Jim Byron ‘15 hopes to increase

“If we can be that center where people come to help one another, I think that's very much in keeping with the mission of the Nixon Foundation.”

Jim Byron '15

SUPPORTING COMMUNITY AND HISTORY

BY STACE DUMOSKI

As CEO of the Nixon Foundation, Jim Byron ’15 hopes to increase historical understanding and contribute to civics education.

The pandemic presented challenges to every institution, and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum was no exception.

“Every single one of our revenue streams disappeared, practically overnight,” says Jim Byron ’15, the newly elected president and CEO of the Nixon Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. “We couldn’t do events. We couldn’t welcome museum guests.”

But what they could do was shift gears. During the 14 months that the Nixon Library remained closed to visitors, the foundation supported the local community’s pandemic response. It opened its beautiful replica of the White House East Room for blood drives and food drives. It acquired 1 million disposable face masks and donated the bulk of them to local schools, businesses and houses of worship. “We really embraced our role as a partner to so many in the community in a different way,” says Byron. “If we can be that center where people come to help one another, I think that’s very much in keeping with the mission of the Nixon Foundation.”

A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

Byron, who graduated from Chapman University with a BA in business administration and a minor in history, is intimately familiar with the foundation’s mission. He started working there as a teenager more than 15 years ago.

“I wrote a ‘to-whom-it-may-concern’ letter to the Nixon Library, and much to my surprise I received a response,” says Byron, who was offered an internship working for a few hours a week in the

The foundation and Chapman are creating opportunities for students to do hands-on research at the library.

marketing department. “I was learning the ins and outs of marketing and management and how to work with people at a very young age.”

Byron continued to work part-time for the foundation throughout high school and college, with increasing areas of responsibility, ultimately leading to a full-time position. In 2016, he led the reopening of the Library after its $15 million renovation, and from 2014 to 2017, he worked as the coordinator of the foundation’s $25 million capital campaign. Most recently, he served as executive vice president, under then-Nixon Foundation president and Chapman law professor Hugh Hewitt.

BECOMING A CENTER FOR PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES

While President Nixon’s political legacy is complicated, Byron is enthusiastic about the opportunity to deepen the understanding of the former president’s administration.

“There are 46 million pages of material from President Nixon’s life here at the Nixon Library,” he says. “There’s 2 million feet of film. There are 300,000 photographs. There are 3,600 hours of White House tapes. Only a fraction of this material has been fully gleaned by historians, scholars and students.”

That’s where Byron hopes the foundation’s strong ties to Chapman will come into play. The two institutions have already worked together to create opportunities for students to come in and do hands-on research at the library. The new Presidential Studies program in Wilkinson College of Art, Humanities, and Social Sciences, which was launched last year with two fully endowed chairs, is another milestone in the growing, mutually beneficial partnership between the university and the library. One of the chairs was funded by James Cavanaugh, the current chairman of the Nixon Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

“Not every undergraduate student has an opportunity to go to a presidential library near their campus and dig through the papers,” says Byron. “It’s a really unique opportunity and I think will help to put Chapman on the map as a center for the study of the presidency.” Elaine Chao, who served two presidents, first as secretary of labor and then as secretary of transportation, meets with Jim Byron ’15 in the Nixon Library’s Argyros Oval Office replica.

After starting at the Nixon Foundation as a student intern, Byron now leads the organization.