencoe.

“The Antiques & Garden Fair theme is Landscapes Transformed: Gardens of a New Era,” explains Jim Osborne, Mariani’s head horticulturalist. “This is truly exemplified in the space we have decorated. Rhythm appears in the repetition of strong lines and dark gray planters, which remove clutter and distractions. Birch, boxwood and ivy create a clean look, and the play of light is noticeable on the soothing, complementary color palette. The result is a retreat from the overstimulation and stress that fills our days, offering a welcome opportunity to relax and reflect.”

Event hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 15-17, with a preview party from 6 to 10 p.m. on April 14.In its 11th year, the event features the best in classical and contemporary garden furnishings, botanical art, and home and garden design from U.S. and European exhibitors. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to .

About Mariani Landscape Since its founding in 1958, Mariani Landscape has transformed hundreds of Chicagolandresidential and commercial landscapes into outdoor living spaces that reflect clients’ lifestyles, while enhancing the value of their homes, offices and retail settings. Among its high-profile and award-winning work is Evening Island:five acres of hillside, woodland and meadow garden surrounded by lakes at the Chicago Botanic Garden.With its ISO 9001 certification, Mariani Landscape also protects clients’ landscaping investments and provides long-term value by maintaining their properties to the highest standards.For more information, please visit .

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Cynthia Martin847-864-9540Email Information

Bank of Spain sees 0.8% growth in 2011, 1.5% in 2012

The Spanish economy will expand by 0.8 percent this year and by 1.5 percent in 2012, the Bank of Spain said Wednesday, a forecast well below the government's estimate for both years.

Spain is fending off fears in international financial markets that its public deficit is unsustainably high and could prompt the country to follow Greece and Ireland into seeking an EU-IMF bailout.

The government has based its target of slashing the public deficit to below the European Union limit of 3.0 percent of annual economic output by 2013 on a forecast of growth of 1.3 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 2012.

The Spanish economy, Europe's fifth largest, contracted by 0.1 percent in 2010 after shrinking 3.7 percent in the previous year after the collapse of a property boom that lasted more than a decade.

Spain along with Greece and Ireland were the only eurozone economies to shrink in 2010.

Beyonce says bye bye to dad as manager: report

R&B superstar Beyonce Knowles and her father announced Tuesday that he'll no longer be her manager, People magazine reported.

"Business is business and family is family," Mathew Knowles said in a statement carried by the celebrity news magazine. "I love my daughter and am very proud of who she is and all that she has achieved. I look forward to her continued great success."

Beyonce, a multiple Grammy winning artist married to rapper Jay-Z, said she was "grateful for everything he has taught me."

"I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hardworking entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps," she said in a statement reported by People.

"He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly," her statement continued.

The identity of the new manager was not immediately clear. Beyonce topped rivals Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Madonna last year with earnings estimated at some 87 million dollars.

Facebook, Twitter Fans To Decide Fate of Barbie and Ken

We know you were all crushed when Barbie and Ken, yes, the dolls, split up on Valentine's Day in 2004. Fortunately for you, the cupids at Mattel are giving this plasticine couple another shot.

Toymaker Mattel has launched a massive social media campaign asking Internet users to help Ken, now in his 50th year, win back his old flame. After all, if dolls can't make it in the age of social media, who can?

At the core of the campaign is the website , where users can vote on whether Barbie should take Ken back after apparently ditching her in 2004 (inspiring a Bachelor-like reality dating show). Voters can also help Barbie sort out her feelings by voting on her "Love-o-Meter," featuring a familiar option, "It's Complicated."

The campaign also uses Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, FourSquare, and Hulu to spread the message. Fans of either doll's accounts will note the two "flirting" online. For instance, after checking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art on FourSquare, Ken left the tip: "Barbie could spend hours looking at the timeless art, and I could spend hours looking at Barbie."

Not sweet enough? Mattel has also partnered up with Magnolia Bakery in Los Angeles and New York City to create a special cupcake that will only be sold on Valentine's Day. In a mock press release covering a Ken sighting, , "On a mission to prove he's the ultimate boyfriend, America's most fashionable 'first man' was overheard saying that designing a dessert for his beloved at her favorite bakery would really take the cake. With Valentine's Day around the corner, that's the kind of sweet-talking a girl can really go for."

But despite the grand "gestures," Barbie seems torn. Her @BarbieStyles handle recently tweeted, "At a loss with what to do about @OfficialKen. A walk on the beach is exactly what this Malibu girl needs" – referring to one of her classic incarnations, Malibu Barbie.

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