Law Officers Planning Security for Nixon Rites : Preparations: Question remains as to which heads of state will attend. Mourners visit Yorba Linda site.

By MARK PLATTE and ERIC LICHTBLAU

April 25, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

YORBA LINDA — As the world’s attention began to turn toward this placid suburban community, mourners and Secret Service agents alike descended Sunday on the grounds of the site where Richard Nixon was born 81 years ago, and where he will be buried this week.

Law enforcement officials met throughout the day to plan security for a funeral that will draw the President of the United States, the four living former chief executives and a galaxy of international representatives.

But one of the biggest questions remained unanswered, even amid the buzz of anticipation: Who will attend the invitation-only funeral set for Wednesday at the library that bears Nixon’s name?

Orange County’s chief of protocol, Gayle Anderson, said officials have confirmed that Russia, Japan and China will all be represented at the Wednesday burial in Yorba Linda, and attendance by heads of state or government from any or all those nations now appears likely, she said.

But will Japan’s new premier be there to mourn the first passing of a U.S. President in two decades? Which of the dignitaries from the political establishment that once shunned him will make it to Orange County? And what of the “co-conspirators” in the scandal that forced Nixon’s resignation in 1974? No one seems certain, at least not yet.

“We have no official word on that, as we speak,” Anderson said Sunday.

A spokeswoman said the State Department’s Office of Protocol would not have a guest list until today at the earliest. “Our diplomatic note (to foreign governments) only went out late yesterday and, this being Sunday, we’re not hearing anything back. By tomorrow we should have a better idea,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Army issued orders for dawn-to-dusk cannon salutes every 30 minutes beginning today, climaxing with a 50-gun salvo after the former President’s casket has been lowered. And local church leaders mourned Nixon on Sunday as a man who, despite the indelible stain of Watergate on his record, was deserving of plaudits.

Orange County officials stepped up their preparations for the event and the worldwide attention that it will bring to Yorba Linda, a quiet community of 57,000 people that is more accustomed to hosting equestrian events than gatherings of international leaders.

“There will be planeloads of people coming for this funeral,” said one official helping to plan the event. “This is going to be bigger than anyone is expecting. The list of people who want to be here just keeps on growing.”

Commenting on all the attention suddenly focused on Orange County, Supervisor William G. Steiner said: “It’s pretty unprecedented.”

Orange County florists were struggling to keep up with the demand for sympathy bouquets, while posh hotels reported a run on rooms and were scheduling additional staff to cope with the expected flood of guests coming for the funeral.

“We had calls as early as Friday night,” said Jim Luce, director of marketing for the Anaheim Marriott, adding that one group reserved 10 suites. The Marriott in Fullerton is nearly sold out for tonight and Tuesday, he said.

“Right now, we are completely sold out for Tuesday, because that’s when everyone wants to come in,” he said.

While hospitality is always the order of the day, Luce said hotel staffers will be on alert to follow proper protocol and security measures for visiting VIPS.

“Our job is to make sure the proper respect is paid at all times (and) the desired type of room is supplied,” he said, adding that special dietary needs are also addressed. “The chief concern, however, when you’re dealing with heads of state, is security.”

Some hoteliers were unruffled by the prospect of a flood of prominent guests.

“As far as dignitaries are concerned, we have all kinds of people staying here on a daily basis, so no special arrangements are being made,” said Raeann Blue, manager of Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach. “We make sure all our guests get the best service.”

County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, whose district includes Yorba Linda, said: “I think without question the eyes of the world will be focused on Orange County. It’s quite a substantial effort, extending hospitality across the country and abroad.”

Although the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace was closed Sunday, and will remain so until Tuesday afternoon when Nixon’s body will lie in state, crowds lined up outside to sign a visitors log and put their best wishes on pages of an album that is to be presented to the Nixon family.

As they have done since Friday, mourners dropped dozens of bouquets of flowers outside the library’s glass front doors. Several candles were also lit in the former President’s memory.

At another end of the library grounds, workmen hammered nails into a long platform that will hold the casket during Wednesday’s funeral. Two huge sets of portable bleachers, each with enough room to seat 600 guests, have been erected just outside Nixon’s boyhood home, where the ceremony is to be held. And workers have draped canvas along the back border of the grounds to block the view from the adjacent bike path and equestrian trail.

“The horse trails are even closed, and in our city that’s a big deal,” said Yorba Linda Mayor Barbara Kiley.

While City Hall will remain open, municipal officials are planning to close much of their major thoroughfare--Yorba Linda Boulevard--for the funeral, and many stores will probably close for the day.

“We’ll shut down the city, effectively,” said Kiley, who has spent much of the last two days fielding calls from reporters as far away as China. “Everyone is going to be here. It’s so monumental, what’s going on.”

White House officials and Secret Service agents with walkie-talkies combed the grounds Sunday, conferring about logistics and seating arrangements, security and parking.

Volunteers, many of them students from USC and UCLA, rushed into hastily called meetings to hear how they would be needed in the next few days. Those helping organize the funeral were ushered in and out of the library all day.

Bruce Herschensohn, a onetime staff assistant to Nixon and former television commentator, caused a brief stir when he arrived at the library early Sunday afternoon and was spotted by onlookers. Several people asked to shake his hand.

Outside, the parking lot was filled with television trucks and satellite dishes, as national networks jockeyed to secure the best place for their news anchors. Each of the major networks is planning to broadcast live from the funeral.

“All I need to know is, can I get Brokaw on site, or is he going to have to be off-site?” one NBC producer asked.

While no one without special credentials could get inside the library, thousands gathered outside for a glimpse of a makeshift memorial that grew larger by the hour at the library’s main doorway.

Bouquets and baskets of daisies and roses, sunflowers and daffodils were strewn among cards, letters, candles, American flags, balloons and even a miniature wooden replica of Nixon’s boyhood home. At the center of the memorial was a color photo of a smiling Nixon.

“Many people dream of making a difference,” one note read. “You made a difference, Richard and Pat. May you rest in peace together forever. . . . We the people.”

Capt. Michael Ward of the 3rd Air Wing at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station left a letter he had written to the Nixon family, telling them that his squadron will be flying the “missing-man formation as a special thanks to your father” at the base’s air show on Saturday.

Sarah Strain of Anaheim, with her husband and 12-year-old daughter, dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she stood outside the library. She had written Nixon several years ago after touring the library, and he had sent a compassionate note back to her.

“This was a good man who loved his country, his wife and children,” she said. “I come here today bringing a broken heart.”

Church leaders offered similar sentiments at Sunday services, while several also spoke emotionally about their personal observations of the man who held a unique place in Orange County.

“I was a good friend of Richard Nixon’s,” the Rev. Robert H. Schuller told his “Hour of Power” congregation at the Crystal Cathedral.

Schuller recounted his role in helping persuade Nixon to end his self-imposed exile at his home in San Clemente and to make his first post-Watergate public appearance at the funeral of onetime Democratic rival Humbert Humphrey.

Nixon served as a focal point for Schuller’s sermon on motivation, empowerment and achievement. The former President, he said, exemplified all three traits.

For many parishioners, forgiveness appeared a theme of the day in assessing Nixon.

“Nixon was a good man. He had faults like everyone else, but he was a good man,” said Crystal Cathedral parishioner Betty Dorman, 67, of Garden Grove.

And at the Yorba Linda Friends Church, where Nixon’s parents once worshiped, 87-year-old Frank Marshburn recalled that his own father was the doctor who helped deliver Nixon. He never knew Nixon well, Marshburn said, but “all I know now is what I read, and I think he was a good President.”

Times staff writers Rene Lynch and Matt Lait contributed to this report.

* RELATED STORIES: A14, A16