This election year sparks intense focus on who will become our future commander in chief, making now a great time to embark on a tour at one of America’s storied presidential libraries and museums. You’ll feel like you’re reliving American history when you explore these interactive institutions honoring past presidents. The treasure trove of U.S. history and memorabilia found at these landmarks are as fun as they are educational. So, if you’re inspired to plan a historical getaway, head to these eight popular libraries and museums in 2016.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Hyde Park, New York
The museum and research center of America’s only four-term president recently completed its first renovation since it opened 75 years ago. Its newest permanent exhibit, “Confront the Issues,” consists of digital “flipbooks” exploring ten of his major controversies, including “FDR and the Holocaust” and “Japanese Internment Camps.” Plus, the museum overlooks the Hudson River and is perched on 16 acres in Springwood, the estate where FDR was born and is buried alongside his wife Eleanor Roosevelt. FDR began the Presidential library concept to collect and preserve all of his presidential records, and today, the National Archives is responsible also for overseeing the images, photographs, objects and documents on display in this and all 13 official presidential museums.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Boston
The JFK museum on Boston‘s waterfront recreates one of America’s closest, most dramatic and precedent-setting presidential contests. Experience the excitement of the first-ever 1960 presidential debate, between JFK and Richard Nixon, now projected onto an entire wall. JFK won by only 118,574 votes. Kennedy was the youngest president ever elected, at age 43. “Young Jack” provides glimpses of him as a boy, later as an underachiever with a rebellious streak in high school but developing into a decorated World War II hero. At the museum, you can admire one of his most treasured possessions, the coconut he carved with the message that led to rescuing him and his crew after their PT 109 boat was hit by a Japanese destroyer.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum
Austin, Texas
“It is all here: the story of our time with the bark off…the facts, not just the joy and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures, too,” said former president Lyndon B. Johnson when dedicating his museum in 1971, as the Vietnam War continued. The war controversy was so divisive that Johnson made the startling decision not to run for re-election in 1968. The museum explores LBJ’s many triumphs, ranging from Medicare and Medicaid to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. His “Great Society” measures still trigger controversy today. LBJ’s library and museum at the University of Texas is the most-visited presidential landmark on this list by a landslide, with more than 13 million total visitors. It leads by a Texas-sized margin over JFK’s, which has drawn more than 8 million people since it opened in 1980, and by FDR’s with almost 6.6 million visitors since 1975 when the National Archives began taking attendance figures.
William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum
Little Rock, Arkansas
Bill Clinton set a popular precedent when he became the first presidential candidate to appear on a non-serious televised program, “The Arsenio Hall Show.” And at Clinton’s museum within Little Rock’s Presidential Center and Park library, you can find the famed saxophone our 42nd president played at his first inaugural balls, among other memorabilia. The “Comeback Kid” was the first Democrat to win two terms as president since FDR, 60 years earlier. The museum of our only President from Arkansas also displays a one of the Congressional Gold Medals he presented to the Little Rock Nine, the African-American students who had faced down a furious mob to integrate the city’s Central High School in 1957.
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Dallas
In 2000, George W. Bush won the most contested presidential election in modern history, ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v Gore. Nine months after our 43rd president’s inauguration, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred. “Responding to September 11” is one of this museum’s most moving sections, with artifacts including notes Bush scribbled for an impromptu speech when first informed of the attacks, the bullhorn he used to address first responders at Ground Zero and pulverized steel from the World Trade Towers. In the interactive “Decision Points Theater,” visitors can gain insight into Bush’s decision-making process for responding to Hurricane Katrina and America’s financial upheaval, and other major events. At the museum at Southern Methodist University, you can also explore a special exhibit: Path to the Presidency, which takes visitors through historical elections, and life on the campaign trail. Visitors can even deliver their own stump speech and pose for their very own campaign poster.
George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
College Station, Texas
Many of this museum’s permanent exhibits at Texas A&M University let visitors learn about the World War II experiences of George H.W. Bush, a decorated navy aviator. You can try your hand at virtually landing a plane on an aircraft carrier. Or, you can remotely control your tour through the World War II exhibit by driving the VGo Robot “Millie,” nicknamed after the 41st president’s dog. One of the most endearing and informative parts of the museum “Millie’s Adventures,” with questions and answers inside miniature dog houses. Plus, inside the interactive recreated Situation Room, you can provide your advice to the president on the Gulf War.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library
Simi Valley, California
This extensive museum gives the term interactive a new meaning, with sections dedicated to Reagan’s career as a Hollywood movie icon that allow visitors to act in a film with him. After trying your luck at acting, you can learn about the 40th president’s landslide re-election victory in 1984, winning every state but one. You can also climb aboard Air Force One, the “Flying White House” which served former president Reagan and six of his predecessors. The popular Air Force One Pavilion also has one of his official limousines and secret service vehicles, such as those involved in the 1981 near-fatal shooting of Reagan and his press secretary, James Brady.
Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Yorba Linda, California
Though permanent galleries are temporarily closed for remodeling, they will reopen prior to Election Day. And the museum grounds are open to the public, and are conveniently situated about 15 minutes from Disneyland, California, so you can still visit Nixon’s boyhood home and check out the Marine One helicopter used by Nixon and three other presidents. Inside the galleries, explore Nixon’s triumphs and learn about the controversial Watergate scandal that began in 1972, when burglars associated with Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP) broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate complex. Check out the burglars’ tools and walkie-talkies and listen to the infamous 18 1/2-minute gap on the Nixon’s White House tapes. He avoided impeachment by resigning, the only U.S. President ever to resign.
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8 Presidential Libraries and Museums to Visit This Election Year originally appeared on usnews.com
