John H. Taylor (pastor)

The Reverend John H. Taylor is the former post-Chief of Staff to Richard Nixon, former President of the United States, and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace Foundation. Taylor had served as director of the privately-owned and funded Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace prior to it joining the federal presidential libraries system, and becoming the Richard Nixon Presidential Library. Taylor is also an Episcopalian priest, and currently serves as the Vicar of St. John's Episcopal Church and School, located in Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange County, California. [cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/life/columns/article_754963.php|work=The Orange County Register|accessdate=2008-05-08|title=Knott award helps spread the Goodwill|author=Bunce, Donna|date=November 8, 2005]

Early life and career

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Taylor held a position as a newspaper reporter.cite web|url=http://stjohnsrsm.org/clientuploads/pdf/JTbiopics.pdf|title=The Rev. John H. Taylor|format=PDF|accessdate=2008-05-08|publisher=St. John's Episcopal Church] He later moved to California and worked for former President Richard Nixon in 1979. [cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E7D61730F932A0575BC0A9669C8B63|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-05-08|author=Stout, David|title=2 Nixon Aides Skeptical About Report That He Took Drug|date=August 31, 2000] He became the former president's post-Chief of Staff in 1984, and served in that role until 1990. [cite web|url=http://thenewnixon.org/author/john-h-taylor/|title=John H. Taylor - Biography|accessdate=2008-08-01|publisher=Richard Nixon Library Foundation] Taylor married Kathy O'Connor in 2002. O'Conner had served as Nixon's post-Chief of Staff from 1990 until the former president's death in 1994. [cite web|url=http://thenewnixon.org/author/kathy-OConnor/|title=Kathy O'Connor - Biography|accessdate=2008-08-01|publisher=Richard Nixon Library Foundation]

Director of the Nixon Library

Taylor was appointed Director of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace while still working for the former president. His tenure consisted of the growth and expansion of the library, as well as the fostering and preservation of Richard Nixon's presidential legacy. In 1999, Taylor sought to enhance the former's president's image when he authorized the release of 124 Nixon-era White House tapes regarding the Watergate scandal and Nixon's involvement in it.cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/25/nixon.tapes/|title=New Nixon tape transcripts released on Web|Accessdate=2008-05-08|date=February 25, 1999|publisher=CNN] Taylor acknowledged, "The entire record of Watergate needs to be viewed through the prism of [the] Vietnam [War] ... Richard Nixon was a war-time president. He will still be criticized for his actions" but the criticism will be fairer when viewed in that light.

A controversy erupted in 1996, however, between Taylor and President Nixon's daughters Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower. Taylor had requested that control of the library be taken from the Nixon family and placed with a 24-member board of directors. Both sisters were opposed, although Julie Nixon Eisenhower changed her position and supported Taylor's notion; control was eventually granted to Taylor after a legal battle.cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E7DE153BF936A15750C0A9649C8B63|title=Library and Legacy Adrift As the Nixon Sisters Feud|date=March 25, 2002|accessdate=2008-05-08|work=The New York Times|author=Sterngold, James] During that period, a plan to reunite the president's scattered records was undertaken, but largely fell apart due to a court case regarding a $14 million donation from a close friend of President and Mrs. Nixon, Bebe Rebozo.

This issue would be resolved, however, beginning in 2003, when the United States Congress voted to repeal a law that prevented President Nixon and his family from controlling presidential records dating from 1969 to 1974.cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2003/11/13/AR2005111001245.html|work=The Washington Post|accessdate=2008-05-08|title=Nixon Data May Be Calif.-Bound|author=Lardner, George Jr|date=November 13, 2003] Taylor labeled it as "a first step in abolishing the anomaly" of Richard Nixon being the only president between Herbert Hoover and Bill Clinton without a government-operated library.

During his time as director, Taylor was paid $145,500 in 2000, the highest of any director of a presidential library. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's grandson, and son-in-law to President Nixon David Eisenhower said of Taylor's job performance, "It's a very well-run library, and John Taylor is a phenomenal director."

Nixon Library Foundation

Taylor served as director of the library until July 11, 2007, when the National Archives and Records Administration took full control of the Richard Nixon Library; [cite web|title=The National Archives Opens Federal Nixon Library, Releases Previously-Restricted Documents and Tapes|date=July 11, 2007|accessdate=2008-05-08|publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration|url=http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2007/nr07-114.html|format=press release] this included replacing Taylor as director [cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/18nixon.html|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-05-08|title=Director of Nixon Library Agrees to Make President's Political Tapes Public|date=March 18, 2005|author=Shane, Scott] cite news|work=The Washington Post|accessdate=2008-05-08|title=Nixon Library Joins the Club|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/19/AR2006031900944.html|date=March 20, 2006|author=Lee, Christopher] with Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian. [cite web|url=http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2006/nr06-84.html|format=press release|date=April 10, 2006|accessdate=2008-05-08|title=National Archives Names Director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum|publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration] As Executive Director of the Foundation, Taylor's position remains similar to that of which he previously held, although the foundation is only responsible for Nixon's pre- and post-presidential papers, library grounds, and event space; the National Archives controls the exhibits themselves.

Pastoral work

Taylor was ordained as an Episcopal priest in January 2004, after studying at the Episcopal Theological School at Claremont. He was subsequently named Vicar of St. John's Episcopal Church and School of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, in 2004 by the Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno. [cite web|url=http://stjohnsrsm.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=HistoryofStJohns&category=Aboutstjohns|title=The View From Plano Trabuco: A Brief History of St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church & School|accessdate=2008-05-08|publisher=St. John's Episcopal Church] He currently remains in that position.

Footnotes