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Washington part- 2 0 y y j 411111115111111115BEISIMEM By Donnie Radcliffe . SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.—Gone are the pilgrims who always seemed to• be waiting near the gate. A sign— "No sightseers ..."—is, in fact, the only sign left of the curious and clamoring that crowded down the sun- baked street past seacliff villas looking out to sea. The loyalists are still coming, they who file in thin, quiet parade past the armed guards and electric fence surrounding what the world once knew as the "West- ern White House." And with these loyalists—John Mitchell, Charles Colson, Bebe R.ebozo—come rumors of yet another new Richard Nixon ready to emerge into public view again after the presidential election next November. The street to Nixon's retirement dream house is still called Avenida del Presidente, so named as a tribute to Nixon but equally applicable to Franklin Delano Roosevelt who visited Cotton's Point, now site of the Nixon family's La Casa Pacifica, as guest of wealthy - Hamilton Cotton during the 1930s. Down the road apiece a hostelry made famous by many a Watergate figure has added a new dimension to its commerce of catering to transients. In its way it solves a problem: without a university campus, a spe- cial library or an official museum, where to display what souvenirs Richard Nixon still has of his presiden- cy? The answer: a motel room. Tourists who look beyond the pricetagged curios of presidential seals reproduced on cuff links and tie Pe ule Fashith SUNDAY JUNE 20, 1976 Shadows of a Presiclene n's Neighborhoo =maamemammemamassasomMliwh, 0444WMatik, clasps, will find memorabilia of the Nixons' second by some here as forerunner to what they hope will be trip to China displayed at the invitation of Pat Nixon - a more permanent historical repository for Richard to innkeeper Paul Presley, now one of Nixon's inner Nixon's collection of presidential mementoes. It has circle. There• are cloisonne vases and pendants; jade aupplanted what was formerly the coffee shop next to trees and grapes, handpainted eggs and delicate tea the lobby that used to teem with Nixon entourages, se- sets, lengths of silk and poems of Mao Tse-tung. Ar- , cretive couriers, inquisitive reporters and, later, visit- ranged in glass showcases, they provide accent to ing lawyers. color photographs that show a broadly grinning Ri- chard Nixon and his wife, their Secret Service detail Thinking back to those days, Fred Divel, a young and their beaming Chinese hosts. man who claims to have helped bring Nixon to San Clonente, notes what others in this busy seaside com- On a wall nearby is a photograph of sunset over Cot munity cannot help but note as well: ton's Point with the provocative words of Alphonse de "It's really San Clemente's only visual evidence that Lamartine: the President was there." "History teaches everything...even the future." Presley's "Little Bit of History Museum" is regarded Four years after Watergate, nearly two years after ,Itay773ps ' .... 1011ill,..eaffilayse' Photos by the San Clemente Sun-Post and Rock Kendall At San Clemente: The gate (far left) and the sign lS ve) at the Nixon? Ctlifornia retreat. At left, the former President at the motel museum. his reignation, "there" for Richard Milhous Nixon might be anyplade at all if there is anything to the talk of his promised public reemergence. One-time White House counsel Charles Colson envi- sions no "formal" role for his former boss but more likely something akin to "elder statesman," circumna- vigating the globe to "trouble spots where he could be useful.' Cols*, who was hithself " orn Again" and wrote a book about it after emerging. from prison where he served tulle for interfering with the defense of Daniel EllSberg in',-the Pentagon Papers case, says Nixon has world-wide -stature. Claiming he knew in advance of Nixon's 'trip to China last February, he says the for- mer President "is the only man alive (among Ameri- cans) who has talked to thelnew) Chinese premier." The idea of Richard.Nixon, the diplomat, is an oft-re- peated one that has gained momentum in some quart- ers since Julie ,Nixon „Eisenhower first voiced it shortly after her father resigned. Then, she pictured him in the role of "roving ambassador or.top-level ad-, viser" whom history Will exonerate because "the net worth of the man is going to far outweigh the miss ]des." See CLEMENTE; 113, Col. 1 CLEMENTE, Frain Hi as interested in football as he ever was Here in San Clemente that kind of and still keeps in touch with Redskins talk raises a few eyebrows. Townspeo- Coach George Allen...The Nixons are .4`• ple say from what they have seen of "ready to go out socially, to make the him there has been little sign of Ri- break from seclusion, to make some 3 chard Nixon, the involved neighbor, new associations but I get the impres- 0 let alone the new Richard Nixon, "rov- sion they don't know where to be- 471, ing ambassador." gin"...They "live in a different social He has, however, recently made at climate—I don't think their friends are least some forays outside the confines close by." of his Spanish-colonial style hacienda: *It was at this out-to-dinner excursion He appeared at Concordia Elemen- that Nixon also inspected the "Little tary School to vote in California's re- Bit of History Museum" for the first cent primary. "Republican or Demo- time. He was "absolutely thrilled," said crat," asked a flustered precinct Mrs. Swearingen. He also signed the worker who quickly recovered and guest book, leaving blank the "corn- handed him a Republican, ballot. ts" space. "That's the right one," Nixon said with te-'Nixon did have a few comments ear- i.-;1 a grin. Her this spring when two young win- A couple of times a week he has itieirs of the San Clemente Exchange-7 come out to play golf, sometimes at Club's talent contest visited him at his Shorcliffs, sometimes at ,E1 Toro and office to receive their awards. Also usually with aide Jack Brennan. A few present was someone San Clemente days ago, he turned up with old pal people says is the "joiningest" man in and confidante Charles "Bebe" Rebo- town —Jack Brennan, one of the zo. newer members of the Exchange Club, Says one San Clemente civic leader the Chamber of Commerce and several of Nixon's need for golf partners, "The other local service organizations. joke here goes, 'I'm sorry, Mr. Presi- Some see Brennan as Nixon's alter dent, we already have our ego, public relations adviser and com- threesome."' munity relations liaison. One former He has emerged to drop in at Camp Nixon associate calls Brennan's deci- Pendleton Marine Base down the coast sion to remain with Nixon and resign just in time to become an impromptu from the Marine Corps after 17 years honor guest at a pageant celebrating (three years short of retirement bene- the Marine Corps' 200th birthday. An fits) "the ultimate loyalty." eyewitness says the Corps took it in Martin Robideau, 18, a San Clemente stride despite a flurry of reseating that High School senior, recalled that his 6 Apr 76 - See put the Nixons in front row center and chat with Nixon was personal rather SFC , photo, 8 Apr 76 despite enlisted men later breaking than political. "He wanted to know ranks to shake hands with their for- what we wanted to do with our talent, mer Commander-in-Chief. and he told us about the time he sang He has dined out occasionally this in the choir." spring, once with FDR's son James in The encounter had the desired ef- Newport Beach. "It was a quiet family fect. Club officers wanted the cere- dinner," said Roosevelt, an acquaint- mony "to attract a lot of attention and ance of Nixon's since 1955 when he was make headlines and it sure did," said Vice President and Roosevelt a fledg- Robideau. What surprised him was ling U.S. congressman from California. that they all stayed so long-25 min- Nixon told his hosts about his post- utes—in view of all the stories about presidential trip to China but, says how secluded Nixon is. Reports that Roosevelt, nobody talked politics. the former President "is getting back" Nixon also broke bread at San Clem- into politics are especially interesting ente Inn, dining with his wife, Pat, to the youth. "If people could forgive innkeeper Presley and Mrs. Presley him," he believes, "he'd do a good job and two other couples, Marine Lt. Gen. for us as ambassador to China." Leo pulacki, former commandant at ' Richard A. Asper, active in conserva- Camp Pendleton, his date, Margie tive Orange County politics as a Rea- Dooley, and National Football League gan supporter and campaign volun- referee Fred Swearingen and his wife. teer, thinks Nixon might well be Ann Swearingen, a piano teacher, "drafted" into public service once proudly recounted how Nixon prom- there is a "proper remonstration of the ised "You can teach me to play the public...he would make an idyllic Sec- piano in something other than the key retary of State or ambassador to China of G" once he finishes his memoirs, or Russia." due to be published next year. Asper says he has seen Nixon at She said that, not unexpectedly, ev- close range on several occasions ar- erybody steered clear of talking poli- ranged by "historical" supporters with tics or about the then just-published his "best interests at heart" who Woodward-Bernstein book, "The Final wanted to draw him out socially.