Nation: Richard Nixon Slept Here

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Snoop Scope. Still, despite the wealth, the excitement, the glamour, there are those who are less than happy with the Nixon presence. One group, though hardly in a position to complain, is the Mexican wetbacks, who since time immemorial have used the beach past the Nixon compound as an invasion route. Situated about 70 miles north of the Mexican border, the San Clemente beach had always provided an excellent detour around the Government checkpoints on the freeway northward. Now the beach is manned by dozens of Secret Service agents with infra-red lenses and every kind of detector imaginable. One night last week four illegal migrants were spotted on the beach by a snoop scope. But rather than turn on the floodlights and wake up the Nixons, the Secret Service men silently chased down the Mexicans.

The town's local maverick is Gregory Joannidi, former head of the local Democratic Club ("all six of us"). Joannidi owns the concessions at the San Clemente Greyhound bus depot, including the clothing store, a cafeteria and assorted pinball games. "These big shots, the President, Agnew, they mean nothing to me," Joannidi says. "All I know is I'm losing business." Joannidi's business comes from the Marines on weekend passes from nearby Camp Pendleton. When Nixon is in town, 1,000 fewer Marines get passes—allegedly the number kept on tap in case the President is attacked, even though the residents of San Clemente do not seem likely to rise in revolt any time soon. "Now I make $2,400 a weekend less than I did before," Joannidi claims. "This fall I'll hafta lay off three people [out of seven]. The sandwiches go bad, the chartered buses just sit there on weekends, and I gotta pay for 'em. My business is off 40% ."

Perhaps the most numerous of the anti-Nixon forces are the surfers. Two of the best surfing spots in California, The Trestles and Cotton Point, have been closed to them for security purposes. The local paper, the San Clemente Sun-Post, and Surfing magazine, whose publisher John Severson lives next door to Nixon, have mounted a campaign to reopen the surfing beaches. They have enlisted an unlikely ally in their cause: Governor Ronald Reagan.

Such conflict notwithstanding, President Nixon and San Clemente are a good match. San Clemente is Nixon's kind of town. It is clean and attractive, prosperous and Republican. Nixon can count on a warm reception from the community, and he returns the compliment. In their overzealousness, the Secret Service at first did not allow surfers to use Cotton Point even when the President was off in Washington. Nixon personally rescinded that restriction.