Opinion
Bill as first spouse would get its own gallery
By: Jeff Dufour
Editor at Large/Columnist, "Yeas & Nays"
12/05/08 12:05 AM EST
Looking GlassHad Hillary Clinton won the presidency this year, would we be looking forward to seeing first husband Bill Clinton's tuxedo in the National Museum of American History's gallery of first ladies' gowns?
"Probably not," said museum Director Brent Glass Thursday, during a taping of the "Q&A Café" at Nathans of Georgetown.
"We had several ideas, but we didn't settle on one plan" for that eventuality, he said. "We would give some serious thought to how we would present it." Glass added that a scenario in which a president and first lady swapped roles as chief executive and first spouse would probably qualify for its own "separate gallery ... a whole exhibit."
Glass said the museum had two curators traveling around to the primary states and the conventions this year, collecting artifacts from all the candidates. As for what they'd be displaying from Barack Obama one day, Glass said, "Since he's talked about his interest in Abraham Lincoln ... I'd like to make that connection."
Glass also said he's asked several prominent pols for their BlackBerries, but wouldn't name them, saying he's got to get their OK first.
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