US: If you get a familiar feeling when you walk into the William J Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, that's because it might remind you of Trinity College, Dublin. This is deliberate, said Joe Fleischer from the architectural design team, during a tour of the $165 million glass and steel building prior to the grand opening today, reports Conor O'Clery in Little Rock, Arkansas
Former President Bill Clinton insisted on an open hall with a high gallery for the storage of his archives after admiring Trinity College library on a visit to Dublin. The galleries here are much more fun, however. The lower section contains 14 alcoves with a time-line of Clinton's eight years in the White House. They depict many triumphal mile stones in his presidency, like the elimination of the deficit, the booming economy, the reduction in crime and, most of all, his peace-keeping efforts.
Among the hundreds of exhibits commemorating the latter are many pictures and artefacts relating to Ireland. An excerpt from his speech when first visiting Belfast is prominently displayed. It contains the plea: "You Protestants and Catholics alike must not allow the ship of peace to sink on the rocks of old habits and hard grudges. You must stand firm against terror."
Among the display of gifts the president received in appreciation of his role in the Irish peace process is a large orange and green chess set on which the pieces represent the main players in the Troubles. Gerry Adams, John Hume and Albert Reynolds line up as knights and castles facing David Trimble, Ian Paisley and Queen Elizabeth, with rows of paramilitaries and RUC men drawn up as pawns. Also on display is a large photograph of a post ceasefire sign outside Bessbrooke community centre stating: "Sniper: Job Seeking". Beside it is an enlargement of a letter from U2's, Bono, which presumably accompanied a gift of a CD stating: "Check out Miss Sarajevo (track 7). Pavorotti - I hope the opera isn't too hard a push for such a hard core rock and roller like yourself. Love to Elvis."
A large picture of Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach presenting Clinton with a bowl of shamrock in the White House under the benign gaze of then-ambassador Dermot Gallagher illustrates a section devoted to Clinton's St Patrick's Day parties which were held, we are told, "to help ease the process of peace making in Northern Ireland." The notation states that "Irish Protestant and Catholic leaders, and others committed to peace, came to the White House to share dinner and to enjoy Irish music, dancing and poetry." Another states that on the eve of the Good Friday Agreement, "the president made calls all night until dawn urging all parties to see the value in honest compromise."
The library contains hundreds of items associated with Clinton's presidential life, including the saxophone he played on the Arsenio Hall Show. Here and there large screens distract the visitor with moving images: Bill and Hillary dancing, crowds cheering in Belfast, Arafat shaking hands with Rabin on the White House lawn. Everywhere a sense of fun triumphs over the serious stuff. One interactive screen I passed was playing a video of a Gridiron dinner where Hillary, posing as Forrest Gump, confides how she was really "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal. Among the pictures is a Doonesbury cartoon, sent by its creator Gary Trudeau, shows Clinton ordering: "Take him down, now!" after the Secret Service reports they have spotted Chelsea with a boyfriend. There is a section on the ground floor dealing with the scandals and the impeachment episode, though it is definitely not emphasised. Monica Lewinsky gets a single mention (you have to look hard for it) and no, there is no blue dress (the museum doesn't have it). There are, however, not one but two pictures of Clinton's nemesis, the unctuous prosecutor Ken Starr, who humiliated him before the world. They hang beside a photograph of Clinton's friend, Susan McDougal, in an orange prison suit, when serving 18 months for refusing to co-operate with Starr. Library director David Alsobrook said ruefully that some detractors ask: "Dave, where's the blue dress?" but Clinton supporters would complain: "Why did you give this so much space?"
Explaining why the scandal exhibit is called "A bitter culmination of partisan politics", Clinton adviser, Bruce Lindsey, said his boss wanted to put the attacks on his presidency within the context of Republican efforts to de-legitimise his term in office.
The library contains an exact replica of the cabinet room where visitors can sit at the table and call up debates on computer screens. There is a full-size replica of the Oval Office furnished exactly as Clinton had it, down to the framed photographs and pot of ivy on the mantle-shelf. The Oval Office windows let in natural light and entering it is suddenly like finding oneself in the White House (perhaps in the dead of night, Clinton can come here, sit at the desk and re-live his glory days).
President George Bush will open the library this morning in the presence of two of the other three surviving presidents, George H W Bush and Jimmy Carter (Gerald Ford was unable to attend), and many friends from the world of entertainment, including Bono and Whoopi Goldberg.
Designed by the Polshek Partnership, the 148,000 sq ft library building juts dramatically over the banks of the Arkansas River supported by steel columns like a bridge - the idea was a bridge to the 21st century - although from afar it looks like a mobile home unhitched from a truck.
Inside it is breathe-taking, with light flooding through the main glass walls and a wide veranda overlooking Little Rock. It has 360 solar panels, renewable bamboo floors, translucent sun screens and 10 miles of underground radial heating, making the library one of the most advanced green buildings in America. It contains two million photographs, 18 million pages of documents, 75,000 gifts and artefacts and 80 million e-mails.
However, for a president who presided over the technology age, Clinton sent surprisingly few e-mails - just two, and one was a test.