"The American Presidency"

Paper Summary:

"The American Presidency" is an exhibit at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. This paper discusses the exhibit and shows its importance at conveying information of the presidency in American life, in American history and in the development of a new form of government with the Constitution. The author explains that the exhibit is a chance to see pictures of all 42 presidents, get a sense of their time, a sense of their place in history and an idea of some of their accomplishments. The exhibit conveys this as information, but through the various objects in the exhibit which came from the presidency of each man, the visitor can feel closer to these men as human beings by being in the presence of objects they may have touched and used. The paper also quotes from the booklet which accompanies the exhibition.

From the Paper:

"The exhibit says much about the nature of that job--the problems faced, the responsibilities heeded, the legacy created, and the relationship of each man to the history of his time. Some of the objects in the exhibit take the visitor directly to the human being who held office, such as Abraham Lincoln's ink stand (most certainly not different from thousands of ink stands of the period, but with a different aura because of who used it), the military uniform worn by Eisenhower (which gives a good sense of the stature of the man in real terms), or President Grant's carriage. The first thing that strikes the visitor about these different objects is their normal size, for the image we have of these men and their actions is larger than life, while the objects they used are quite normal and remind us that they were only human beings after all."

More papers on "The American Presidency":

• Book Review # 110808 : "The American Presidency: An Intellectual History"
• Book Review # 115010 : "The American Presidency"
• Book Review # 110908 : "The American Presidency"
• Comparison Essay # 57371 : "The American Presidency"

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