Worship in the East Room

How does a President worship? Unnoticed by his aides and security guards, Harry S. Truman once slipped away to services at a church near the White House, but he was probably the last Chief Executive who would do so. Dwight Eisenhower went regularly to the National Presbyterian Church; since the murder of John Kennedy, the Secret Service has frowned on that because of the predictable pattern it could create for potential assassins. The freewheeling, ecumenical church-hopping of Lyndon Johnson created a different kind of security problem, as well as a weekly show. Richard Nixon has resolved the situation by holding Sunday religious services in the White House itself.

The idea was the President's own. It began with his request to Billy Graham, a longtime friend, to conduct informal prayers there shortly after the Inauguration. Since then, there have been seven other Sunday services in the East Room. The enthusiastic response from invited religious leaders and the usual crowd of 280 or so high-ranking guests has made the ecumenical worship ceremonies into something of a new White House institution.

"Little Gems." Nixon is not the first President to have religious observances in the White House. Evangelist Graham conducted a service for Lyndon Johnson and 75 guests last summer. But Nixon is the first to hold services regularly. Among the White House preachers since Graham have been the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, Terence Cardinal Cooke, Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of New York's Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale of Manhattan's Marble Collegiate Church, and Dr. R. H. Edwin Espy, general secretary of the National Council of Churches.

Despite the different faiths of the presiding clergymen, the half-hour service is recognizably Protestant in style. It usually begins with a Christian doxology and a short prayer, followed by a hymn --such solid traditional fare as Faith of Our Fathers or O God, Our Help in Ages Past--led by a visiting choir. The sermons, about twelve minutes long, are usually extemporaneous. Pat Nixon calls them "little gems" and plans to privately publish a collection in booklet form. There follows another hymn, benediction, and adjournment to the State Dining Room for coffee and sweet rolls.

The Christian flavor of the services was maintained even during the visit two Sundays ago of Rabbi Finkelstein and a number of Jewish guests. Though Finkelstein intoned a Jewish hymn, Adon Olam, at the end of the service, the Lutheran guest choir sang a traditional doxology, Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow--a hymn that specifically glorifies the Trinity. Although some eyebrows were raised, Nixon aides explained that this particular hymn was always part of the services, and Rabbi Finkelstein confirmed that he had been informed of it in advance. Finkelstein acknowledged that he "did not exactly jump for joy" at the idea, but considered it the President's prerogative. "After all," he said, "it's his house. I did not hear a word of criticism from anybody."

Initially, there were some adverse clerical comments about what the Christian Century described as a "coupling of spirituality and political sentimentality" (TIME, Feb. 7). But the East Room services have elicited many more letters of praise than criticism, and the Nixons definitely plan to continue them.

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