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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 2: show for those interested in the big and bizarre moments

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Speaker 2: of history. I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're talking about

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Speaker 2: a legendary meeting between two very different public figures. The

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Speaker 2: day was December twenty first, nineteen seventy. Rock icon Elvis

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Speaker 2: Presley met with President Richard Nixon at the White House.

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Speaker 2: The impromptu meeting was entirely Presley's idea. In fact, the

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Speaker 2: singer had hand delivered a six page letter requesting the

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Speaker 2: visit earlier that same morning. Nixon ultimately obliged, and the

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Speaker 2: two men had a brief conversation the Oval Office and

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Speaker 2: then posed for one of the most famous photo ops

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Speaker 2: in presidential history. In fact, to this day, the photo

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Speaker 2: of them shaking hands is the single most requested item

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Speaker 2: in the entire National Archives, even outstripping copies of the

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Speaker 2: Bill of Rights and the Constitution. The meeting was kept

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Speaker 2: secret at Presley's request, but it turned out he didn't

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Speaker 2: need to fear the public's response. When the story finally

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Speaker 2: broke over a year later, most people were confused more

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Speaker 2: than anything else. After all, Why would the king of

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Speaker 2: rock and roll want a hobnob with Richard Nixon? The

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Speaker 2: White House guards were probably wondering that themselves when Presley's

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Speaker 2: limo showed up at the northwest gate of the Residents

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Speaker 2: at around six point thirty that morning. He had just

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Speaker 2: flown in on a red eye flight from Los Angeles

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Speaker 2: and wanted to meet with the President to give him

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Speaker 2: a personal gift. He handed the guards a six page

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Speaker 2: letter written on American Airline station, and then left for

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Speaker 2: the Washington Hotel to await Nixon's response. Presley's lengthy letter

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Speaker 2: included several unusual requests. Chief among them, he wanted to

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Speaker 2: be made a quote Federal Agent at large so that

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Speaker 2: he could help discourage drug abuse within the counter culture.

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Speaker 2: I would like to introduce myself, the letter read. I

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Speaker 2: am Elvis Presley and admire you and have great respect

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Speaker 2: for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in

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Speaker 2: Palm Springs three weeks ago and expressed my concern for

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Speaker 2: our country, the drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS,

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Speaker 2: black panthers, et cetera. Do not consider me as their

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Speaker 2: enemy or as they call it, the establishment. I call

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Speaker 2: it America and I love it, Sir. I can and

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Speaker 2: will be of any service that I can to help

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Speaker 2: the country out. I have no concern or motives other

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Speaker 2: than helping the country out, so I wish not to

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Speaker 2: be given a title or an appointed position. I can

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Speaker 2: and will do more good if I were made of

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Speaker 2: federal agent at large, and I will help out by

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Speaker 2: doing it my way through my communications with people of

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Speaker 2: all ages. First and foremost, I am an entertainer, but

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Speaker 2: all I need is the federal credentials. Presley claimed to

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Speaker 2: have no motive beyond helping out with the government's war

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Speaker 2: on drugs, but several people close to the singer have

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Speaker 2: suggested that may not have been entirely true. According to

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Speaker 2: his long time assistant and close friend Jerry Shilling, Presley

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Speaker 2: developed a deep respect for law enforcement after seeing how

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Speaker 2: hard they work to protect him at concerts and live appearances.

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Speaker 2: He started collecting honorary badges from each police department he

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Speaker 2: worked with, and in late nineteen seventy he decided there

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Speaker 2: was one badge in particular that he wanted more than

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Speaker 2: any other, a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and

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Speaker 2: Dangerous Drugs today known as the Drug Enforcement aimed agency.

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Speaker 2: Shilling suggested that Presley wanted the badge because he thought

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Speaker 2: it would allow him to freely travel with guns, a

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Speaker 2: measure he felt was necessary for his personal protection. However,

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Speaker 2: the performer's wife, Priscilla Presley, thought it had more to

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Speaker 2: do with a desire for power rather than safety. In

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Speaker 2: her memoir Elvis and Me, Priscilla writes, quote, the NARK

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Speaker 2: badge represented some kind of ultimate power to him. With

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Speaker 2: the Federal Narcotics Badge, he believed he could legally enter

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Speaker 2: any country, both wearing guns and carrying any drugs he wished.

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Speaker 2: By December twentieth, nineteen seventy, Elvis Presley had already requested

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Speaker 2: and been denied a NARK badge, so that evening he

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Speaker 2: decided on a whim to fly to Washington, D C.

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Speaker 2: And try his luck in person. After dropping off his

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Speaker 2: letter at the White House. The following morning, Presley checked

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Speaker 2: into his hotel under the alias John Burroughs, and then

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Speaker 2: left for a meeting with a deputy director at the

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Speaker 2: Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. Once again, he requested

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Speaker 2: approval for a Bureau badge, and once again he was

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Speaker 2: denied it. Meanwhile, the singer's letter was passed along to

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Speaker 2: Nixon aide eagle Bud Crow, who happened to be an

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Speaker 2: Elvis fan. Crowe convinced his colleagues, including the skeptical White

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Speaker 2: House Chief of Staff Bob Halderman, to sign off on

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Speaker 2: the meeting, and they soon got in touch with Jerry

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Speaker 2: Shilling to make the arrangements. At around noon, Presley and

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Speaker 2: Shilling arrived at the White House along with one of

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Speaker 2: the performer's bodyguards, Sonny West. Presley dressed for the occasion

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Speaker 2: in his own way, decked out in a purple velvet suit,

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Speaker 2: an enormous gold belt buckle, and amber sunglasses. He also

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Speaker 2: brought along that gift he'd promised, a World War II

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Speaker 2: era CULT forty five pistol mounted in a glass display case.

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Speaker 2: The weapon was confiscated for inspection by the Secret Service,

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Speaker 2: but it would later be cleared and passed along to

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Speaker 2: Nixon during the meeting. A half hour later, Elvis bid

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Speaker 2: farewell to his entourage, and Bud Coe escorted him to

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Speaker 2: the Oval Office. President Nixon greeted the singer formally as

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Speaker 2: mister Presley rather than Elvis, and then White House photographer

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Speaker 2: Ali Atkins snapped the famous photo of them shaking hands.

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Speaker 2: The pair's conversation wasn't recorded, as Nixon's infamous taping system

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Speaker 2: had yet to be installed. Still, Bud Crowe did take

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Speaker 2: notes during the meeting, providing at least some idea of

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Speaker 2: what was discussed. After exchanging pleasantries, Presley showed off his

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Speaker 2: collection of police badges and reaffirmed his interest in helping

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Speaker 2: reach the nation's youth through his music. He also took

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Speaker 2: a swipe at his musical competitors, as according to Crowe,

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Speaker 2: Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a

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Speaker 2: real force for anti American spirit. The president then indicated

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Speaker 2: that those who used drugs are also those in the

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Speaker 2: Van Gonde art of anti American protest. At that point,

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Speaker 2: Presley said quote, I'm on your side, adding that he

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Speaker 2: had been studying the drug culture and communist brainwashing, and

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Speaker 2: that as an entertainer he had an inroad with many Americans,

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Speaker 2: including quote the hippies. President Nixon was reportedly taken aback

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Speaker 2: by these comments, unsure of what exactly Presley was proposing

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Speaker 2: to do, but he thanked the singer just the same

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Speaker 2: and said he welcomed the help with the meeting, drawing

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Speaker 2: to a close. Presley took his shot and asked the

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Speaker 2: President for a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and

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Speaker 2: Dangerous Drugs. Nixon asked Cooe if that was doable, and

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Speaker 2: when the aide said it was, the President ordered it

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Speaker 2: to be done. The long awaited badge was presented to

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Speaker 2: Presley that afternoon, and though the singer proudly assumed it

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Speaker 2: was the real deal, White House aids later said it

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Speaker 2: was an honorary badge and that it didn't confer any

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Speaker 2: actual title or privileges. The Presley Nixon summit was a

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Speaker 2: one off encounter, and the President never took the singer

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Speaker 2: up on his vague offer of support. The men did

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Speaker 2: keep in touch, though, with Nixon writing to him just

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Speaker 2: ten days later to say thanks for the commemorative pistol. Today,

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Speaker 2: that gun resides at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and

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Speaker 2: Museum in yorbl Linda, California, and Presley's treasured narc badge

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Speaker 2: is on display at his Graceland estate in Memphis. As

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Speaker 2: for the singer himself, he died just seven years after

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Speaker 2: his meeting with Nixon, passing away on August sixteenth, nineteen

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Speaker 2: seventy seven. At the age of forty two. The official

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Speaker 2: cause was listed as cardiac arrhythmia, but the toxicology report

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Speaker 2: revealed a dangerous combination of opiates and queludes in his

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Speaker 2: system at the time of death. For that reason, it's

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Speaker 2: widely speculated the prescription drug abuse directly contributed to Presley's

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Speaker 2: untimely demise, the possibility that asks his desperate quest for

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Speaker 2: a narcotics badge in a much more tragic light. I'm

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Speaker 2: Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more

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Speaker 2: about history today than you did yesterday. If you have

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Speaker 2: a second and you're so inclined, consider keeping up with

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Speaker 2: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show.

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Speaker 2: You can also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 2: or you can get in touch directly by writing to

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Speaker 2: This Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays

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Speaker 2: for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening.

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Speaker 2: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day

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Speaker 2: in History class.