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American Morning

Ask CNN: Who Owns the Presidential Libraries?

Aired May 11, 2001 - 9:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTY WILLIS, CRITTENDEN, KENTUCKY: My name is Marty Willis, and I live in Crittenden, Kentucky, and I would like to ask CNN: who owns our presidential libraries?

BRUCE MORTON, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the short answer is that the people do, in the sense that the U.S. government does. Presidents, ex-presidents themselves are responsible for getting the libraries built. Franklin Roosevelt started that when he donated some land at Hyde Park in New York. He and his friends built this library for FDR's presidential papers.

How much have things grown? Bill Clinton plans to raise something like 125 million for his library. But once they're up and working, the National Archives takes them over and is in charge. Millions and millions of documents, something like 10 million photographs, they're all run by the government, except for the Richard Nixon library.

Nixon resigned, of course, under threat of impeachment. Congress impounded his papers for fear evidence would be destroyed. The archives is slowly processing them, and while that goes on, the Nixon library in Yorba Linda, California, is privately run. It's the only one that is.

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