Truman’s library, that is, makes the president an actor within history. Clinton’s library makes him the focus of history. Arranged below each year’s timeline, for example, are loose-leaf notebooks containing every one of the president’s daily schedules for eight years. Most of these are uninformative, containing notices of meetings, jogs, down time and travels. And instead of showing important documents that might shed light, for example, on the failure of the Middle East peace talks, displays include flattering letters from celebrities like Oscar de la Renta, Chevy Chase, Tony Danza, Whoopi Goldberg (“You’re the cat’s pajamas”) and Dom DeLuise (“When I grow up I want to be just like you”).
It’s like an all-star team from the direct-to-video aisle.