"This is not your parents' or your grandparents' presidential library," said Valerie Jarrett , president of the Obama Foundation. The presidential center will include a museum, forum building, public plaza, athletic center, play area and a branch of the Chicago Public Library. This will be the first presidential library since the start of the national system that does not include a physical research room with archival materials. In response to Richard Nixon's efforts to destroy the White House tapes, Congress passed the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which deemed presidential records to be government property. Moreover, in a break with tradition , rather than the National Archives running the Obama library, the Obama Foundation will be operating and managing the Obama Presidential Center, making it more of a private museum than a government center.

Source: CNN September 28, 2021 00:11 UTC