‘It would have been more remarkable not to honor him. ‘ : Nixon Gets His Postage Due With Stamp

Thirty-three years after he quit California politics, 23 years since his successful gambit with China and two decades after he resigned the presidency, the late Richard Nixon will be honored with a commemorative stamp.

The first-class, 32-cent stamp will be available Wednesday at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace and the Yorba Linda Post Office. It goes on sale nationwide Thursday.

To celebrate, the Nixon Library is putting on a weeklong series of events, culminating Wednesday in the public dedication of the commemorative stamp by the late President’s daughters, Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox, and Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon Jr. The events coincide with the anniversary of Nixon’s death on April 22, 1994, and his state funeral April 27.

Last fall, when the Postal Service announced that a Nixon commemorative stamp would be issued, some collectors and a congressional committee chairman argued against honoring Nixon with a stamp. The protest was ignored by Postal Service officials.

“That died out so quickly, it was just a flash,” said Postal Service spokesman Robin Wright. “It would have been more remarkable not to honor him.”

The Postal Service typically dedicates a stamp to a President on the birthday following his death. For Nixon, that would have been Jan. 9. But the issuance was delayed because postage rates were being adjusted and it was not clear what denomination the Nixon stamp would bear.

Lyndon Baines Johnson, in 1973, was the most recent President to be honored with a stamp. For the Nixon commemorative, the Postal Service is printing 80 million stamps--nowhere near the blockbuster numbers for the Elvis Presley stamp (500 million) or the Marilyn Monroe stamp (400 million) that is due out in June, and less even than the James K. Polk stamp (100 million) due later this year.

Kathleen Wunderly, director of education for the American Philatelic Society, said the Postal Service “doesn’t expect lines at the post office” from collectors for the Nixon commemorative, though it could get a lot of use because there is a shortage of 32-cent stamps.

The Nixon stamp was drawn by New York City artist Daniel B. Schwartz from an official White House photograph taken about the time of Nixon’s China visit in 1972. The artist avoided news photographs because they “tend to have emotion attached to them. You don’t want a stamp showing intensity or irritability,” he said.

The depiction is a full-face view. “I don’t think anyone would have wanted a profile,” he said, referring to Nixon’s renowned nose. “The expression is pleasant and quite positive. . . . He didn’t have a big wide grin but had almost a smile.”

Nixon’s daughters selected the photograph and approved of the artist’s rendering of it, Wright said.

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The controversy about issuing the stamp, which included some anti-stamp talk in philatelic circles, was also fueled last year by Rep. William L. Clay (D-Mo.), then chairman of the House Post Office Committee. Clay wrote to Runyon in September that “when Nixon resigned in disgrace, he forfeited his right to be honored on a postage stamp.”

The Postal Service brushed aside those objections. Runyon wrote Clay that “it is a longstanding tradition to feature every President . . . on commemorative stamps after their death.” In the “spirit” of tradition, Runyon said, “we will feature President Nixon” on a stamp.

Nixon, after all, has special ties to the Postal Service--he was President when the Postal Department was reorganized.

“It was a bold action for a newly elected President to overhaul such a politically structured organization, but he never wavered in his desire to create a more business-like Postal Service,” Runyon said in a recent statement.

Stamp marketing is part of that reorganization, and a hot commemorative can be big business. The Postal Service has embraced the idea, particularly after making $36 million from the Elvis stamp.

The Postal Service hopes to repeat the marketing success of the Elvis boom with the Marilyn Monroe stamp when it comes out on her birthday June 1.

“We are trying to make some money,” Wright said.

There will be other commemoratives this year as well. A Civil War series comes out in June, with 20 different images, including four battles and, for the first time, a stamp commemorating Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.

For the Nixon library, the Nixon commemorative could be big business too. After buying rights to market ancillary merchandise, the library is offering its own collectors’ set of five envelopes for first-day cancellations and will also be selling a host of “RN Commemorative Stamp items” at the library and by phone or fax.

People seeking first-day cancellations of the Richard Nixon stamps have about a month to send in a request to the Yorba Linda postmaster. To get a first-day cancellation, purchase the Nixon stamps at any local post office and place them on self-addressed envelopes. These should be mailed in a larger envelope to Customer-Affixed Stamps, Richard M. Nixon Stamps, Postmaster, Yorba Linda, CA 92686-9991. Requests should be postmarked by May 25.

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Celebration Schedule

The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace on Saturday will begin a weeklong observance of the first anniversary of the 37th President’s death. The highlight comes Wednesday, with the public dedication of the Richard Nixon Commemorative Stamp.

SATURDAY

* 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Anniversary of Nixon’s death on April 22, 1994.

* 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: “Farewell Mr. President,” photographic exhibit on Nixon state funeral, continues.

MONDAY

* 8 p.m.: Ground-level pyrotechnic postage stamp tribute.

WEDNESDAY

* 8 a.m.: First-day-of-issue cancellations begin for Richard Nixon commemorative stamp.

* 11 a.m.: Ceremony dedicating new Richard Nixon commemorative stamp, with Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon Jr.; Nixon daughters Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox greet public.

* 11:45 a.m.: Part of Nixon’s study, moved from New Jersey, becomes new permanent exhibit.

THURSDAY

* 10:30 a.m.: Nixon Library ’96 Issues Forum; speaker, New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; admission, $9

* Noon: VIP luncheon; admission, $45. Information: (714) 993-5075

Source: Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace