The country watched pensively as ex-president Richard Nixon on Thursday lapsed into a coma that lessened his chances of recovery from a stroke.
Nixon, 81, continued his downward health spiral after suffering brain swelling at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.
Doctors at the hospital again said the next 72 hours are critical.
That's the same prognosis that was given after he suffered a massive stroke at his Park Ridge, N.J., home Monday.
"If he doesn't emerge from the coma in another 24 to 72 hours he's unlikely to ever do so," says Neal Kassell, professor of neurosurgery at the University of Virginia Neurological Institute in Charlottesville.
Kassell isn't among the dozens of surgeons monitoring Nixon. But based on comparisons with other elderly stroke patients "my guess for his prognosis for making a functional recovery is close to zero," he says.
Words like that echoed through hallways, offices and homes across the USA Thursday as the 37th president, whose name is forever synonymous with Watergate, again took center stage in the nation's eyes.
Nixon was the first president to resign in 1974 pending an impeachment threat following the Watergate break-in.
At the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif., hundreds streamed in to sign a get-well book. Hundreds more called with words of inspiration.
"People started coming from all over," says library assistant director Kevin Cartwright. "We've had people call from all over the country leaving messages on anyone's voice mail they can."
"You are a hero of mine," wrote Biola University student Kevin Walters. "Stay with us, OK? Hang in there and keep your eyes on God."
"These are obviously messages from the American public that have loved President Nixon for many years," says Cartwright. "Across the USA people have been praying for not only Nixon but his family."
Nixon's daughters, Julie Eisenhower and Tricia Cox, maintained a vigil at his bedside Thursday, while a handful of well-wishers waited outside the hospital. Nixon's wife, Pat, died last year.
Nixon has been unable to speak and is paralyzed on his right side.
Several media reported that Nixon had left orders not to be resuscitated. His aide Kathy O'Connor said Nixon had signed a living will that likely gave relatives control of medical decisions. She was unsure whether he had asked not to be resuscitated.
Also uncertain: if he wants his body to lie in state in the Capitol. If so, Congress would have to pass a resolution.
Tax lawyer Stephen Foley waited outside the New York hospital hoping for the best.
Says Foley, who graduated from high school in June 1973: "He ended the (Vietnam) War the year I would have been drafted. I always viewed him as if he saved my life."
