Word: dormann
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...five-year-old project is a monument to what hucksterism and tax-deductible fund raising can create in the way of illusions. It was conceived, promoted and almost executed by Henry O. Dormann, 38, who has said that he is a millionaire and whose closest association with scholarship is a book, A Millionaire's Guide to Europe (sample advice: "Hire yourself a private railway train"). The editor-owner of Servicio de Information Pan Americana, an obscure public relations service, and an operator in real estate and advertising, Dormann set up the library in 1965 for the grand purpose...
With no apparent basis, Dormann claimed the support of President Johnson. He also tossed the first names of Government officials around so freely that he persuaded prominent figures to lend their endorsements. More significantly, he managed to raise $800,000 by 1967, partly by leading some donors to believe that they would receive invitations to dine at the White House. Most of the money was spent on the mansion. Dormann even coaxed Manhattan's celebrity restaurant, "21," into helping to equip a lavish kitchen, ostensibly for sating presidential appetites...
...small point that Dormann and his sponsors seemed to miss was the fact that the Government, through the Library of Congress and the National Archives, already does an excellent job of attending to presidential papers. Moreover, microfilm of many such papers exists in more than 100 U.S. libraries, and copies of specific documents are available cheaply to scholars...