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In 1970, there were few - if any - people in America more famous than Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon. Both the King of Rock and Roll and the president of the United States were at the top of the world, and only a few years away from their dramatic falls from grace - which is part of what makes their December 21, 1970, meeting at the White House so fascinating.
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So, Mr. Presley, how can I help you
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Elvis Presley, also known as Elvis the Pelvis and The King, was the best-known rock star of his day and an icon for American youth
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In 1970, Elvis and President Richard Nixon were both at the top of their respective fields
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and coincidentally, both only a few years away from their dramatic falls from grace
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But that's just one of the many things that makes their December 21, 1970 meeting at the White House so fascinating
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Today, we're going to take a look at how Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon once shared the strangest White House meeting of all time
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In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Elvis Presley made a name for himself in Hollywood by starring in a slew of movies like Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, and G.I. Blues
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But by the end of the 60s, he turned his focus back to music. Elvis had also become addicted to prescription meds and was prone to erratic behavior
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Such an episode occurred in December of 1970, when Presley got upset that his father and wife thought it was excessive to spend $100,000 on Christmas gifts
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Presley stormed off to the Memphis airport and boarded a plane headed to Washington, D.C., where he got a hotel room
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He soon lost interest in the city and returned to the airport, hopping on a plane bound for Los Angeles, California
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He stayed in California for a single day, but he, in fact, did have business to attend to in the nation's capital
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Presley's wife, Priscilla, recalled being mystified that Elvis was traveling alone, without even a single bodyguard
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She claimed that Elvis didn't even know his own phone number, never carried any cash, and she wondered how he was going to get around
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After boarding a late-night flight to Washington, D.C., the King decided to make a formal request for a meeting with the President in writing
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He used American Airlines stationery. The hurriedly scrawled letter featured questionable penmanship and heaped praise on the Commander-in-Chief
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It began, Dear Mr. President, First, I would like to introduce myself
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I am Elvis Presley and admire you and have great respect for your office That a solid opener Elvis then went on to profess that he believed Nixon was one of the top 10 outstanding men of America
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He also told the president that he had a gift he would like to present to him personally
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But if Nixon couldn't accept it, he would also be happy to keep it until such time as he could
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So this is the part where things start getting a little odd
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Elvis's letter to Nixon wasn't all about pleasantries and gift exchanges. it also contained a somewhat startling offer
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Presley began by expressing his concern for the future of the country
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Specifically, he was worried about the ever-evolving counterculture movement and its impact on the nation's youth
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He didn't hesitate to name-drop those he saw as particularly threatening. This group included the drug culture, hippies, the Black Panthers, and the SDS
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which was the Students for a Democratic Society, a group from which the Weathermen later formed
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Elvis pointed out that these groups didn't consider him to be their enemy, or a part of what they called the establishment
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He then professed his love for America and offered to be of any service that might help the country
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which sounds like he essentially offered to spy on those who trusted him
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Undercover Elvis. Sounds like a movie waiting to be made. Presley's letter to President Nixon made it clear that Presley wasn't just asking for a simple face-to-face meeting with the president
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He actually wanted something in particular. an official federal badge. Just to be clear, Elvis wasn't trying to join the FBI or anything like that
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In fact, he very specifically said that he wasn't seeking a title or appointed position
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Apparently, Elvis felt he could do more good if he were made a federal agent at large
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and was allowed to do things his own way, which apparently entailed, in his own words
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communications with people of all ages. Elvis went on to claim that he had performed an in-depth study of substance use
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and communist brainwashing techniques. He then wrapped up his pitch by asking that the whole thing be kept very private
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which sounds like a good idea. Once in D.C., Elvis was ready to wait as long as it took for Nixon to respond
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In his letter, he even stated his intention to stay in a local hotel under a pseudonym
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John Burroughs, until the two could meet. He also gave the president his room numbers and mentioned that he had two employees
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Jerry Schilling and Sonny West with him He added I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a federal agent After Presley delivered his letter to the White House
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President Nixon, who we have to imagine was pretty confused by the whole thing
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agreed to meet with him later that day. Now, Nixon himself wasn't really an Elvis fan
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and he was allegedly less than thrilled about the notion of meeting the king of rock and roll
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But his aides convinced him that it represented an opportunity to connect with the country's youth
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In a memo, Nixon aide Dwight Chapin wrote that he believed it would be a bad move to push the meeting off onto the vice president, something that was apparently under consideration
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He believed the meeting wouldn't take much time and might be extremely beneficial as it would give Nixon a chance to build a rapport with Presley
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If the president wants to meet with some bright young people outside the government, Chapin said, Presley might be a perfect one to start with
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Nixon agreed and the appointment was set for 12.30 p.m. in the Oval Office
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The king showed up a half an hour early. While not really thinking about where he was going
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Presley attempted to enter the White House while carrying a Colt .45. The piece dated back to World War II and was intended as a gift for the president
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the same gift Elvis had promised in his letter. White House security, very reasonably, made Elvis give the .45 to them before he was allowed to enter
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The gift also included silver bullets because maybe Elvis thought Nixon hunted werewolves
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That was Lincoln, Elvis. Whatever the reason, the Secret Service reportedly viewed the bullets quite dimly
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The 1970 meeting between the president and the king predated the installation of Nixon's infamous taping system in the White House
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So there is no known transcript of the dialogue they shared that day. The only documentation of their encounter is an internal memo written up by Bud Crow, a Nixon official who witnessed it
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According to Crow, an emotional Presley told the president he was on his side and kept repeating that he wanted to be helpful
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He said he wanted to restore some respect for the flag and mentioned that he was just a poor boy from Tennessee who had gotten a lot from his country, which he wanted to repay
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Elvis apparently repeated the claim that he had been studying communist brainwashing and the counterculture for over 10 years
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He bragged he could go right into a group of young people or hippies and be accepted which he felt could be helpful in Nixon endeavor to fight drug culture Nixon however indicated a concern that Presley didn risk his credibility which might have just been a polite way of saying thanks but no thanks
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According to Bud Crowe's memo of the meeting, Presley wasn't afraid to spill the beans on a
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specific group that he thought was doing a disservice to America, the Beatles. When it came
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to John, Paul, George, and Ringo, Elvis evidently didn't want their revolution. In fact, he dedicated
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a large chunk of his time with the president to railing against the British band, who, according
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to Crow, Elvis believed was a real force for anti-American spirit. Nixon was apparently pretty
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surprised by Elvis' take on the Fab Four, but readily agreed with his assessment. The meeting
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ended with what Bud Crow described as a surprising spontaneous gesture, in which Presley put his left
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arm around the president and hugged him. Then, President Nixon turned to Crow and asked
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can we get him a badge? The answer was yes, and Presley, ironically considering the circumstances
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of his eventual death, walked out of the White House in possession of a genuine badge from a
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predecessor agency of the Drug Enforcement Agency. That being said, the badge was little more than a
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souvenir. Elvis didn't have any actual authority, though that didn't stop him from referring to
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himself as a federal agent at large. The handshake that preceded the spontaneous hug between Presley
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and President Nixon is the subject of one of the most famous photographs in White House history
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Photographer Ali Atkins had snapped the photo of the meeting. The picture perfectly captures the
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bizarreness of the occasion and the powerful dichotomy between the two men. The image has
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since become the photograph that is most frequently requested from the U.S. National Archives
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So like any sane person, you're probably having a lot of trouble wrapping your head around the idea
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of Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, wanting to be a federal informant
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so he could take down the counterculture in the name of Richard Nixon. Well, according to at least one source
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who was very close to the king, Presley's intentions were less than honest
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when he went to the White House in search of a federal badge. That source was his wife, Priscilla Presley
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who wrote in her memoir, Elvis and Me, that Elvis thought getting the badge
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would give him the legal authority to enter any country while wearing guns
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and carrying drugs. It was a crazy plan, but hey, We're talking about Elvis here
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He was the king
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