Return of the Native

Some 2,500 friends and partisans called out their welcome as Dick and Pat Nixon, suntanned to a turn after a five-day vacation in Tucson, emerged from the plane at Los Angeles' International Airport. Mrs. Hannah Nixon was there to greet her son; so were former Governor Goodwin J. Knight and a swarm of partisans and well-wishers. A few good Republicans carried NIXON IN 64 signs. G.O.P. State Chairman John Krehbiel had a wire from an old friend in nearby Palm Springs: LOVE AND AFFECTION. HOPE TO SEE YOU SHORTLY. DWIGHT EISENHOWER. "

We didn't expect to come back quite this way," said the former Vice President, "but if we're coming back some place, we're glad to be coming back to California." He declined to say whether he would run for Governor of California next year against Democrat Pat Brown. But he noted enigmatically: "Six times my name has been on the ballot in California, and each time we've always won-in California." Then he and Pat moved among the crowd for two hours shaking hands and signing autographs.

The next night, amid the frangipani of the Beverly Hilton's International Ballroom, 1,600 politicians, film celebrities and newsmen greeted the Nixons again at a $10-a-plate welcome-home dinner. To the thumping rhythm of California Here I Come, the throng gave Dick and Pat a five-minute ovation, turned the evening into an old-fashioned political rally. Seventeen mayors from Los Angeles County paid their respects, and San Francisco's Mayor George Christopher, ranking Northern California Republican, gave a hint of things to come: "The people of California will be looking to him for leadership in the months ahead. He is the leader of the Republican Party, not only in California but all over the nation." Said Nixon: "I am now entering private life. But while I have no plans to run for any office, I assure you I'm not retiring from public life-speaking of it in a very broad sense."

At week's end, still undecided on a house, the Nixons motored down to Palm Springs for their first reunion with Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower since John F. Kennedy's inauguration.

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