Pop-up museum in DC features the scandal that changed American history

Among the liquor store, barber shop and dry cleaners at the Watergate Complex’s retail plaza, there is a new pop-up museum dedicated to the scene of the crime that toppled Richard Nixon’s presidency.

The temporary exhibit features the work of artist Laurie Munn 鈥� portraits of members of the Nixon administration and those connected to the Watergate break-in. The exhibit features members of Congress, the media and some who were on Nixon鈥檚 enemies list.

Keith Krom, chair of the Board of Directors of the , told WTOP the exhibit was first featured in the gallery in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee.

鈥淲hen she (Munn) learned about our museum effort, she offered to reassemble them as a way for us to expand awareness of the museum,” Krom said.

Krom, who lives in the Watergate, said his favorite portrait is of one of the special prosecutors, whose firing sparked the “Saturday Night Massacre” in 1973.

鈥淚 had the pleasure of being a student of Archibald Cox,鈥� Krom said. 鈥淗e served as my mentor for my third-year writing project.鈥�

Krom said during this time, at the Boston University School of Law, he spent a great deal of time with him.

鈥淚 didn’t realize how much he must have gone through. Here he was, this one man, who was challenging the president of the United States over something pretty serious,鈥� Krom said.

The pop-up opened in October and was recently extended to stay open until April 25. Krom said the hope is to find it a permanent location within the Watergate Complex, where they can 鈥減resent the history of Watergate, but with two perspectives.鈥�

The first would be on the building鈥檚鈥渁rchitectural significance to D.C.,鈥� he said.

鈥淵ou may not like the design, you actually may hate it,鈥� Krom said. 鈥淏ut you cannot deny that it changed D.C.’s skyline.鈥�

The secondary focus would, of course, be on the mother of all presidential scandals that changed the course of American history.

鈥淭hat’s where that suffix ‘-gate’ started and continues to be used for almost every scandal that comes out today,鈥� Krom said.

The inspiration for the museum spawned from an interaction from a tourist outside the Watergate.

鈥淗e says, ‘This is the Watergate, right?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s one of the buildings,’鈥� Krom recalled.

The tourist then asked Krom, “So where鈥檚 the museum?鈥�

鈥淚 was like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a museum.’ And he literally just looked at me and said, ‘That’s so sad.’ And he got on his bike and rode away,鈥� Krom said.

While the self-proclaimed political history nerd said he “still gets goose bumps鈥� when he drives by the Capitol at night, Krom hopes that when people leave the museum, “they’ll walk away with a new appreciation for how our government works, the guardrails that are in place.鈥�

鈥淢aybe an understanding that those guardrails themselves are kind of frail, and they probably need our collective help in making sure they last 鈥� that鈥檚 what we hope to accomplish,鈥� Krom said.

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