The Barack Obama Presidential Center opened in Chicago last week to great fanfare. Following years of construction, and amid intense debate about how the project would affect the surrounding community, dignitaries gathered to celebrate the opening of the newest addition to the nation’s landscape of buildings honoring those who have occupied the Oval Office. The campus has beautiful views, beautiful art, and interesting exhibits. Tourists and school groups will certainly enjoy spending time at the grounds, learning about one of the most influential leaders of recent history.
By many accounts, the facility is attractive. The show includes an honest assessment of Obama’s time in office and a positive vision of using the center to nurture the next generation of civic leaders.
But are these libraries—or centers in Obama’s case—being built and run properly? For decades, they have been sources of heated debate, often fueling political problems that frustrate Americans. At the same time, some of their primary functions are fading.
Unfortunately, despite the good intentions and historic nature of the Obama presidency—not to mention his many accomplishments that remade America—the newly opened institution puts some of the worst problems of the presidential library system on full display.
A modern president the library system began in the mid-1950s. Before that, the presidential papers were considered the property of former commanders-in-chief. Some were destroyed, and others, such as those of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, were passed on and sold by their heirs. For example, Lincoln’s son, Robert, took his father’s papers before giving them to the Library of Congress. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set an important precedent when he moved his papers to the National Archives. Roosevelt also built a museum with personal funds on his family’s estate in Hyde Park, New York, then turned it over to the federal government in 1940.
The federal system came into existence with the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. The act, signed into law by President Dwight Einsehower, established a federal system of presidential libraries. The bill authorized Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to operate libraries that would serve as museums and archive archives. Construction of the buildings will be funded through a combination of potential sources, including private donors, local governments, state governments and universities.
Since the passage of the law, presidential libraries have been opened across the country. If you look at the Simi Valley, Ronald Reagan even puts the Air Force One plane that he used. On any given day, the research rooms of these facilities are filled with historians, journalists, freelance writers, and students poring over boxes full of memos, letters, and other documents from each respective administration.
Despite the contribution these libraries have made in citizenship education, they have also faced serious problems.
From the beginning, access to archival materials has been a constant issue. These tensions came to a head during the Nixon era, when the disclosure of White House and Oval Office phone records during the Watergate hearings raised fears that Nixon might destroy his own records. In 1974, Congress passed the Presidential Records and Preservation Act, which gave NARA the authority to take control of Nixon’s records. Four years later, Congress enacted a more stringent law, the Presidential Records Act, requiring all presidents to preserve and transfer their records to the federal government, designating the material as public rather than private property. “Under the new law,” President Jimmy Carter he said after signing the bill, “all but the most private of these documents shall remain in the hands of the Federal Government after the administration leaves office.”
Even after 1978, historians continued to be frustrated in their efforts to find documents that, in the words of Robert Caro, would allow them to “turn every page.” There were rumors that families and institutions made research easy for scholars who were sympathetic to the president and difficult for those who were not. Presidents can still delay access to documents related to certain types of information (such as national security) for up to 12 years. The personal papers of influential advisers fell outside the White House’s filing requirements and were therefore often inaccessible.
Foundations also used their influence to ensure that public exhibitions presented only the best of the president’s era. NARA officials became an important force in opposing these decisions, although they may have difficulty influencing the debate due to the foundations’ financial muscle.
Once again, Nixon became the center of controversy. When the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum opened in 1990 in Yorba Linda, California, its Watergate exhibit described the scandal as “revolutionary.” The library was opened as a private institution, run by the Richard Nixon Foundation, as its facilities were located in the Washington area as a result of a 1974 law. Because of the ongoing legal battle over Nixon’s presidential records, the library did not receive federal documents for several years.
By 2005, Congress was he finally moved the record at the Nixon library. University of Virginia historian Timothy Naftali became, in 2007, the museum’s first federally appointed director. Naftali fought to create a more authentic experience for visitors, and focused his efforts on how the museum approached Watergate. “How could people believe that our archivists were providing unrestricted access to documents if our museum seemed biased?” he asked.
Under Naftali’s leadership, the museum launched a historical exhibition about the scandal. The National Park’s participation was essential to this effort. Naphtali he told it of Atlantic, “We had to create a different culture, a neutral culture. The beauty of having the National Park involved is that you always had people pushing—sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently—to remind the bottom line that the American people have a right to the whole truth.” Nixon’s loyal supporters were it is not very happy In 2011, Naftali resigned.
Then there is the problem of money and politics. Even before presidents leave office, donations start pouring in. Fundraising for presidential libraries has become big business, and big donors, often with interests in public policy, line up to give. The Presidential Libraries Act of 1986 exacerbated the situation by requiring the creation of an endowment to support libraries, instead of increasing the power to design and operate buildings and NARA.
Privately funded libraries created another way for private money to enter the political system, and the disclosure laws governing these donations remain unclear. When Bill Clinton was still in office, Denise Rich pledged $450,000 to the Clinton library; hours before leaving office, Clinton pardoned her ex-husband, Marc Rich, who fled to Switzerland in 1983 after being charged with several counts of fraud and tax evasion. Powerful people are not the only source of funding. According to information from knownLockheed Martin and Palantir have supported the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library while AT&T has given to the John F. Kennedy and Obama libraries. President George W. Bush brought a new level of sophistication of the process by creating a national finance committee to raise funds for its library in each state.
Now, Obama has added a new concern to that list. The Obama Center will not house any archives and is not part of the presidential library system. The Obama Foundation will retain full control. National Park staff will not take any role in organizing the institution. This personalized structure was built upon the 2022 decision, when NARA reached an agreement to transfer control of the day-to-day operations and maintenance of the Bush library to the George W. Bush Foundation.
Links between influence and fundraising is evident for former President Joe Biden, who is struggling to raise money for his foundation now that he is out of office and has very little political power. In contrast, President Donald Trump is ready to lift funds for the “library” which will come in at an estimated cost of $1 billion.
After ready controversial decision that archival materials would only be available as digital documents—despite the belief among many respected scholars that unfiltered, unedited access to the original record is essential to the transparency and forms of discovery that reshape historical understanding—the Obama records have fully entered the digital age. While there is some merit to the argument that digitization increases access, the Obama Center will not preserve any archival materials at all. This removes one of the primary functions of the presidential library. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Garrow, Obama’s biographer, warned that “the lack of a true Obama presidential library will have the effect of discouraging serious and potentially important research into the Obama presidency.”
Presidential Libraries and Museums are a wonderful national resource. I have spent a good part of my career working at these institutions, particularly the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Museum and Library in Austin, Texas, where I have researched several of my books. Until the Obama Center, research rooms filled with historians and writers—working alongside talented archivists—produced major breakthroughs in the way we understand our presidents. Greater access to material has naturally led to more interesting accounts, and more interest, for all presidents (including Nixon). At the same time, museums have become common stops for travelers and offer a brief but meaningful lesson about the masses—something that is increasingly rare in our age of navigation.
Because these institutions are so important, major problems that have existed for a long time must be faced. While some Democratic members of CongressAs Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin have tried to address issues such as private donations, presidential libraries have typically remained out of the center of political debate. They are treated as secondary concerns, left to the domain of curators and archivists rather than recognized as national treasures that Congress must protect. Without strong safeguards and safeguards against political influence, the nation’s access to presidential history, and the democratic lessons these institutions provide, cannot be taken for granted.
Unfortunately, the center named after Obama, a leader with a deep appreciation for history and a deep respect for the role of government in American life, has created a model that further separates presidential centers from processes that ensure accountability, rigorous historical debate, and first-rate research.
While it’s likely his talented team will work hard to deliver historically honest performances, the odds fall on his successor. Trump’s Justice Department has already advanced a legal argument that the Presidential Records Act of 1978 is unconstitutional and that he should have full control over its material. Trump, who uses a lot of power to control the narrative about himself and about American history, revised some of his attitude after his first term, when he resisted NARA’s demands to return classified documents to the government that he had kept in his Florida home.
As a result, the changes in Chicago set a dangerous precedent for years to come.
