RICHARD NIXON: 1913-1994 : O.C.’s Chief of Protocol in Command Performance

The phone buzzes for what must be the thousandth time, and Gayle Anderson pulls off a gold earring, pins the receiver with her shoulder and listens to someone, somewhere, who wants something now.

It is early Monday morning and already scores of Post-It notes and scraps of paper cover her cherrywood desk--clues to the hectic pace of the previous few hours.

For Anderson, being chief of protocol in the county hosting the funeral of Richard Nixon means that for the next few days she must be all things to all people.

As the official host, she is akin to an attorney arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court or an aerospace engineer walking on the moon. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often, if at all.

“I’m trying to coordinate ambassadors arriving and parking passes and tickets, and I’ve got 14 lines on hold and people in my office,” Anderson said, pausing to catch her breath. “This is just phenomenal. I can’t even say I’m taking this a day at a time. I’m taking things a moment at a time.”

Under normal circumstances, Anderson’s duties amount to hosting a foreign dignitary to Orange County once, maybe twice a month. There would be a presentation before the Orange County Board of Supervisors, a trip to the Nixon Library & Birthplace and maybe an introduction to some local business leaders.

But this is a global gathering of Russians and Chinese, Japanese and Pakistanis, Swiss and Spaniards, Paraguayans and Poles. Anderson is no novice when it comes to foreign ministries and consuls general, but when they are coming by the dozens and all on the same day, it is a little much to coordinate.

“I spend a lot of time getting dignitaries who come to Los Angeles not to skip over us in Orange County on their way to San Diego,” she said. “But I could never imagine all these heads of state at once. Orange County will soon be known in the entire global community.”

Anderson, 51, has been in the volunteer job for nearly two years after being appointed by the Board of Supervisors. The office’s budget is paid by the International Visitors and Protocol Foundation of Orange County. Its members, individuals and corporations, created the foundation as a way to bring foreign diplomats to the county, and, they hope, create goodwill among local and foreign businesses.

Located in the county’s Hall of Administration in Santa Ana, the 10-year-old office hosts more than 300 yearly visitors, usually sent by the U.S. Information Agency.

Just last month, consuls general representing more than 40 countries attended a $150-per-person International Protocol Ball that brought the foundation more than $50,000.

Putting together that event was a feat, but ordering limos, hotel rooms and getting parking places for the Nixon funeral is even more daunting.

“It’s unbelievable,” Anderson said. “I’ve never had such responsibility in all my life.”

The call about Nixon’s death came Friday, from the U.S. Department of Protocol, and Anderson was immediately on the phone to a dozen hotels, blocking out rooms. On Saturday, she sent information to Washington, including room rates and availability, transportation options and maps of the area.

On Sunday, she was up at Los Angeles International Airport, picking up the seven-member federal protocol team. Anderson is more or less assisting them as they get updated guest lists from foreign representatives and set up transportation.

Molly Raiser, chief of protocol in the State Department in Washington, said Orange County’s protocol office has performed “wonderfully” these past few days.

“They’re helping with getting transportation for people, getting the diplomats back and forth to the library, getting together possible hotels,” she said. “It helps, because they know the local scene.”

On Monday, though tired, Anderson--fashionably attired in a red suit with black trim and a black straw hat--was polite to a fault and kept her good humor.

For now, there isn’t time to show much individual, personalized hospitality to the foreign outsiders, but she does have one goal in mind.

“Even under these sad circumstances, we want people to go away with a positive feeling about Orange County,” she said.