Just in time for the 2016 presidential election, the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum will open a new exhibit, titled “Path to the Presidency,” Tuesday, March 1.
“Obviously it’s a great, exciting election year and campaign year, and so it was the perfect time for us to do it,” says Amy Polley, curator at the Bush Library.
The “Path to the Presidency” exhibit takes guests through key campaign years.
The interactive exhibit allows visitors to test their candidacy with everything from a handshake grip-o-meter to a teleprompter speech, and depicts the evolution of elections, voting rights and the use of technology in presidential campaigns. Polley hopes that people will see how all of these factors have shaped the path of American history, and recognizes the opportuntity the Bush Library has to present an educational, in-depth look at the history of the campaign trail.
“I think that because we’re the George W. Bush Presidential Library, we do have a little bit of a different take on it and an insider view of it,” Polley says. “So, I think it’s an experience [visitors] can kind of only get here.”
Polley carefully selected campaigns that feature key moments in American history, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson vs. Theodore Roosevelt vs. William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover vs. FDR, John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon, and others. Each section of the exhibit is accompanied by artifacts from each campaign, with highlights including a letter written by George Washington refusing a third presidential term, as well as campaign buttons and other memorabilia (definitely check out the slippers from the Reagan campaign).
“That is amazing to see, you know a letter written in George Washington’s own handwriting,” Polley says.
A carpet in the exhibit leads visitors through each U.S. presidential campaign and shows how candidates’ support stacked up each year.
One memorable part of the exhibit allows visitors to select a card featuring the identity of a voter throughout American history and walk the campaign trail in their shoes. When guests arrive at the campaign date listed on their card they are invited to cast their ballot and vote as their character might have done.
“You pass these different opportunities to vote in elections, but you might not be able to vote because you don’t match what the criteria was,” Polley says. “I think that’s very impactful.”
Character cards give visitors the identity of a voter in history. Guests can cast their “ballot” when they arrive at the appropriate year.
The biggest hope for what people will take away from the exhibit is an excitement about getting involved in politics, and most importantly voting.
“We definitely hope they’ll vote and see the importance of voting, and see throughout the history, of how maybe history may have changed if a different person had been elected,” Polley says.
The special exihibit will be on display March 1 through Oct. 9, and admission is free to all SMU students. To learn more visit bushcenter.org.
Photos courtesy of India Pougher