FBI exhibit at Reagan Library will explore agency’s history

Display will open for viewing July 2



ARTIFACTS—Above, a crew lifts the infamous Bonnie and Clyde car with a crane so it can be placed on the second floor of the Reagan Library June 3 ahead of the grand opening of the presidential museum’s newest exhibit,“FBI: From Al Capone to Al Qaeda.” The bulletridden Deluxe, shown at left, along with many other pieces of crime memorabilia will be on display at the library July 2 through Jan. 9, 2022.

ARTIFACTS—Above, a crew lifts the infamous Bonnie and Clyde car with a crane so it can be placed on the second floor of the Reagan Library June 3 ahead of the grand opening of the presidential museum’s newest exhibit,“FBI: From Al Capone to Al Qaeda.” The bullet-ridden Deluxe, shown at left, along with many other pieces of crime memorabilia will be on display at the library July 2 through Jan. 9, 2022.

Key pieces of evidence from some our country’s most notorious crimes are going on display next month at the Reagan Library.

Residents will get to see the bullet-riddled car where Bonnie and Clyde were killed, the raft and paddle used by three prisoners to escape Alcatraz and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s manifesto and undetonated bombs. There’s even a piece of engine from one of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11.

These are among the more than 300 artifacts in the Reagan Library’s latest special exhibit, “FBI: From Al Capone to Al-Qaeda.” Combined with video interviews with authorities and agents involved in many of these cases, the items help bring to life the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the high-profile crimes it has investigated over the decades.

A majority of the artifacts are on loan from the FBI, while others are from private collectors or other museums. The cars belonging to crime boss Dutch Schultz and the notorious duo Bonnie and Clyde are on loan from Whiskey Pete’s Hotel & Casino in Primm, Nevada.

Photos by RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

Photos by RICHARD GILLARD/Acorn Newspapers

The 11,000-square-foot exhibit traces the FBI’s history from its inception in 1908 to its modern day efforts to fight domestic terrorism. It will cover why the agency was created, what sets it apart from other federal agencies and how it has evolved through the years. It will also touch on Hollywood’s view of federal agents and criminals as they’re depicted in TV shows and films.

“Our goal is to accurately tell the story of the FBI and some major cases, not to make a political statement,” said Randle Swan, the Reagan Library’s supervisory curator. “There are parts of the agency’s history they aren’t proud of, and we’re not sugarcoating that. We’re not shying away from history.”

Some of that questionable history involves the illegal wiretaps and covert operations the FBI conducted in the 1950s and 1960s. The agency also dragged its feet when it came to hiring women; female agents weren’t sworn in until the early 1970s.

The Reagan Library had originally planned to open the exhibit in April 2020, but those plans were derailed when COVID struck, library spokesperson Melissa Giller said. It’s now slated to run July 2 through Jan. 9, 2022.

Giller is excited to see the exhibit finally open. She had a hand in its creation, traveling across the country to conduct interviews with FBI agents about some of the major cases they worked on.

“This exhibit is a point of pride for us, especially because it’s been in the works for at least two years now,” Giller said. “It’s great that it’s finally coming to fruition and to have the artifacts bring even more life to the stories told by these agents.”

The Reagan Library has showcased two special exhibits every year since 2011. The majority of those shows—like “Egypt’s Lost Cities” and “Vatican Splendors”— were traveling exhibits rented from other institutions.

But “FBI: From Al Capone to Al-Qaeda” is entirely self-curated, Giller said. Library staff built the show from scratch, finding and obtaining the artifacts, planning the layout and crafting the narrative.

“This is quite extraordinary because there are no traveling FBI exhibits and these pieces have never been brought together in this way,” Giller said. “It really is one-of-a-kind.”

Swan said the exhibit is particularly meaningful because the father of one of the staff members who worked on the project was a career FBI agent.

“This was a passion project for all of us and we’re excited to finally get to see it all come together and to share the story with the community,” he said.

Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/reaganfbi.

ALSO HAPPENING

Tickets are available for the return of the Reagan Library’s Father’s Day celebration on June 20.

The library is also holding a Fourth of July celebration, but it will be virtual this year because the library is too short-staffed right now to hold an in-person event.