A Former President and a Rock and Roll Legend
I was not going to post on the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley (as so much has been written or said over the past thirty years), until I saw a post this morning at Powerline.
The piece affords lots of tidbits about the King of Rock and Roll but what intrigued me was a meeting Elvis had with President Nixon.
Presley indicated to the President in a very emotionial manner that he was “on your side.” Presley kept repeating that he wanted to be helpful, that he wanted to restore some respect for the flag, which was being lost. He mentioned he was just a poor boy from Tennessee who had gotten a lot from his country, which in some way he wanted to repay.
Elvis thought he could be helpful to Nixon “in his drug drive” and Nixon expressed “his concern that Presley retain his credibility.” It was at this point that Elvis made his pitch for the BNDD badge. Nixon told Krogh that he would like Elvis to receive a badge. Krogh wrote in a subsequent account of the meeting:
Elvis was smiling triumphantly. “Thank you very much, sir. This means a lot to me.”…Elvis then moved up close to the President and, in a spontanous gesture, put his left arm around him and hugged him.
Check out the story and its links for the information behind that BNDD badge which Presley coveted. Ironic isn’t it, that eradicating drugs was such an important issue to him early in his career and took on an entirely different meaning in the latter stages of his life.
For Elvis fans out there, this piece also has a great picture of former President Nixon and Elvis in the Oval Office. Enjoy!
Written by Sue
~J~ Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 11:46 amVisit ~J~
I had the opportunity to see Elvis just a couple of months before his death. A friend had an extra ticket and invited me. The whole place was electric waiting for him to enter and went crazy when he did, belly hanging over his pants and all.
He put on a show worthy of the best Las Vegas acts. It didn’t matter we were in a small town in the South. We bought tickets and he gave us our money’s worth.
It’s a shame he let people feed him drugs to sleep and stay awake. It killed him and there will never be another Elvis.
Sue Says:
August 16th, 2007 at 12:54 pmVisit Sue
How true..there will never be another.