Yorba Linda Prepares for Nixon Funeral

As the world’s attention turned toward this placid suburban community, mourners and Secret Service agents alike descended Sunday on the site where Richard Nixon was born 81 years ago, and where he will be buried Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials met throughout the day to plan logistics and security for a funeral that will draw the President of the United States, the four living former chief executives and a galaxy of international representatives.

But one of the biggest questions remained unanswered amid a buzz of anticipation: Who will attend the invitation-only funeral at the library that bears Nixon’s name?

Orange County’s chief of protocol, Gayle Anderson, said officials have confirmed that Russia, Japan and China will send representatives to the burial at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace--perhaps even their heads of state.

Will Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin be here to mourn the first passing of a U.S. President since the end of the Cold War?

Which of the dignitaries from the U.S. political Establishment that once shunned Nixon will make it to his burial?

What of the old colleagues who became “co-conspirators” in the scandal that forced Nixon to resign in 1974?

No one seems certain, at least not yet.

A spokeswoman at the State Department’s Office of Protocol said the foreign guests will not be known until today at the earliest.

Today, Army posts across the country will fire guns every half-hour from dawn to dusk to salute Nixon. A 21-gun cannonade will mark the coffin’s arrival at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for the funeral motorcade to the library grounds. Finally, a 50-gun salute will be fired at five-second intervals after Nixon’s coffin has been lowered.

Orange County has stepped up its preparations for the event and the attention that it will bring to Yorba Linda, a quiet community of 57,000 people more accustomed to hosting equestrian events than world leaders.

“There will be planeloads of people coming for this funeral,” said one official helping to plan the services. “This is going to be bigger than anyone is expecting. The list of people who want to be here just keeps on growing.”

White House officials and Secret Service agents with walkie-talkies combed the grounds Sunday, conferring about logistics and seating arrangements, security and parking.

Volunteers, many of them students from USC and UCLA, rushed into hastily called meetings to hear how they would be needed in the next few days.

“It’s pretty unprecedented,” Orange County Supervisor William G. Steiner said of all the attention. “I think we are going to bring him home with dignity and respect.”

Orange County florists were struggling to keep up with the demand for sympathy bouquets, while posh hotels reported a run on rooms. They were adding staff to cope with the expected flood of funeral guests.

Orange County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, whose district includes Yorba Linda, called it “quite a substantial logistical effort, extending hospitality across the country and abroad.”

Although the library was closed Sunday and will remain so until Tuesday afternoon, when Nixon’s body will lie in state, crowds lined up outside to sign a visitors’ log and to note their condolences onto pages of an album that will be presented to the Nixon family.

The number of home-grown and homemade tributes grew by the hour: Bouquets and baskets of daisies and roses, sunflowers and daffodils were strewn among cards, letters, candles, American flags, balloons and even a miniature wooden replica of Nixon’s boyhood home. At the center of the memorial was a color photo of a smiling Nixon.

Marine Capt. Michael Ward left a letter he had written to Nixon’s daughters, telling them that his squadron will be flying the “missing-man formation as a special thanks to your father” at the base’s air show Saturday.

Workers hammered nails into a long platform that will support the coffin during Wednesday’s funeral. Two huge sets of portable bleachers, each with seats for 600, have been erected just outside Nixon’s boyhood home, where the services are to be held.

And workers draped canvas along the back border of the grounds, blocking the view from the bike path and equestrian trail.

The library parking lot was filled with television trucks and satellite dishes as networks jockeyed for the best position for live broadcasts of the funeral.

Sarah Strain of Anaheim, with her husband and 12-year-old daughter, dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she stood outside the library. She had written Nixon several years ago after touring the library, and he had sent a compassionate note back to her.

“This was a good man who loved his country, his wife and children,” she said. “I come here today bringing a broken heart.”

Times staff writers Rene Lynch and Matt Lait contributed to this story.

The Nixon Funeral

Military officials have released a tentative timetable for the transportation of former President Richard Nixon’s body to California for the funeral and interment Wednesday at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda.

Tuesday

* 6:45 a.m.--The body will depart Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., after a ceremony.

* 12:35 p.m.--The body arrives at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. A brief military ceremony is planned. It was not immediately clear whether the arrival will be open to the public. The body will be taken by motorcade to the Nixon Library.

* About 1 p.m.--The motorcade will arrive at the library. The public is invited to witness the arrival of the coffin, but parking will be severely limited. Visitors should expect to walk long distances.

* From 3 p.m. Tuesday to 11 a.m. Wednesday--The body will lie in state, coffin closed, for public viewing in the library lobby.

Wednesday

* 3 p.m.--Former Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George Bush will gather in private with the family in the lobby.

* 4 p.m.--The funeral will begin, lasting 45 to 55 minutes. An unknown number of dignitaries and invited guests will be seated in the library’s parking lot, with family members, eulogists and the coffin on a stage. The Rev. Billy Graham will preside, and eulogies will be delivered by President Clinton, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Gov. Pete Wilson.

* Closed: On the day of the funeral, all streets around the library, including Yorba Linda Boulevard, will be closed.

* The Nixon Library: 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., will remain closed until 10 a.m. Thursday.

Source: U.S. Army Military District, Ft. McNair, Washington, D.C.