A CITY IN CRISIS: HOPE AND PRAYER AMID THE ASHES : Bush Seeks Solutions to Urban Ills

President Bush, resting at his Camp David, Md., retreat, prayed Sunday for an end to the violence in Los Angeles and other cities during a morning chapel service and issued a statement urging Americans “to reflect on the needs of others.”

He also summoned several Cabinet officers to the White House today to discuss long-term solutions to the nation’s urban problems and said a National Day of Prayer previously scheduled for Thursday should be dedicated to reconciliation and healing.

Bush, due to arrive in Los Angeles Thursday on a previously planned trip, is expected to survey damage from riots triggered last week when a jury found four white police officers not guilty in the beating of a black motorist, Rodney King. Bush is also scheduled to speak before the Town Hall of California.

The steps the President took Sunday marked further attempts to assuage concerns raised by civil rights leaders and other critics who have warned that he appeared too uncaring about African-American concerns.

Later, returning to the White House from Camp David, Bush said: “I sure am pleased that things have calmed way down, and I think our actions helped.”

At the White House on Friday, prominent black community leaders had urged Bush to convene a special prayer breakfast on Sunday to demonstrate his concern.

Instead, the President delivered a nationally televised speech Friday night saying that he was sending federal troops, then retreated to the isolation of Camp David--delaying a previously planned weekend stay by several hours. From the mountain compound, he issued a declaration naming Los Angeles a major disaster area.

White House spokeswoman Laura Melillo said Bush had acted “very promptly” and was monitoring the situation “very closely.” She said that Bush was pleased with the role being played by Atty. Gen. William P. Barr in supervising the federal effort. A federal grand jury is investigating whether the four Los Angeles Police Department officers violated King’s civil rights when they beat him after a traffic stop last year.