Nation: TOWARD THE NIXON INAUGURATION

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Somber and Unsure. Nixon's main preoccupation was drafting his inaugural address, which he is writing out on lined yellow legal pads. At week's end his Cabinet members assembled in New York at the Pierre hotel headquarters for two days of briefings with the heads of 21 task forces that have been studying the problems facing the incoming Administration. Henry Loomis, director of the policy task force, let it be known that there would be no sudden departures. "Don't expect dramatic shifts or changes," said Loomis. "Maybe Nixon will be able to slow down or alter the direction of 3% to 5% of existing programs in his first year, maybe 8% to 10% in his second and third years. Add it up: that's change of enormous impact and significance. But it's gradual."

The U.S. is briefly quiescent after the shocks and divisions of 1968. But it is also somber and unsure; the vexing dilemmas of Viet Nam, racial tension and urban disintegration all remain unresolved. There is a vacuum in the nation's leadership, and once Richard Milhous Nixon takes the oath of office next week to become the 37th President of the U.S., there will not be much time before he must act to fill it. Still, like most of his predecessors, he starts his term with the good will and high expectations of his fellow citizens. A Louis Harris poll released last week revealed that fully 88% believe that he will unite rather than further divide the U.S.