Presidential victories, blunders on display in Mudd’s ‘Libraries’

Political junkies, take heart. While you’re watching election results, you might want to keep an eye (or set the VCR) on the History Channel’s “Presidential Libraries With Roger Mudd.” For as U.S. politicians await their future tonight, Mudd and three former presidents ponder how legacies -- and maybe, just maybe, the truth -- might be preserved.

Tonight’s hourlong show begins at 8 with the libraries’ curious history. Before Franklin D. Roosevelt, the preservation of papers and other presidential trappings was haphazard and largely far from public view. But that changed in 1941, when the first library was built, for the incumbent Roosevelt. Private funds financed the construction, with the federal government responsible for operating the site.

Though presidents now typically wait to build until they’re out of office, the funding structure continues to this day for a dozen facilities nationwide, at an annual cost to taxpayers of $55 million. Interestingly enough, these libraries have no books in circulation, nor are their archives open to the general public. But for the more than 1 million people who visited them in 2001, the libraries do offer displays of everything from notable papers to clothing to the obligatory Oval Office re-creation -- and gift shops, as Mudd points out.

The veteran newsman presides over the program with an evenhanded approach to the good, the bad and the ugly of how these libraries present their namesakes’ victories and blunders, and he displays deft interviewing skills with Presidents Carter, Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

Each past president seems to speak candidly, whether it’s Carter saying how awkward it is to raise money, Bush warning visitors not to get caught up in the “ego trip” or Clinton envisioning how people 100 years from now might view his library, slated to open in 2004 as the nation’s 13th.

For these interviews alone, “Presidential Libraries” is well worth checking out.