Oct 24 – Clinton Center and Little Rock downtown

We made it to the Clinton Presidential Center by 10 a.m. and I am glad because it really took a while to go through it. As we drove into the parking area we realized there was a dog show being held in the park. It was HOWL-O-WEEN in the park with the proceeds going to an animal shelter. The grounds are really nice with some really good fall color in the leaves. We have seen the first reds in the trees since we got into Arkansas. It is interesting that north-west of the Mississippi, trees with red are not native to that environment. Another good reason to be from the south! We noticed there is an old railroad depot south of the Clinton building and an old railroad trestle to the north of the building. If you look at the total picture, it gives the Clinton building the conceptual appearance of being a huge track with the building mounted on it. Interesting that President Clinton said at the dedication that someone told him it looked like a big house trailer! Once inside, the first exhibit was President Clinton’s Mustang. It originally belonged to his brother but he bought it and had it restored while he was governor of Arkansas. The only thing that would have made it better would be that it was red! Also on the first floor was the Presidential limo. The write-up said it would seat 3 in the rear front-facing seat and 3 on rear-facing jump seats. From there we went to the second floor. The first room we went into was a duplicate of the Cabinet Room. We had a guide who pointed out that the President’s chair was 2 inches taller than the other chairs and she held the Presidential flag so we could make a picture. She also told us that when the building was under construction, the workers put a finishing coat on the wood floor in the Cabinet room only to come in the next morning and find raccoon tracks. They sanded the tracks and reapplied the finish coat only to come in the second morning and find raccoon tracks. The same thing happened the third night and this Presidential Library is the only one that has raccoon tracks on the floor! From there we moved to the beginning of the displays of the Presidential years. It was really impressive. Instead of having to read everything, there are TV monitors along the way with President Clinton discussing the displays. I was reminded of how much he was able to accomplish even with the other party in control of the legislature. When he took office we had a huge budget deficit, unemployment over 7.5% and major issues with poverty. All of these turned around in the 8 years he was president and there were advancements in every area. Funding was provided for 100,000 additional police officers, anti-terrorism law signed, Welfare reform signed, minimum wage increased, and we had a significant budget surplus when he left office. In his State of the Union address in Jan 1998 he said, “Now, if we balance the budget for next year, it is projected that we’ll then have a sizable surplus in the years that immediately follow. What should we do with this projected surplus? Save Social Security first.” It was really good to remember how good things were during his presidency. On that floor was also a series of displays about his younger years. We saw his diploma from Training Union at the Baptist Church, his picture while he was in the Hot Springs Arkansas high school band, pictures of him and Hillary when they were young, his first contract as a law professor at Arkansas University and his collection of saxophones. We also saw memorabilia from when he was governor of Arkansas (the youngest person elected governor) and I was interested in how much Hillary worked for the needs of children before she and Bill Clinton were married. There has been a lot of controversy about a statement she is quoted as making, “It takes a village to raise a child.” We saw the entire quotation and I will say that I agree with her statement when read in context. She said, “And we have learned that to raise a happy, healthy and hopeful child, it takes a family. It takes teachers. It takes clergy. It takes business people. It takes community leaders. It takes all of us. Yes, it takes a village.” I certainly agree with that statement. We also saw depictions of the First Pets, Buddy and Socks. We then went to the third floor. Here we found a duplication of the Oval Office including a duplication of the Presidential desk used by many presidents since Queen Victoria gave it to President Hayes. This floor also contained displays of many of the gifts given to the Clintons while they were in office. There were signs explaining the procedures for gifts. If the gifts are from other countries, they are accepted on behalf of the people of the U.S. All those gifts are in the care of the National Archives and its presidential Libraries such as the Clinton Presidential Center. If the gifts are from U.S. citizens or companies, the President must determine if he will keep the gift or if it will also become the property of the U.S. If he keeps the gift personally, the treasury department determines the value and the President must pay tax on the gift. You cannot believe all the gifts that were displayed. There were sports gifts, a gift from Lance Armstrong, and gifts ranging from a bronze ballerina to a beautiful wicker and reed horse. On this floor there also was a special exhibit entitled “Jelly beans and Jewels.” This was very special in that it included artifacts from other presidential libraries. There was a display of First Ladies dresses (most of them beautiful gowns.) There was also interesting displays of spurs given to FDR by Roy Rogers, beautiful jewelry given to various presidents. There was so much that I cannot possibly include enough pictures to have you appreciate this Center. As we were leaving we learned that the old Railroad depot next door is the Clinton school for public service, a Masters Program of the University of Arkansas. It is extremely difficult to get into that program which has only 35 students per year. President Clinton comes to this area and addresses those students about once a month. When he is in town, he stays in the Penthouse apartment atop the Presidential Center. When we left, we took the shuttle down to the Clinton Museum Store where we had our picture made with a very special person. We also went to the town park where they were having River-fest with an antique car show. By the time we got back to the hotel we were both exhausted. James has been to several Presidential libraries and he believes this is the most interesting for the general public. The displays are exceptional. I hope each of you have the opportunity to see this wonderful Presidential Center.