Legacy found in good work, not libraries

Presidential libraries, a legacy to the term of a president.

Give me a break.

Presidential libraries have been around since Franklin D. Roosevelt donated papers from his time in office to the government. He also donated part of his estate for the library which would later be built in his name.

Before Roosevelt, a president never had a library in his name to honor his work as president. And why should they have a library in their honor? If they had done a good job in office, then they would have gone down in the history books as a good president.

In 1955, Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act, whichstated the former president would be in charge of raising the money to build the library, but the cost of maintaining the libraries would be picked up by the government or, in other words, taxpayers. Last year, the government spent $38 million on the 10 libraries currently used. The Nixon library is still up in the air since his papers are being disputed and are currently being kept in a Washington warehouse.

That’s a lot of money. Just think what the government could have done with that: provide more money for public education, increase the war on drugs and crime or even better, use the money to fight hunger and disease.

But no, the government felt it was necessary to use the money to ensure the popularity of former presidents, the majority of whom were only in office four years.

Do Americans really need to spend millions of dollars on a library that houses public information on a president’s term? Why can’t the government just put them in the Library of Congress and move on?

Fast forward to 2001. Former President Bill Clinton is now starting to plan his own presidential library.

Each time a former president plans a library, it is bigger and more expensive than the previous. So where does the money come from that former presidents are supposed to raise?

Well, former President George Bush received $1 million each from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Lyndon B. Johnson had the Texas legislature pay for his library.

But not to be biased, Clinton is trying to raise $150 million for the library. That’s more money than he will ever see in book signings or speeches. It’s a good thing he has friends in high places.

The government’s statement behind the funding to keep up the libraries is that they are a tourist attraction. About two million people visit the libraries annually. Then why do they not charge the visitors, let’s say, $10 every time they visit? That will cover the majority of the costs, and the taxpayers, who do not visit them and never plan on it, will not have to waste money on something they deem useless.

Just in time for the costs of the Clinton library to be taken over by the government, our current president, George W. Bush, will be planning his own library. Maybe it will be in the shape of a cowboy boot or hat.

Associate News Editor Hemi Ahluwalia is a junior broadcast journalism major from Stephenville.
She can be reached at (h.ahluwalia@student.tcu.edu.)

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

Letters to the editor: The Skiff welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, signed and limited to 250 words. To submit a letter, bring it to the Skiff, Moudy 291S; mail it to TCU Box 298050; e-mail it to skiffletters@tcu.edu or fax it to 257-7133. Letters must include the author’s classification, major and phone number. The Skiff reserves the right to edit or reject letters for style, taste and size restrictions.