Making the House a Home

Comparing color schemes, peering into closets, peeking at the view from every room, the Richard Nixons looked like any other householders casing the premises. With a difference. The Nixons' dreamhouse really is one. It comprises 132 rooms--"big enough for two emperors, one pope and the grand lama," as Thomas Jefferson observed--offers every convenience from a heated swimming pool to greenhouses and painless gardens, on 18 pristine acres of priceless downtown D.C. real estate. And it evokes some of the richest moments of American history. It may take some getting used to.

No time was wasted settling in, however, and the transfer of tenancy was even smoother than the transition of power. Within three hours--from the minute the Johnsons stepped out the door until the Nixons stepped in--almost all traces of the previous occupants had disappeared. The Johnsons' clothes and personal effects were whisked away; walls were cleaned to remove the telltale rectangles that showed where the predecessors' favorite pictures had hung. Fresh flowers were placed in every room, books were placed on bedside tables, and fires were lighted in every fireplace.

The New Order. Acting on orders that had come down from Nixon head--quarters in Manhattan days before, workmen removed the gadgetry Johnson loved so much from the Oval Office. The three-screen TV and the two chattering news tickers were the first to go.

The new President, like Dwight Eisenhower, prefers to learn what the press and the networks are saying from a news summary that his staff will prepare for him every morning. The large red-mahogany desk that Nixon had used as Vice President was trundled over from the Capitol. Ornately carved in front, it had been the White House desk of William McKinley and Woodrow Wilson.

Despite the pleasant outlook and easy commute (a 2 1/2-minute walk from the living quarters), Nixon was not altogether satisfied with the Oval Office. Most of his "brainwork," he said, would be done in a new office, yet to be found, in the old Executive Office Building, across from the White House, where many of the President's staff will reside. The Oval Office will be used mostly for formal affairs. When he wants to work in the White House, Nixon will probably use a small private study that adjoins the big office or a small sitting room off the Lincoln Bedroom upstairs.

The rest of the staff occupies more conventional quarters. Special Assistants Bryce Harlow, Stanley Blair, and Dwight Chapin have space in the West Wing near the President's main office.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, his urban affairs adviser, and Henry Kissinger, his national security specialist, do their brainwork in basement enclaves. In his most unusual departure from tradition, Nixon has given Spiro Agnew an office in the White House, only 50 paces from his own. President-watchers concluded uncharitably that Nixon is anxious to keep his Vice President on a short leash.

A Touch of Green. Though few of the family's personal possessions had yet been brought down from their Manhattan apartment, Pat Nixon was no less busy than her husband. She talked over the family's food preferences (steak, hamburger and cottage cheese) with Swiss-born Chef Henry Haller, one of the holdovers from the old Administration. She selected stationery and cards and consulted frequently with her own staff, which has its offices in the East Wing. Also, she had to give advice to her husband. What could he do to liven up his office? asked the President. He might start, suggested his wife, by replacing the cream colored curtains with something in beige, with green piping. And he should not overcrowd the bookshelves with too many volumes, she said, but instead intersperse the books with mementos.

This week the Nixons will do their first official entertaining, and by all indications, the Republican years will be considerably more formal than the Democratic. A giant U-shaped table will replace the small round tables the Kennedys and Johnsons preferred, and the men will be expected to wear white rather than black tie. Champagne will be served, but there probably will also be mixed drinks--a daring innovation of the Kennedy era. If Richard Nixon was in no undue haste to construct his new Administration, he was clearly eager to make the most of his four-year lease on America's most elegant and adaptable mansion.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.