The Nation: The Private World of Richard Nixon

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The President slips into a comfortable, yellow silk armchair, his feet up on an ottoman, to make phone calls. "I make a great number of phone calls. The White House operators are fantastic at reaching people."

He is obviously pleased with the E.O.B. hideaway and how it enables him to vary the mood and pace that he must maintain in the Oval Office. Walking back to the East Wing and the family living quarters, the President talks about his bowling (there are two automatic lanes in the E.O.B. basement). "I usually bowl for an hour about 8:30 or 9. I bowl 155 to 160. I have bowled a few games over 200. I could be a good bowler if I had the time."

The President strides past the press office and enters the White House through the door leading to the Rose Garden. We go to the Lincoln Sitting Room in the southeast corner of the White House. There, where he relaxes and reads, the President has a favorite gray velvet armchair "that we brought from California." This is the room where he met with Henry Kissinger to plan the China trip. Occasionally he smokes a pipe or a cigar here. There is a fireplace he likes to have kept burning and high-fidelity speakers on either side of the grate. His tapes, cartridges and phonograph are in a large walk-in closet near the door to the sitting room. He prefers melodious classics: Van Cliburn playing Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff; the theme music from Doctor Zhivago and Victory at Sea.

"I usually bring a briefcase over here and read in the evening. I often read offbeat things selected for me that range from the National Review to the New Republic, the Observer or the so-called little magazines. But if I have to concentrate on composition, I work in the E.O.B.," Nixon explains. "I don't see any movies during the week, but on Monday nights, I watch the second half of the football game. I never watch myself on television. I strongly advise young political people, 'Don't watch yourself on television. You may become self-conscious.' I did watch Tricia's wedding, though."

From the Lincoln Sitting Room the President leads the way back to his bedroom. In it the President's pajamas are laid out on a small single bed. Next to the bed is a large night table on which is a pile of books: Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln, H.G. Wells' The Outline of History, Blake's Disraeli. On the bookshelf opposite his bed are the complete works of Winston Churchill bound in red and green leather. "Prime Minister Heath gave them to me when he was here last."

Does he keep a diary? "I should keep one. It would be priceless. Not in terms of money, but the impressions that will be lost. Now and then I do put something on the Dictaphone and give it to Rose Woods and tell her not to type it up but save it. At night, I usually wake up between 12 and 2 when my mind is clear and make some notes. I never get out of bed, though, because then I would wake up fully. The next morning I look at the notes in the light of day." Near the bed is a white phone marked with a red tab that reads "secure." Says Nixon: "I usually don't use it, though; it's too complicated."

It is time to go. Does he feel at the top of his form? He laughs. "I know the press is saying that. But nobody can judge himself."