Inside the Nixon library.

The $21 million Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, which opened on 20 July, takes visitors on a trip down memory lane. The effort made here to reshape popular memory is sweeping, relentless, and sophisticated. Calling this a "library" is misleading; the place has no books or documents. Officials promise to open a basement archive in 1991 that will contain primarily pre- and postpresidential papers. If the library is weak on archives, it is strong on video, visitors get to see former U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1952 "Checkers" speech, in which the vice-presidential candidate labored to exonerate himself of charges of corruption with maudlin references to his dog Checkers.