Imagine traveling back 5,000 years in time, to the ancient world, then emerging in the much more recent past, to a world full of political intrigue and conflict. Well now you can!
The Nixon Presidential Library & Museum will host “The Ancient World: Unlocking The Middle East” for the next year. The new exhibit, which features dozens of artifacts and interactive displays, commemorates the president’s 1974 visit to the Middle East for peace talks.
The Orange County Register spoke with Carrie Anderson, the Nixon Foundation’s marketing coordinator, by email to learn more about the exhibit.
Q: What kinds of artifacts will visitors see in this exhibit? What were you able to pull from the presidential library’s collection and what are some of the key artifacts you were able to bring to the exhibit?
A. Visitors will encounter more than 60 age-old artifacts – many exhibited for the first time or rarely on display. These include an Arab headcloth worn by the iconic explorer Lawrence of Arabia, never exhibited in the United States, on loan from the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Ancient artifacts include a mummy mask and sarcophagus panel.
On display for the first time ever, visitors will see equipment from the famous hotline linking Washington and Moscow, which was used by President Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev during the tense days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Additional artifacts include gifts, many of them ancient artifacts, presented to President Nixon by heads of state from the Middle East and rarely on display.
Q: What highlights of the exhibit would you point out to visitors?
A. In addition to the artifacts, there are interactives, including a hands-on experience about building the Suez Canal in Egypt and an explorer’s library where guests can choose where they want to investigate.
Visitors will get the experience of traveling through time as they start in the ancient world and then encounter the region during the Cold War. These many layers of a long history help unlock a deeper understanding of current conflicts in the region.
Q: What do you hope viewers experience or feel as they go through the exhibit?
A. We hope that by examining the very roots of civilization, visitors will bridge the ancient to the modern, to gain a deeper understanding and context for modern conflicts.
This immersive experience takes visitors through more than 5,000 years of history of the region right up to the 20th century. Visitors will feel like explorers as they visit a street market in Jerusalem, walk through the courtyard of a Persian palace, and enter the tomb inside an Egyptian pyramid.
Q: What lessons about President Nixon’s administration would you hope visitors walk away with?
A. President Nixon’s grand strategy approach to foreign policy guided his policy in the Middle East during the Cold War. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Nixon supported Israel with massive aid, which Prime Minister Golda Meir later said saved her country.
Known as Operation Nickel Grass, the airlift to resupply Israel during the Yom Kippur War was bigger than the Berlin airlift of 1948-49. Less than three weeks after Egypt and Syria invaded Israel on Yom Kippur, Oct. 6, 1973, the fighting ended.
The end of the war began the search for a durable peace. President Nixon directed his secretary of state, Dr. Henry Kissinger, to travel to the Middle East as often as needed to secure peace – these diplomatic efforts became known as “Shuttle Diplomacy.”
In June 1974, President Nixon made a historic visit to the Middle East to cement the progress toward peace reached by Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy. On this trip, President Nixon became the first American president to visit Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and the second to visit Egypt.
This exhibit is timely because of current headlines, but it also recognizes the 50th anniversary of President Nixon’s Middle East trip. Remembering that anniversary emphasizes that at the core of President Nixon’s legacy is his efforts to seek a lasting and durable peace.
