A New Destination: SMU + Prez Bush
Today, were hanging out with Barack Obama and four past presidents at the dedication of the George W Bush Presidential Center on the SMU campus. Yesterday, we got a sneak peek into the library and museum.
Former First Lady Laura Bush, who spoke from the White House rose garden replica Wednesday morning, says 43 (we feel weird calling him George) did not want the center to be a monument to him, but to focus on the principles he felt were most important to the country.
SMU prez R. Gerald Turner checked out one of the interactive displays in the museum. (The best museums are hands-on.) The 226k SF facility includes the George W Bush Presidential Library and Museum as well as the George Bush Institute. The LEED Platinum project was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and built by Manhattan Construction. (Other Dallas connections: Structural and blast engineer: Walter P Moore and civil engineer: URS Corp.)
Get out your hankies, because you wont have a dry eye when you see the 9/11 exhibit. As you walk through exhibits of 43s domestic agenda (including No Child Left Behind and tax reform), you turn smack dab into 22-foot tall pieces of the World Trade Center. Library/museum executive director Alan Lowe tells us he gets chill bumps every time he sees the steel pieces and the video clips playing. We admit to getting out our tissues after touching the steel beams. Yes, this is a hands-on exhibit.
George W. Bush Presidential Center prez Mark Langdale (previously the Texas Department of Economic Development chairman and the former US ambassador to Costa Rica) tells us the Bush Center has already benefited SMU with applications increasing significantly since the announcement of the library. Local hotels are already seeing increases in bookings and some 300,000 visitors are anticipated annually to the center. Mark says the center will also raise the awareness of Dallas as an international city while promoting business and tourism in Texas. When he traveled the world promoting Texas, he says Dallas wasnt widely recognized. As world leaders convene at the Bush Institute, the visibility of Texas and Dallas will be enhanced. Not to mention, this is the third presidential library in Texas: 41 is at Texas A&M and LBJ is at UT.
Former Bush adviser Karen Hughes (now worldwide vice chair for Burson-Marsteller) tells us the Bush Center location at SMU is a win for her alma mater. The 15-acre park, the caf, and the museum will all bring people back again and again. This is the kind of place where youll bring friends and family who come to visit, she says. The museum opens May 1 to the public.
