Tuesday, November 3, 2009

elvis meets nixon


5364-18


this image, my fellow americans, is the most commonly requested image in the national archives. after an antiwar activist convinced elvis that he was to blame for ingraining drug culture into the antiwar rock-and-roll scene, elvis wrote president nixon a six-page letter requesting a meeting and to be appointed a "federal agent at large" narcotic officer. nixon, in a hopeless attempt to win the support of young americans, obliges, and the two meet at the white house in december of 1970 (four years later, nixon would resign and seven years later, elvis would die of a drug overdose). the meeting was kept a secret until the washington post broke the story in 1972. what a fascinating time to be an american.

to see the letter and more photographs from the meeting kindly refer here.

thank you for the tip, sam bauch.

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