Timothy Naftali, director of the Presidential Recordings Program at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, has been designated to serve as the first director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. The announcement was made yesterday by United States ArchivistAllen Weinstein.
"It's a great challenge," Naftali said. "It draws on some of my passions ... This is a chance for public service."
According to John H. Taylor, executive director of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation, Naftali is qualified to serve as director of the Nixon Library and Museum because of his expertise in Cold War history, a period of time which Taylor said is identified as "the age of Nixon".
Additionally, Taylor said, Naftali's work in the Presidential Recordings Program at the Miller Center, particularly his work with Nixon's recordings, also makes him qualified for the position.
"The Miller Center is leading the nation in how presidential recordings are transcribed and recorded," Taylor said.
Taylor also said Naftali has a talent for programming that he will bring to the Nixon Library and Museum.
"Professor Naftali will take it up a notch because of his ideas and his contacts," he said.
As director of the Richard Nixon Library and Museum, Naftali said he would seek to make the declassification of Nixon tapes and papers as streamline as possible, as well as work to dissolve some of the controversy surrounding the library.
"The library is controversial -- my goal is to eliminate that controversy," Naftali said. "The Nixon library will be the 12th tribe of the Presidential Libraries."
The library and museum, located in Yorba Linda, Calif., was initially a privately funded presidential library dedicated to provide information about President Nixon. According to Taylor, the Library's board decided several years ago that the library would not be complete without the addition of the president's White House records, and has since sought to have the library included among the federal system of presidential libraries.
"[Naftali's] appointment is a historical moment in bringing the integration of this library into the federal system of presidential libraries," Taylor said.
According to Naftali, he was approached for this position a month ago and accepted last week. Naftali will assume his duties October 16.
"I will take with me a great fondness for the University in general and the Miller Center in particular," Naftali said.
The Miller Center has not announced who will replace Naftali as director of the Presidential Recordings Program, but will within the next month, Naftali said.
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