With daughter Tricia Cox serving as hostess (wife Pat was ill with a virus), Nixon greeted his guests with Mexican hors d'oeuvres, frosty margaritas and a strolling mariachi band. The POWs, in turn, presented their onetime Commander in Chief with a painting, signed by each of them, depicting a prison uniform hung on a hook for the last time. "We have a debt of eternal gratitude to you which we will never be able to repay," declared Air Force Maj. Gen. John P. Flynn. "We wish you the best."
On this day, at least, the wish would be fulfilled. Standing on the patio by the swimming pool, where he once entertained Leonid Brezhnev and other world leaders, Nixon made a plea for "patriotism, national purpose, pride and responsibility," and drew warm applause from his audience. The ebullient host chatted happily with the POWs, kissed their wives and startled one Southern couple by breaking into a chorus of Carolina Moon. Ever the amiable host, Nixon even encouraged the women to walk across the greens of his golf course in their high heels, explaining that he needed an excuse for missing putts.
Afterward the partygoers moved inside to take snapshots in the master bedroom and climb the turret to the ex-President's den. Air Force Maj. Myron Donald, who spent five years in North Vietnam, spoke of Watergate: "We're all persuaded to do things we don't want to do, which proves we're not all perfect. For Nixon, Watergate was like being broken for the first time. But it looks as though he's glued himself together again."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
