Yorba Linda’s Richard Nixon Foundation has launched a $40 million educational program at the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum to augment the teaching of American civics, with more than half the money already pledged.
Under its American Civics Campaign, the foundation will construct a 50,000-square-foot exhibition hall where visitors will be able to view educational, marquee exhibits. It will also build a separate, permanent home for the presidential limousine, known as “The Beast” as well as the Marine One helicopter which was used by former Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
While announcing the campaign at a gala commemorating a celebratory reunion of 150 American prisoners of war, Ambassador Robert O’Brien, chair of the foundation’s board, pointed to a 2022 study in which 37% of respondents could not pinpoint “one of the freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.”
And less than 25% of respondents were aware the freedom to practice one’s religion is protected in the First Amendment, O’Brien said.
“We are unlikely to cherish, protect and exercise the rights if we don’t know we have them,” said O’Brien.
The Nixon Foundation is launching the program, he said, “to revive the teaching and understanding of civics and American values in our country.”
Through the program, the foundation will soon be home to a civics education center where interactive simulations will be used to teach history as well as offer visitors the chance to view current events through the concepts enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
Qatar has pledged a $20 million gift to the American Civics Campaign, and the 50,000-square-foot exhibition hall will be named for the Gulf state.
The Nixon administration first established diplomatic relations with the oil-rich country in 1972. President Joe Biden declared Qatar a major non-NATO ally of the U.S. last year.
Other pledges came from Barbara and Alex Bowie, longtime residents of Newport Beach, who will donate $3 million toward the construction of a transportation pavilion to house the old Marine One helicopter.
Ling and Charlie Zhang’s gift of $2 million will also be used toward constructing that pavilion.
Charlie Zhang, a businessman, serves as the treasurer of the Richard Nixon Foundation. He made the donation, he said, because he is grateful for the freedoms he enjoys in the U.S. and for the next generation to learn about what a great leader Nixon was.
There is not an estimated timeline for the project as of yet, said a spokesperson for the Nixon Foundation.
