The National Archives and Records Administration, which operates the facility, tells U.S. News & World Report that only 42,054 paid to enter. The rest were guests of the former president and freebies to VIPs.

Despite wall-to-wall television coverage of its opening, and a deluge of favorable press, attendance figures for the $162 million compound are even less than the attendance at the Reagan and Bush 41 libraries immediately after they opened.

"I thought it would be better," a disappointed Clinton told the magazine.

Editor's note: