Former President Richard M. Nixon was a traffic stopper on lower Main street in Edgartown Saturday morning.
 
At about 10 a.m., Mr. Nixon, his longtime friends Charles G. (Bebe) Rebozo and Robert H. Abplanalp came into the yacht club pier in a 50-foot Hatteras. There they were met by state police officer Daniel Flynn, about a dozen Secret Service men and a handful of bystanders and yachtsmen involved in the finals of the National Shields Championships.
 
Until the night before, when the 110-foot motor yacht Star Mist leased by Mr. Abplanalp for America’s Cup viewing in Newport, R.I., anchored off Green Hollow, virtually no one had known that Mr. Nixon was expected.
 
The former President was friendly and outgoing in his chatty exchanges with dozens of onlookers near the yacht club. He was relaxed and accommodating of all questions and comments from the public.
 
Mr. Nixon’s Secret Service detail had moved about the Island during the two days prior to the arrival of his yacht. Such facilities as the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and restaurants such as Anthony’s in Oak Bluffs were checked out. All of this was done in a quiet and efficient manner.
 
Harbor master John Edwards was among those, however, who had advance notice of the illustrious visitor’s impending arrival. And Friday night he had helped lead the yacht in. His boat was moored near the pier in front of CBS commentator Walter Cronkite’s house.
 
Friday, the former President dined on clams oregano and swordfish at the yacht club. Casually clad in a maroon sweater, dove-gray jacket and blue slacks, he warmly greeted those who approached him. Joseph E. Sollitto, clerk of superior court and chairman of the Oak Bluffs Republican committee, had come to the yacht club with an envelope for Dukes County District Court Judge Walter Steele and found himself conversing about local politics briefly with Mr. Nixon.
 
Mr. Nixon recollected that he had been on the Vineyard once before, about 20 years ago. He talked of Burlington, Vt., with a student from the University of Vermont; of law schools with Dukes County District Court Judge Walter Steele, who was on the dock for the sailboat race; of former Gov. John Volpe whom he said he had seen recently and had found "Irrepressible. Irrepressible."
 
Joseph E. Sollitto, clerk of superior court and chairman of the Oak Bluffs Republican committee had come to the yacht club with an envelope for Judge Steele and found himself conversing about local politics briefly with Mr. Nixon.
 
Several bystanders remarked that the former President looked drawn and tired. “I feel sorry for him,” was a frequently overheard comment.
 
The former President talked with enthusiasm of the role of the weekly newspaper in society today.
 
“You’ve got to keep an eye on them,” he said, “to know what people really care about. Most people don’t live at the summit, they live in the valleys and are concerned with being born and married and divorced. That’s what they care about.”
 
Asked what he was doing in the neighborhood (there had been rumors that he might be visiting the Island with a view to buying a house), he said simply that he had been watching the America’s Cup races.
 
A little later in the morning, the former President and his party window shopped briefly on lower Main street, till he was stopped by between 80 and 100 admirers, autograph-seekers, picture takers and those who were just curious. Outside the Kafe he paused for photographs and more conversation.
 
The Nixon party sailed for Nantucket about midday, and its members toured that island before returning to Edgartown for a second overnight on Saturday.