Devoted Docents : Nixon Library Sees Post-Funeral Surge in Volunteers

It took Woodward and Bernstein two books and more than 800 pages to sum up Watergate. After a special class this month, it takes Battersby and York just six words: A break-in. A cover-up. A resignation.

Florence Battersby and Ed York, along with seven other eager students, learned this succinct version of history as part of the docent training course at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace. The orientation prepares these longtime admirers of the Yorba Linda native for duty as crowd handlers, watchdogs and tour guides at the presidential site.

With these docent newcomers, the library’s volunteers will number an all-time high of 131. That’s way up from the average of 80. Docent leaders attribute the latest membership surge to the former President’s funeral in April.

“When I saw Richard Nixon’s funeral on television, it tugged at my heartstrings,” said Battersby, 69, echoing a sentiment common among the new crop of library volunteers. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be part of that history?’ ”

But a mere whim will not transform volunteers into successful docents, whose ages range from 22 to 80, trainers say. It requires commitment, a good memory and the ability to stay on your feet for three hours.

“The kind of people that volunteer here are high-powered,” said Renee Wildenberg, 50, who has been a docent since 1990. “They have lots of energy and aren’t the kind who sit around being couch potatoes.”

As the students waded through streams of Nixon facts and protocol at a one-day seminar in mid-October, the library’s basement took on the atmosphere of a demanding high school course.

First, there was the reading list--close to 2,000 pages, including the expansive presidential memoirs.

“It looks like ‘War and Peace,’ ” remarked York, 64, a former engineer with the Department of Defense, referring to the 1,000-plus-page Nixon tome.

“You have to read it in two days,” joked Wildenberg, a Yorba Linda resident.

No laughing matter to the new docents, however, is that they will soon be expected to draw confidently upon facts culled from their readings and other library exhibits. For example, the new docents discovered they would have to know tidbits such as the births, marriages and deaths of four generations of Nixons and Milhouses; that the library’s moon rock is as big as the one in the Smithsonian Institution, and that Ed Cox proposed to Tricia Nixon in the White House’s Lincoln Sitting Room.

“It’s mind-boggling to get all this under your belt,” said Carolyn Nollette, 59, of Yorba Linda, who like other beginners received five follow-up training sessions with veteran docents before going solo in the library. “There’s just so much history.”

Next came the rules. Lots of them.

Don’t refer to the Nixons as “Dick” or “Pat,” even if you knew them. Don’t chew gum on duty. Don’t bother VIPs. Don’t be a piece of furniture, but don’t be the main attraction either.

Also, beware the press, trainers told the group. It’s something Nixon himself might have said. Docents were instructed to defer media questions to library officials.

“Be aware you may be talking to the press or someone who would like to spread a negative opinion using the Docent Guild as a source,” the docent manual says.

And always abide by the dress code. The guild’s 26 men and 105 women have little trouble deciding what to wear to their three-hour shifts at the library. While on duty, the men must wear gray slacks, white shirt, a navy blue jacket and a Nixon Library Docent Guild tie.

The women must stick to white blouses, navy blue skirts, red jackets and the Nixon Library Docent Guild scarf. The women are directed to don only natural or navy blue nylons, select conservative hair bows, use modest amounts of perfume and wear “plain” earrings.

Straying from the Docent Uniform Standards, which were adopted in September, could land volunteers in trouble.

“Ladies, if you wear one earring that plays the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ and the other one plays ‘America the Beautiful,’ you’re going to hear from me,” charter docent Jo Lyons told the trainees.

“It sounds like an awful lot of do’s and don’ts,” added Wildenberg. “But they are important and a wonderful set of information to refer to.”

The list grew longer this summer. Docents, who already shared fondness for volunteerism and the Nixon family, apparently were getting too chummy during their shifts. The chattiness prompted a new rule: No socializing on duty.

“We got to the point where people were left to their own devices and own good common sense,” said Lyons, a Yorba Linda resident, who has volunteered at the library since it opened in July, 1990. “And it just didn’t work.”

The docents take all this to heart and pay for the privilege. There is a $50 training fee, and annual dues are $25. The Nixon memoir, a fact book and other goods, including the official docent tie or scarf, are included in their docent package.

Finally, the daylong training session turns to the delicate matter of dealing with contentious visitors, who want to argue about Watergate and other controversial events of Nixon’s long and tumultuous political career. The three-sentence synopsis and the library’s Watergate display should speak for itself, explained the docent trainers.

“Occasionally, you’ll get a guest that will want to challenge you about your opinions,” said Wildenberg. “It’s just human nature. But don’t get in an argument with them.

“We present the facts, you draw your own conclusions,” she added. “Other than that, there’s not a lot to comment on.”

The library’s assistant director, Kevin Cartwright, defended their take on the political saga that led to the downfall of the 37th President.

“Our exhibits are no more skewed than others,” Cartwright assured the trainees during an early morning tour. “Watergate’s a very complicated story to tell.

“We try to explain how all Presidents since FDR had some type of taping mechanism in the White House,” he added.

The new docents got the message.

“I’ve made up my mind, if anybody says anything, that’s OK,” said Battersby. “You don’t have to like him (Nixon).

“I wouldn’t argue with them,” she added. “I wouldn’t want to be rude. I would turn and walk away before that.”

That type of non-confrontational attitude would have sat well with the former President, say veteran docents, who credit Nixon with paving the way for peace in Vietnam and the Middle East, detente with the Soviet Union and reaching out to China. While addressing the volunteer group a few years ago, Nixon said he wanted visitors to feel at home in his birthplace.

And as Wildenberg put it: “We want them to leave the library with a warm, fuzzy feeling. We are not only dispensers of information but also dispensers of warmth and comfort as well.”