"Alice Was a Tough Character"

In the midst of her wedding preparations last week, Tricia Nixon met in the Lincoln Sitting Room of the White House with TIME'S Bonnie Angela. Some of Tricia's observations:

I DON'T really know what the image of Tricia Nixon is. I suppose it varies from person to person. Anyone over the age of ten would probably be a tougher person than the Alice-in-Wonderland image--you couldn't help but be after living in the world, after living in New York City. But then, Alice was a pretty tough character herself, so maybe that's not a poor comparison.

To me the greatest mystery of the campaign was that it was said that David [Eisenhower] was the most liberal and Julie was next and I was the most conservative. It was just incredible. I really don't know where some of these stories develop.

I'm a very strong-minded person. Once I decide I feel a certain way about an issue or a person, I can change, but I'm not usually swayed by an argument of the moment. It usually takes much longer because I've already thought the idea through on my own, so someone has to have a lot of good ideas to go against the ones I hold. I'm sure there are times when Ed has influenced me, but that's half the fun of it, too. We are always trying to persuade one another--sometimes we do it in jest, sometimes we are serious in purpose. Maybe he's helped to change part of an idea [I have] rather than a whole idea. [As for whether she has ever changed Eddie's views]: I don't think he'd admit to that!

Ed and I are two individual people and at this point we are still developing. We hope we will always be developing, some way. But for us to find something that is truly meaningful to devote ourselves to would be really wonderful--if we felt we could really make a contribution to one another and to other people as well.

-'

Readiness for a new life has nothing to do with chronological age. Some people are ready earlier than others. My sister and David--that was a marriage made in heaven because it was so beautiful. Even though they were young when they married, it was just perfect and they knew it. Eddie was my first love, and we always knew how we felt about one another. We just thought that this was the right time. Somehow I think we all may look back on this day and really think it to be a beautiful thing. And historical.

[Moving to Cambridge, Mass., in the fall] is going to be totally different--the difference between night and day for me. Even the White House might afford you the possibility of having a normal life more than any other place, because when we're at San Clemente or Key Biscayne or Camp David or even at the White House in the private family quarters we can really be ourselves. But in a place like Cambridge, you're always going to be on display. Well, I suppose we'll be able to visit friends the way we do here, and to have our apartment, but other than that it will be much more the idea of being exposed. But you want to have a home with the person you love. There are many things I'll have to give up when I move from the White House to Cambridge, but there'll be so many things that I'll have that will be wonderful. -

Yes, I think my father should run again. I think he's a terrific President. And if we can just get the Congress off the dime, we can get a lot of good programs through. Maybe we can re-elect my father and elect some new members of the Congress and Senate.

David, the White House, Key Biscayne.

At the White House, they played pool --"Fast Eddie" usually won--and frequently watched movies. "That's one of the wonderful things about living in the White House," says Tricia. "You can get any movie on 24 hours' notice. We've seen all the old movies we've always wanted to see--Humphrey Bogart and W.C. Fields. We're great fans of W.C. Fields; his sense of humor is so droll." Both are interested in history and savor the White House because of its former tenants, Tricia's favorite being Dolley Madison. "Because she was so outgoing and warm," says Tricia, "I think she bridged so many gaps present in the country."

For nearly hermetic privacy, no place was better than Camp David on Maryland's Catoctin Mountain. Tricia especially liked getting away from the omnipresent guards and tourists around the White House grounds. Along with privacy, the camp, like a resort hotel, offered swimming, tennis, skeet shooting, putting green, movies, bicycling and roller-skating. Tricia, who calls herself "the world's most unathletic woman," tried to keep up with Ed, who has an almost indiscriminate passion for sports. "The only time I have seen Edward uncoordinated," Tricia says, "is on a surfboard." In winter there is a roaring fire in the lodge, but Tricia unexpectedly came up with another pastime: "Eddie and I have discovered a marvelous thing to do up there in the winter. We discovered the sauna, and then we go into the pool afterward instead of the snow. It's fantastic!"

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