Guests Recall Inner Strength, Grace : Tributes: Attendees ranging from Patrick J. Buchanan to George S. McGovern share their recollections.

As Richard Nixon stepped before television cameras to resign the nation’s highest office in 1974, he turned to his wife of 33 years. In a pink and white dress, wearing dark glasses to hide her tears, she managed a wan smile.

Later, he wrote of the personal anguish of that moment.

“Now she would not receive any of the praise she deserved,” he wrote in his memoirs. “There would be no round of farewell parties by congressional wives, no testimonials, no tributes. She had been a dignified, compassionate First Lady. She had given so much to the nation and so much to the world. Now she would have to share my exile. She deserved so much more.”

On a hot Saturday morning, witnessed by hundreds of friends and family members, the testimonials finally came. Pat Nixon was remembered at her funeral for her strength, her diplomacy, her love of children and, above all, her humanity.

“She was a very beloved lady,” said Patrick J. Buchanan, former speech writer for Nixon. “She had a great spirit and a terrific sense of humor. She was one of the few people in this kind of business who had no enemies anywhere. You saw that in the people who were here today.”

The guest list spanned the personal and public lives of Richard and Pat Nixon, ranging from family members to colleagues and political opponents from Nixon’s runs for governor of California, Congress, the U.S. Senate, vice president and President.

“I’ve always admired Mrs. Nixon,” said former U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern, one of Nixon’s staunchest political opponents. “I can’t say I knew her well. She was one of the least pretentious public figures I knew. She withstood the pressures of public life better than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Asked about his past relationship with her husband, McGovern shrugged and said, “You can’t keep on campaigning forever.”

Prominent friends Lee and Walter H. Annenberg were there. Pianist Van Cliburn appeared. U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) attended, as did Helen McCain Smith, Mrs. Nixon’s press secretary.

The Watergate era was well represented by attendees Maurice Stans, Charles Colson, Rosemary Woods, H.R. Haldeman, Ron Ziegler and Alexander M. Haig. But others, such as John D. Ehrlichman, did not attend.

John H. Taylor, director of the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, where the funeral was held, was reluctant to discuss how the invitations were handled, other than to say that “we essentially responded to the calls we got, and it worked out that a group of 372 close friends and family attended.”

Attendees recognized Mrs. Nixon for her inner strength in the face of adversity.

“She was someone who made a real difference and someone everyone loved,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, (R-Kan.). “She had grace, wit, charm and was steadfast in her love to her family. It was a great honor to be here.”

While other modern-day First Ladies used their position to push public causes--from beautifying the nation’s highways to health care reform--Mrs. Nixon turned inward, using her infrequent appearances to show unwavering support for her husband.

And Nixon was not shy about turning to his wife when the going got rough. In his famous “Checkers” speech of 1952, he sought to defuse a burgeoning scandal over an $18,000 political donation by pointing out that Mrs. Nixon owned not a mink coat but a “respectable Republican cloth coat.” And on the campaign trail, he knew that just introducing his wife would bring enthusiastic applause.

Despite what many thought of Nixon after his resignation, few could criticize his wife, who had withstood painful years of public scrutiny in the face of mounting opposition to the Vietnam War and, later, the lingering stain of Watergate.

Mrs. Nixon was named five times between 1957 and 1971 by the Gallup poll as one of the nation’s most admired women. For 16 straight years after her husband resigned, she was also named by Good Housekeeping magazine as one of the 10 most admired women in the United States.

She did not always wish a life of politics on her husband.

Informed of her husband’s intention to run in the 1968 presidential election after losing in 1960, she turned to him, paused briefly and said: “I know what you are asking us to do and what you are asking of yourself. Now that the decision is made, I will go along with it.”

On Saturday, Nixon made reference to his wife’s fortitude in private comments to guests, recalling two traumatic occasions--the “Checkers” speech and his life-threatening bout with phlebitis--in which he had told her he could not forge ahead.

She had responded simply: “Yes, you will.”