CITY WOMAN RECALLS NIXON INAUGURAL; SHE LATER FOLLOWED ANGUISH AGANEW, NIXON EXPERIENCED

As Americans prepare for Bill Clinton's inauguration next week one Cape Girardeau resident reminisces about her attendance at former President Richard Nixon's inauguration in 1973.

Then a Charleston High School senior, Cynthia Adams was one of many who were privileged to attend Nixon's inauguration.

Adams said she began working on Nixon's re-election campaign when a high school friend, who was also the youth campaign director for Mississippi County, asked her to help call voters to make sure they went to the polls. She said they basically were checking to see if people were going to vote for Nixon.

Once Nixon was re-elected, Adams said, she, the youth director and one other person decided they wanted to attended Nixon's inauguration.

"We went to the inauguration on our own and spent our own money, or our parents' money, rather," she said. "We weren't really alone because we did have a chaperone along for the trip.

"We did have to get special permission to take off from school, but the principal said this was an educational experience we wouldn't have had otherwise.

"When we returned we spoke to contemporary-issues and social-studies classes and various civic groups about the different things we did and how we enjoyed the trip."

Adams said during their brief three-day stay in Washington they had tickets to attend the actual inauguration and the youth inaugural ball.

"We were able to attend the inauguration because the representative at the time had gotten us tickets for the actual ceremony at noon," Adams said. "Not just anyone could attend the inauguration; you needed to have a ticket to stand out in the cold and watch them being sworn in."

As director for the area, Adams said her friend received two tickets for the inaugural ball. The director for Scott County was unable to attend so he offered Adams' group his two tickets for the ball so that all four could attend.

She said that year was the first time the youth ball was held because Nixon had signed the amendment giving 18-year-olds the right to vote.

"The ball was really neat because being 17 there were a lot of people that we recognized. There were many celebrities there and I did see Sammy Davis Jr., who made a brief appearance at the ball."

She said thousands of people attended the ball. "We met people from Hawaii, Alaska and Texas, for example, but there were people from all over the country," she said.

Adams said Nixon also made a brief appearance at the ball and he spoke for about five minutes. She said they were sitting at a table in the balcony and they had a better perspective on seeing him, especially when he was speaking.

"The Secret Service was a bit odd to see, coming from small-town U.S.A.," Adams said. "To get into the inaugural ball we were all searched and had to go through metal detectors.

"And we also had our purses searched every time we went to the restroom or we left the actual ballroom."

The most exciting event is a toss up between the inaugural and the ball, Adams said. "I remember standing there, and my feet felt like they were frozen," she said. "But it was still really neat to watch the swearing-in of our president and the vice president.

"The inauguration was the most memorable event to me because I was standing there watching history in the making. We didn't know it at the time, but it was really history with the subsequent resignations of both (Vice President Spiro) Agnew and Nixon."

It was interesting not only to have worked on his campaign from the beginning, but also to watch the Watergate hearings about what had been going on the whole time, Adams said.

"I paid attention even after the inauguration until Gerald Ford pardoned President Nixon," Adams said. "So it was quite a long time that I kept up with it."

Adams said while in Washington they saw the Smithsonian, the Natural History Museum, and Arlington National Cemetery. It was very educational because these were the places she had only seen on television, she said.