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• Mariela Quintana

  Summit Meeting

  Tags:

  amateurs,

  come bearing gifts,

  Elvis,

  letters,

  Richard Nixon,

  rock and roll,

  the White House

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  “He also mentioned he has been studying communist brainwashing and the drug culture for over ten years. He mentioned that he knew a lot about this and was accepted by the hippies. He said he could go right into a group of young people or hippies and be accepted, which he felt could be helpful to him in his drug drive. The president indicated again his concern that Presley retain his credibility.” —“Elvis Presley is On Your Side,” Washington DC, 1970

  1970 was a busy year for Elvis. After a winter performing at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, Presley’s status as fixture on the Strip had solidified. But for Presley, a man of ambition, reigning the strip was not enough. A nine-city tour followed by another eight-city tour, interspersed with the King's hectic schedule of press conferences, album release parties, festivals held in his name and honor. And of course, there was the debut of his signature jumpsuit.

  But after the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, more glibly known as The Jaycees, bestowed upon him the title “One of the Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Nation,” Elvis's sway began to transcend the realm of pop stardom alone. The recognition of the Jaycees, long regarded as a bastion of humanitarianism, community service, and the great opportunities engendered by the free enterprise system, rekindled a sense of patriotic gravitas in the aging American hero.

  On an American Airlines flight to the nation's capital just a few weeks later, the King penned what would become an infamous letter to the president. In shaky cursive, perhaps due to excitement, jet turbulence, or just plain poor penmanship, Elvis took six pages of AA stationery to address Nixon, each one carefully numbered, and then circled for emphasis, at the top. “First I would like to introduce myself,” the letter began, “I am Elvis Presley and I admire and have great respect for your work.”

  He went on to refer to a run-in with Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs three weeks earlier. Elvis seemed to have to taken to the VP, who in fact had been ranked highly on the 1969 Gallup national poll for “Most Admired Men,” and expressed to him a deep concern for the youth of the country and their “hippie elements.” In a paroxysm of sincerity, he wrote to Nixon that he wished “not to be given a title or an appointed position,” but only to be made a “FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE” —yes, in all caps—so that he could “help the country out.” Lest Nixon take issue with the King's ostensible lack of bureaucratic qualifications, he directed the president’s attention to one of his pet projects —“an in-depth study of drug abuse and communist brain-washing techniques.”

  Elvis put it plainly, saying in closing that he would really like to meet “just to say hello,” and that he would even come bearing gifts: a Colt .45 pistol, the very same model Elvis stuck in his right boot during concerts, and an equally thoughtful cache of Presley family photos.

  1970 was a busy year for Nixon, too. There was the withdrawal of 150,00 troops from Vietnam, and the authorization of the Cambodian Incursion, in addition to the Economic Stabilization Act and the Clean Air Act. But the momentous summit between the King of Rock and Roll and the president of the republic stands as one of the most memorable summits of the twentieth century—the photo of the two shaking hands is still one of the most requested images from the National Archive. In a breathless memo to a colleague, one of Nixon's aides, Bev, observed the situation with a mix of wonder and decorum that defined the moment both then and now "Lucy,” Bev writes, “Elvis Presley (believe it or not) was granted an appointment with the president on Monday, December 21. He left autographed photographs with the president!”

  May 24, 2010
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