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By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist
We can now tell you more than you want to know about the photo of the little girl who tried to give President Richard Nixon a lei at Kahala Park in 1972 and was treated like a terrorist.
1. The picture was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
2. Nixon wasn't on his way to China; he was going to visit Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka on the North Shore.
3. The photographer was standing on a barrel.
4. The Secret Service agent in charge lives in Hawai'i Kai.
Advertiser library photo • Aug. 30, 1972
Calls have been coming in all week about Michelle Moder, the 5-year-old with the lei. Readers Bob Moore and Tracie Norfleet report that Moder now lives in Los Angeles, has a 1-year-old daughter and handles wardrobe for a television star.
Michelle Moder, 5, runs to give visiting President Nixon a lei as Secret Service agents move to intervene.
An impeccable source of information about the drama in the picture is Tom Collins in Hawai'i Kai. He was the Secret Service agent in charge. Collins said he's a veteran of 35 presidential visits around the world. He was on the White House detail for three years under President Jimmy Carter.
"President Nixon did not like to travel by car in Honolulu, because it disrupted traffic," Collins explained. "So he went by helicopter. We would temporarily close down one fairway on the Waialae Golf Course. He could step out of the hotel and directly into a helicopter."
On this occasion, Nixon wanted to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka at the Kuilima Hotel (now the Turtle Bay Hilton).
One helicopter wasn't big enough. His party included National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State William Rogers and their staffs.
Six helicopters were required to take everybody to the meeting. So the Secret Service roped off Kahala Field, the launching pad closest to the Kahala Hilton, which was big enough for six helicopters. Collins said he doesn't remember the lei incident, when agents appeared ready to tackle the 5-year-old as she ran to the president. But it didn't surprise him.
"The agents work from a program," he said. "If a little girl giving Nixon a lei isn't on the program, she won't give him a lei. That's the way they're programmed."
Our best eyewitness is Bob Young, the photographer who took the photo. He said he placed himself near a group of children hoping to take a human interest picture. To get a good shot, he stood on a barrel. He snapped the shutter just as the little girl started to run and two agents went into action like the defensive line of the Dallas Cowboys. Frightened, she scampered back.
Young said his picture went out on the Associated Press wire to front pages all over the U.S. The photo was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He has no idea how so many people in Honolulu got copies.
Reporter Arlene Lum wrote that Michelle Moder wore red, white and blue shoes and a white dress trimmed in red and blue. When she finally got to kiss the president, his face was sticky.
