mao statue sparks protest at nixon library

Trouble brewing at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California... If you've visited the museum (and let's face it, no trip to Orange County is complete without a trip to the Nixon Library) You've see the permanent Hall of World Leaders exhibit featuring life-size statues of history's influential heads of state, like Winston Churchill, Charles deGaulle and Mao Tse-Tung.

It's that last one that's stirring up some controversy. The statues have been there since 1990, but have recently drawn the ire of Los Angeles-based Chinese American activist Kai Chen, who is organizing a demonstration and distributing a petition demanding the Mao statue be removed: Chinese-American Protesters Seeing Red at Nixon Library.

Chen can blame Nixon. After all, he's the guy who personally selected Mao for the library's tribute to the influential world leaders he worked with during his presidency. And there was that historic visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972. Nevertheless, Chen is not cool with Mao, and wants the statue out. More here: The past haunts Richard Nixon's library.

You know, of all things you could complain about regarding Richard Nixon's legacy, this guy is complaining about a statue in the presidential library?