On this day in 1970, rock star Elvis Presley was welcomed to the White House by President Richard M. Nixon. Presley’s visit was not merely a social call: he wanted to meet Nixon to offer his services in the government’s war on drugs.
Three weeks earlier, Presley, who sought to distance himself from the association of rock-and-roll with drug use and counterculture, had met Nixon’s vice president, Spiro Agnew, in Palm Springs, California, and offered to use his influence to help promote the administration’s anti-drug campaign. Then, on December 20, Presley flew to Washington, checked into a hotel under an alias, and the next day, he and two of his bodyguards approached the White House gates, where Presley handed a guard a handwritten letter.
In the letter, Presley told Nixon that he had no affiliation with or sympathy for the “drug culture and hippie elements,” protesting students, and the “Black Panthers,” whom he believed hated America. He declared that he wanted nothing more than to “help the country” and requested to be appointed a “federal agent-at-large.”
The guard immediately recognized Presley but followed protocol and sought permission to admit him to the White House. Apparently, Presley was not searched before being allowed inside, as during his meeting with Nixon, he presented the president with a gift: a World War II-era Colt .45 pistol. The two posed for a handshake photo—Nixon in a classic suit and tie, and Elvis wearing tight purple velvet pants, an open-collared shirt with a gem-encrusted chain, a purple velvet cape draped over his shoulders, and an oversized belt buckle. Nixon and “The King” exchanged pleasantries and agreed that “drug users were the ringleaders of the American protest wave.” Presley reiterated his desire to do whatever he could to influence young people and fellow artists to abandon drugs and anti-American ideas. At the end of the brief meeting, Presley surprised Nixon with a hug.
On December 31, Nixon wrote a thank-you letter to Presley for the gift of the pistol and for visiting him at the White House. However, he made no mention of Presley’s offer to assist in the war on drugs. Internal administration conflicts about accepting help from Presley were evident in correspondence among Nixon’s aides at the time. In a White House interoffice memo written on the morning of December 21—the day of Presley’s impromptu visit—Nixon’s aide Dwight Chapin suggested that Elvis should not be “taken to the vice president” but instead introduced directly to Nixon. He added that if Nixon wanted to meet “smart young people outside the government, the first one he should meet is Presley.” Another aide, H.R. Haldeman, responded, “You must be kidding.” Ultimately, Nixon never offered Elvis an official role in his administration’s anti-drug efforts.
Presley died of heart failure in 1977, with the coroner’s report citing “undetermined causes.” However, there has been widespread speculation that his death resulted from a lethal combination of multiple prescription drugs and obesity.