This Happened

 My apologies dear Readers for missing the 50th anniversary of an astonishing event.  On December 21, 1970 this happened:

According to Smithsonian Magazine, here's how it went down. A bored and restless Elvis had flown into Washington DC.  On the flight from LA, he'd scribbled a note to the President:

"Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out," he wrote. All he wanted in return was a federal agent's badge. "I would love to meet you," he added, informing Nixon that he'd be staying at the Washington Hotel under the alias Jon Burrows. "I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a federal agent."

After an early morning landing, Elvis and an aide took a limo to the White House where he dropped off his note at an entrance gate at 630am.    The letter ended up with Nixon aide Bud Krogh, who loved the idea and managed to persuade Chief of Staff Bob Haldeman.

Around noon, Presley showed up at the White House bearing a Colt .45 pistol in a display case as a gift for the President (it was taken from him before meeting with Nixon).

Smithsonian gives this account of the meeting:

Nixon's famous taping system had not yet been installed, so the conversation wasn't recorded. But Krogh took notes: "Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest."

"I'm on your side," Elvis told Nixon, adding that he'd been studying the drug culture and Communist brainwashing. Then he asked the president for a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

"Can we get him a badge?" Nixon asked Krogh.

Krogh said he could, and Nixon ordered it done.

Elvis was ecstatic. "In a surprising, spontaneous gesture," Krogh wrote, Elvis "put his left arm around the President [Nixon was not a touchy-feely guy] and hugged him."

Here is the President's thank-you for the gift:

And here is the badge that Elvis so desired: