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The dinner was an emotional affair. His wife and daughters were united against his quitting. Nixon had always said that he would "go down to the wire constitutionally." Julie and Tricia continued to argue that he should. Usually, after such a family dinner, the Nixons would watch a movie together. Last week there was only somber discussion, then tears and embraces.
Finally, there was only acceptance of what had to be done. On Thursday, David Eisenhower and Edward Cox bade occasionally damp-eyed goodbyes to members of the White House staff they had come to know over the past several years. Friday morning was even more difficult. As Nixon took a long, emotional farewell of the White House staff, the girls had to struggle to keep their composure; even Mrs. Nixon seemed on the verge of losing her almost uncanny air of calm. Later, when the rest of the family boarded a helicopter for the hop to Andrews Air Force Base and the last official flight to California aboard Air Force 1, Julie and David remained behind to take charge of the family's personal belongings. As the helicopter lifted off the White House lawn, Julie gave her father the thumbs-up signal.
For the Nixon girls, the trauma of Watergate is likely to diminish with time. Both have lives of their own to lead, Tricia as the wife of a young attorney, Julie as an editor of the Saturday Evening Post and wife of the bearer of a legendary name. But for their mother, the shock of re-entry may well persist. Though her husband's career denied her the more private life she would have preferred, his triumphs should have assured her of honors and deference. Now she has been deprived of even this satisfaction. Pat has lost both ways, and very soon she is bound to learn how Lady Bird Johnson felt after she and her husband returned from the White House to private life. "Suddenly," said Mrs. Johnson wistfully, "all the coaches turn to pumpkins again."