John H Taylor (pastor)

Early life and career

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Taylor held a position as a newspaper reporter. He later moved to California and worked for former President Richard Nixon in 1979. He became the former president's post-Chief of Staff in 1984, and served in that role until 1990. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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; this included replacing Taylor as director with Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian. As Executive Director of the Foundation, Taylor's position remained 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.

Taylor announced his resignation in February 2009.

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. On December 3, 2016, he was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.