“This serious oversight,” said the outspoken Mr. Butterfield, who was the first man to disclose the existence of the Watergate tapes, “left precious little time for our air traffic people to implement their special precautionary procedures which must always be followed when the President takes to the air lanes.”

To that, Mr. Ziegler replied: “The success of the trip was based on the fact that no extraordinary measures were taken except for the Secret Service security of the aircraft. Whenever the President does something unique it may draw criticism, but the key to the President's ability to fly on a regularly scheduled flight was not to make it known in advance.”

Considerable grumbling was also heard from some members of the staff and from the White House press corps, who were still coming into Laguna Beach, 10 miles north of San Clemente, late this afternoon, almost a day behind Mr. Nixon.

No Press ‘Pool’

Not even the customary press “pool” of four or more reporters was permitted to accompany the President. Gerald L. Warren, the deputy press secretary, defended the decision on security grounds, although at least two reporters knew of Mr. Nixon's plans an hour or more before he left Washington.

But in the view of senior White House officials, the trip was a public relations coup that showed Mr. Nixon as a man of the people, not afraid to mingle with ordinary travelers; as a national leader setting an example in energy conservation, and as a President with a flair for the unusual.