Here are five things you can't miss on a tour of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center.
1. The Oval Office. As close as you can come to being inside the President’s office, this is the only full-scale replica of the Oval Office in the world. Still, it won’t look like the one President Barack Obama uses – the replica is decorated exactly the way it was during Clinton’s time in office, right down to the items on the desk and bookshelves. It’s said that Clinton wanted visitors to feel the office’s majesty and mystique.
2. The Cabinet Room. Another re-creation, the center’s Cabinet Room mirrors the way the actual room looked during Clinton’s administration, right down to the artwork. The tallest chair, located in the center of the table, indicates where Clinton sat. Visitors can sit at the table, which is imbedded with monitors that detail actual decisions that were made around the table.
3. Former Cadillac One. Part of an exhibit on the Secret Service, this 1993 Cadillac limousine is the one that Clinton travelled around the world with. Built in 1993, it has an armored body and armored glass. Unlike previous models, which were usually Cadillacs that were modified and adapted by outside limo companies, the limo was the first to be completely designed, developed and manufactured within GM and Cadillac.
4. The 110-Foot Timeline. The major feature of the entire center, the timeline’s panels visually recount major events – not just political – that occurred when the Clinton administration served as the face of the nation. At the base of the timeline are books filled with the complete presidential schedules for almost 3,000 days of Clinton’s term, a nice complement to bits of Clinton correspondence featured throughout the center.
5. The Visiting Exhibits. A steady stream of visiting exhibits comes through the center each year. Recent ones include “Revolution & Rebellion: Words, Wars & Figures,” which, among other things, features two original engravings of the Declaration of Independence produced by Benjamin Owen Tyler in 1818 and William J. Stone in 1823 and “The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss,” which chronicles almost seven decades and showcases a larger-than-life view of The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch and more.




