THE POLITICS OF RECONCILIATION

THE blades of the backup helicopter for President Nixon's Marine One whirred to a stop, the chopper door popped open, and out onto the brand-new White House West helipad stepped the whole Johnson family: Lyndon and Lady Bird, Pat and Luci Nugent, Major Charles Robb and Lynda. They had come all the way from Texas for the latest extravaganza by Richard Nixon Productions Inc., a 61st birthday moveable feast for L.B.J. that started in San Clemente and ended in the new Redwood National Park, 800 miles farther up the California coast. It was an unlikely summit meeting between two old political enemies and, as it turned out before the long day was over, a remarkable duet performance in the politics of reconciliation.

The Nixons, joined by David and Julie Eisenhower, tootled out to the helipad in one of the fringed-top presidential golf carts. As Nixons and Johnsons shook hands all around, Francisco Ruano, resplendent in rich brown deerskin bolero and blue-and-silver sombrero, led his Guadalajara Boys mariachi of eight Mexican-American musicians in a fair approximation of Happy Birthday. The band was Nixon's own idea; he discovered it at El Adobe, a favorite restaurant in nearby San Juan Capistrano, and pronounced their sound "beautiful." After The Yellow Rose of Texas, Nixon exclaimed: "Now let's get that Happy Birthday really going!" With a flourishing downbeat, he shouted: "Go!" Bystanding aides and secretaries joined Lady Bird and the Nixons in an encore. "How about that?" said Nixon.

His predecessor stood smiling, felt hat in hand, looking a little dazed in the brilliant California sun, but pleased as well. As reporters and photographers gathered round to congratulate Johnson on his birthday, Nixon turned to one and said admiriigly: "He doesn't look that old, does he?" Then they were off in a motorcade of golf carts. As the party split, with Nixon and Johnson heading for the executive-office complex and the rest turning off to the presidential villa, Nixon called to Luci: "You can use the pool if you want. And my surfboard. I never use that."

The President and the ex-President exchanged confidences of state for an hour and ten minutes. Presidential Assistants John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman came by to help review the domestic situation with Johnson, and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger joined the discussion of foreign affairs and Viet Nam. It was a replay in reverse of the White House meeting late in L.B.J.'s presidency at which Johnson briefed President-elect Nixon on the nation's problems. Nixon and Johnson rejoined their families in the villa for a roast-beef luncheon topped off with a three-tiered, lemon-filled birthday cake decorated with yellow roses and Texas bluebonnets. The Nixons gave Johnson a 19-in.-high Japanese bonsai tree and thoughtfully included a book on Practical Bonsai for Beginners.

After lunch, everybody piled aboard Air Force One at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, picking up Evangelist Billy Graham, House Democratic Whip Hale Boggs and Governor Ronald Reagan for the trip north. After their wives went up the ramp, Nixon indicated that Johnson should precede him, but the ex-President deferred to his successor and pushed Nixon ahead. During the flight north, Nixon and Johnson continued to talk foreign policy with Kissinger, while Luci and Lynda inspected the changes that Nixon has had made in Air Force One's interior. "I'm telling you," Luci observed nostalgically, "I wouldn't know anything around here."

Thawed Curmudgeon. On landing at Arcata Airport in Northern California, Nixon paid gracious tribute to Lady Bird. "In the whole history of this country," he told the crowd, "there has been no First Lady who has done more in the field of conservation and natural beauty." With mellow geniality, he went on: "It so happens that President Johnson and I have a lot of things in common. We were both born in small towns We both served in the Senate and in the House. We both served as Vice President. And we're both fortunate in the fact that we think we married above ourselves." The often curmudgeonly Johnson was well thawed by now. "I don't know of any one of the 61 birthdays I've had where I've been happier or where people did any more to make me happy," he confessed.

By helicopter, by car, and for the last few hundred yards on foot, the party made its way deep into the fastnesses of the 58,000-acre Redwood National Park, dedicated last November by Lady Bird during her final conservation-promotion tour as First Lady. Standing amid narrow shafts of yellow sunlight that filtered through the cool, deep green branches of the towering, 300-ft. Sequoia sempervirens, Nixon signed a proclamation naming a 300-acre grove of redwoods in honor of Lady Bird Johnson.

Then the President unveiled a dedicatory plaque of gold letters on redwood in recognition of Mrs. Johnson's "devoted service to the cause of preserving and enhancing America's natural beauty for the enjoyment of all people." Said Lady Bird to Nixon: "You've given me a day to treasure always, and I'm grateful." Nixon explained that some of the giant trees are as much as 2,500 years old. His birthday wish for the ex-President: "May he live as long as some of these trees."

Again Johnson responded expansively, and this time included a note of compassion for his successor. "My father told me one time, when I was a little boy," Johnson remembered, "that I'd never know what it meant to be a father until I was a father. And one never knows what it is to be a President until you are a President." He continued: "We are very proud to stand behind you and to support you in your earnest quest for peace in the world and for prosperity at home. No man occupied the place that you occupy who didn't want to do the best he could. Some have succeeded, and some have had less success. But of this you can be sure: if all of your days are as successful as today in bringing happiness to your predecessor, you will have a most successful presidency." Then it was back on board the presidential jet and homeward, Air Force One dropping the Nixons in San Clemente before taking the Johnsons straight on to the LBJ Ranch.

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