June 17, 2025 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the story sounds like fiction. In December 1970, "The King" boarded a commercial flight to Washington, D.C. with a handwritten letter for President Nixon. His request? To be made a federal agent at large. Jerry Schilling, a close friend of Elvis, and the late Egil “Bud” Krogh, Assistant to the Counsel to the President, recount the unforgettable moment the most powerful man in the world and the most famous man in the world met. Special thanks to the U.S. National Archives for providing this audio, recorded during a 2010 roundtable discussion.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, the
story from those who witnessed a legendary meeting back in
nineteen seventy between a President, Richard Nixon and a king,
the King of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. Here to
(00:26):
start us off is Jerry Shilling, a longtime veteran of
the music industry and a close friend of Elvis. Take
it away, Jerry.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I was asleep and I get this call Hey, and
I go, who is this?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
He says, it's me, so I knew it was Elvis.
He said, I'm at the airport. Could you meet me
at the airport? And I said, well, who's with you?
Elvis Presley always travel with an entourage, you know, five
guys at a minimum. He said, nobody. I don't want
anybody in the world to know where I am. He's
(01:05):
never bought an airline ticket. And he started giving me
his flight numbers and what time he was coming in.
I didn't know what mission he was on. I'm not
quite sure if he knew to the extent, but he
was on a mission. That was the start of me
picking him up at lax on his Saturday night, about
(01:26):
one point thirty in the morning of course I couldn't
go to sleep. I was the only person in the
world that knew where Elvis Presley was.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So Elvis goes to sleep, and the next day is Sunday,
and we get up and we have coffee at his
old home in la and it was just two friends,
really catching back up. In that conversation he had told me,
he said, you know, I really got mad at Graceland
and people were telling me how to spend my money.
(01:57):
He was buying a lot of gifts, and I think
when the colonel got involved in it, always just went WHOA.
I think he got in his car. I think he
took the first flight out.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
He said, you know, Jerry, I need you to come
to Washington with me. And I just got this job
at Paramount Studios, and I go, Elvis, I can't. I
got to be at work in the morning. And you know,
he was hard to say no to it. He looked
like a little boy. He goes, okay, you know, he said,
(02:30):
first of all, he said, I'll get a lyric jet
and fly you back. Well, I'm thinking they were upset
with him back there because he was spending too much money.
I said, Elvis, I can't. And then I thought, man,
he had this incident flying out on the airlines with
the guns and everything. When he change planes in Dallas.
He said, there was this smart little steward with a
(02:52):
mustache that came up to me and said, I couldn't
imagine this today. You can't carry your guns on the plane.
There had been threats on his life. And Elvis got
very upset stormed off the plane, and the pilot came
after him said, mister Presley, it's okay, you can carry
(03:13):
your guns. You know.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
I made a deal with him.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I said, Elvis, if you will let me call Graceland
and let them know you're not kidnapped, then I will
take the all night or flight and if I could
call one of the security guys there to meet us,
where I can go back.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
And hopefully still have my job.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So that started the evening of us with no money,
Elvis never carried money, taking all night flight from Los
Angeles to DC.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
I still don't did not.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Know why we were going, and I talked Elvis into
letting his normal limusing driver take us to the airport,
who he called, by the way, Sir Gerald, cause he
had found out years ago.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I think he was a driver for Winston Churchill.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, and Elvis was a real history buff. I mean,
this is the thing he knew. He knew his history.
And so it was Sunday night. We had no cash.
I didn't carry any cash because I just didn't have
any Alvis didn't carry any cash because he didn't have to.
So so anyway, and I had Elvis's check book, and
(04:27):
Sir Gerald found a guy at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
that would cast a check for five hundred dollars. So
I made out the check, had Elvis sign it. We
on the way to the airport. We stopped at the
Beverly Hilton and I had an envelope with five hundred
dollars in my coat and they pre board us on
the plane. It was Christmas time and there were a
(04:50):
lot of soldiers coming back from Vietnam. He got into
a real conversation with one soldier for I mean like
ten minutes, and he come to me and I'm sitting
in the window seat and he's here and he goes,
where's that money.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I know what was gonna happen, So I said, what money?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And he goes the five hundred dollars. I said, Elvis,
we're going to Washington. That's all we've got. He said,
you don't understand. This man's been in Vietnam. He's going
back home for Christmas to see his family. He gave
me the entire five hundred dollars. Anyway, Senator Murphy was
on the plane with us. Of course, he was in coach,
(05:33):
we were in first class. We had met when Murphy
came on, but when we were on the flight, about
halfway through, Elvis went back and talked with Senator Murphy.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
When he came back, he sat down next to me.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And I had never seen Elvis Presley write a letter,
and he had only written three in his life at
that point.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
That's when he was in Germany and the army.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
So he said, do you think they have any stationary
on the plane, And I said, well, you know, let
me find out. And I asked the steward and she
brought us some American Airlines stationary. You know, I respected
his privacy. I wouldn't look at I didn't say, what
are you writing.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
A letter about what's going on?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I'm still figuring out how I'm going to get back
to my job without losing it. And he finishes the
letter and he goes, Jerry, would you proof read this
for me?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
I was pretty impressed.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I mean, I knew Elvis so well, I knew where
his heart was, and there was obviously some grammar that
could have been corrected, but I thought, you know what,
this is a letter from a guy who experienced the
real American story, from poverty to being probably the most
(06:51):
famous guy in the world, who was writing a letter
from his heart to his president. And I said, you know, Elvis,
I think he said, sent it just as it is.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
Dear mister President. I'm Elvis Presley and admire you and
have great respect for your office, Sir. I can and
will be of any service that can help the country out.
I have no concerns or motives other than helping the
country out, So I wish not to be given the
title or appointed position. I can and will do more
good if I were made a federal agent at large,
and I will help out by doing it in my
(07:24):
way through my communications with people of all ages. First
and foremost, I'm an entertainer, but all I need is
federal credentials. I am on this plane with Senator George
Murphy and we've been discussing the problems that our country
is faced with. Sir, I'm staying at Washington Hotel, Room
five oh five, five oh six, five oh seven. I've
done an in depth study of drug abuse in communist
(07:44):
brainwashing techniques. I would love to meet you and just
say hello, if you're not too busy, respectfully, Elvis Presley.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, knowing Elvis, he's not going to put it in
a mailbox, you know. Elvis said, I want it dropped
the letter by the White House. And I said, Elvis,
it's not even daylight. Let's just go to the hotel.
I want to freshen up, you know, I've been up
two days now. And he said, no, no, no, I
really want to deliver this. I wanted to be there
first thing. Monday morning. We get in the limo and
(08:16):
we're driving up to the gate. He said, you just
stay in the car. I said fine. So Elvis gets
out of the limo. He's wearing a kind of cape coat.
He's got a keen, you know, for that time of
the morning, it was kind of a dracular look, you know,
and he, you know, the security guards.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
I see this is not going well.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So I jump out of the car and I said gentlemen,
please excuse me, but this is mister Presley who just
wants to drop a letter off to the President. And
they really warmed up, and they said, you know, a
senator's coming up at seven, and mister Presler will make
sure that your letter is carried up to be delivered
to the president. Elvis went to a meeting, was like
(09:01):
he had. I had never seen him in a meeting either.
And he had left me a phone number and said
you stay here and wait for the White House call.
And I didn't want to hurt Elvis's feelings until we
weren't going to get a call.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And you've been listening to Jerry Shilling telling one heck
of a story about when the President met the King.
What happens next? Stay tuned to our American stories, and
(09:39):
we returned to our American stories and the story of
how Elvis met Nixon. Here's Bud Crowe, Assistant to the
Council to the President.
Speaker 7 (09:49):
I was sitting at my desk and I got a
call from White Chapin, but the King is here. And
I looked at the President's schedule and said, what king.
There aren't a king's in the schedule here. He said, no,
not any two bit king, the King, the King of Rock.
Elvis Presley, he's right here and he wants to help
on the drug program, and that's what you work on,
(10:09):
because one of Dwight's jobs was to help get people
in the policy area involved. So he said, oh, send
a letter over to you can read it and tell
me what you think. Now, full disclosure requires me to
tell you that I belong to a group of eight
guys who played practical jokes on each other in the
White House every week, and this was my turn to
have one played on me by Chapin. So I figured, okay,
(10:31):
well I'll go along with it. I'm going to try
this out. So I called over Jerry Answers the phone.
I said, my name is Bud Krog, and I had
this letter here from Elvis Presley.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I'm laughing on the.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
Phone because I'm expecting to be talking to Dwight's daughter,
you know, who's all part of it. And he said, oh, yes,
mister Grog, guess it as one of the letters mister
Presley has written, and we would very much like to
see if we could arrange some kind of a meeting
with the president. Well, I'm still thinking all right, So
he got a personator of an aide.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Do they take this?
Speaker 7 (11:02):
And this is still Chapin's joke. So I said, look,
why don't you come on over to the White House
and let's talk about this, because normally, when you're responsible
for a meeting with a president, you sort of like
to know who's going to go in. So they said, oh, well,
we'll be right over. And I still did not know
you guys were for real. And it wasn't until they
(11:23):
walked into my office that I realized, Oh, my goodness,
this is Elvis Presley. Oh my secretary's oh Sonda Green,
Oh it is it is Elvis Presley. And then you
all came in, and I will tell you that was
one of the most lovely half hours that I've had
talking to you all and hearing Elvis talk from the
heart about what his country meant to him. He sort
of paraphrased the letter, I've gotten a lot from my country. Yes,
(11:45):
I want to give it back. I want to help
the country out. I could go into any group of
people and be accepted by anyone.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
And he had put in the letter that he would
like to be made a federal agent at large.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
We don't have federal agents.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
We got Secret Service agent's, FBI, we got all kinds
of agents, but not agents at large. But I didn't
seem to me to be a showstopper. But I should
also full disclosure requires me to tell I was the
biggest Elvis fan in the nineteen fifties, never went on
a date without him, you know, I mean that. So
here he is, and he's in my office with you guys,
and this meeting has got to take place. The president
(12:21):
has never met anyone quite like Elvis Presley, Elvis hasn't
met anyone quite like the president, and I want to.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Be in this meeting.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Well, they came back over and I got a call
from the Secret Service. The head of the Secret Service
detail said, we've got a little problem here.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I said, what's that.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
He said, well, Elvis has brought a gun with it.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
It's a very nice gun.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
It's got battles of World War Two engraved in the
barrel and there are bullets in the display case. He said,
but you know that no guns in the Oval office
is standard policy around here.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
And I said, yeah. I realized that.
Speaker 7 (12:55):
I took the gun and we walked into the Oval
Office and he's wearing his cool glue and his cape,
and he's sure nobody was ever dressed quite that way.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
He overlauded that, and the.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
President had never seen anyone quite like that that either.
And I mean, just to get Elvis over to the
desk took a little effort because he walked in the
door and he looked at the eagles engraved in the
ceiling and eagles engraved in the carpets on the floor,
and I knew it sort of overwhelmed him. I'm a
poor boy from Tupelo, Mississippi, and I'm here in the
oval office of the President of the United States. So
(13:27):
I sort of escorted him, you know, I put my
hand on his back. Well, they start talking about things
that Elvis has been studying, and he had put this
in his letter too, that I made a study of
communist brainwashing. You have, okay, And then he said something
about the Beatles that wasn't that flattering. He said, you know,
the Beatles came over here, made a lot of money
(13:48):
and said some anti American stuff, and President Beatles and
Beatles have done that, and I didn't. I'll get right
on it, mister President. Find out what they're doing. You know,
it's just And then he talked about how difficult it
was to play Las Vegas, and the President said, yes,
I understand, that's a that's a hard, hard gig to
do out there, and go how does.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
He know that? It's just.
Speaker 7 (14:07):
So this stuff is going back and forth, and I'm
just watching this amazing conversation unfold. And then Elvis turns
to the President and he said, mister President, can you
get me a badge from the.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Bureau of Narcotics Dangers Drugs? Now?
Speaker 7 (14:22):
I asked this audience, if you don't know the answer
to that question, what is the right answer. As the
staff person responsible for the meeting? What should I have said?
I'll look into it, let me check it out, let
me find out if it's legal. You know, I mean
a lot of things that you want to find out
in advance. What do you think, I said, mister President,
if you want to get him a badge, we can.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Get him work.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
Okay, exactly so, and so at that point the President
said get him a badge.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I want him to have one.
Speaker 7 (14:54):
Elvis is overcome and he steps forward and he grabs
the President hugged me, which wasn't the norm in that
white house, you know, you know, it's just and I'm watching.
It's probably the last meeting. They're going to let me
run around this place. I'm out of here. And then
after that he turned to the President said, mister President,
do you have time to meet my friends? And the
(15:15):
President looks at me. He said, Bud, do we have
time for that? I already we are far beyond anything
anybody thought.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
About this meeting. And I said, oh, yes, sir, we do.
He said fine, and.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Elvis opened the door and said come on. You know.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I looked down and there was the President at his
desk and I realized the Oval room was oval. Pictures
are flat, right, And Elvis thought I was afraid, which
I was intimidated, and he kind of pushed me in,
and as we're going over, the President kind of did
a little thing like that on my shoulder and yeah,
and goes look like some football players.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
It wasn't not a technical assault.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Then I realized there was a human side of president
personally politically. I was on the other side at that time,
and I saw there was these two great men, both
who had been at the top of their professions, but
weren't at that moment, you know, Elvis was okay at
the time, and the President wasn't that popular at the time.
(16:16):
But my observation of seeing two great men connect on
a human level, and I think they really got the
loneliness of both of their positions in the world. And
it wasn't just that meeting. They stayed in touch. We
grew up in North Memphis and here we were in
(16:37):
the Oval Room of the White House with the President
of the United States. There's so many funny things about
that meeting. But the real thing about that meeting, to me,
if there was ever a true American story, I think
that's one of the top.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Well.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
And what was so fun about this part of it too,
is that after the President has met with some guests,
he often likes the meeting coming to an end. He
wants to give gifts to the people that have been there. Now,
let's say that you've won the award for best cow
for the four H club in King County, Washington, and
you come to the Oval Office. President will go in
his bottom drawer and give you a golf ball. Here's
(17:12):
your ball, and it's no there's no connection between ball
cow four. It's nice and the chief This is one
of the most abiding.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Memories that I have of this entire episode.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
The President went behind his desk and he opens the
bottom left hand drawer. The bottom drawer on that side
of the desk is where he had the gifts.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And they're arranged.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
By golf balls through cuff links to bracelets to pins.
And I don't know if it's ascending order of value
from the cheapest to the sixteen carrot goal that you
give to the big hitters. But anyway, he's behind his
desk starting to reach down. Now, Elvis didn't get to
be the King of Rock by not knowing where the
gold is. He went behind the desk with the president.
(18:00):
The KGB can't do this, you know. But Elvis Presley
is diving into the President's drawer and the President is
looking at me out back in now. I mean you
saw that what he said, Remember, mister president, they have
wife to sweethearts.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Elvis wasn't clear about what it would say there.
Speaker 7 (18:21):
And you have to understand, halfway through this meeting, the
President and Elvis concluded that it ought to be kept
secret because they weren't sure that their respective constituencies would
understand why we were all together. Elvis was saying well,
you know, it's I think we need to keep this confidential.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
In president's a good Yes, that's a good idea. Well,
we'll do that.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Well after lunch, I called John Finn later over at
the Peer of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. He brought a
badge over and when I said it was secret, it
was secret. Not just for a week, it was a
secret for thirteen months.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Amazing.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Now imagine this, The King of Rock comes to the
White House in the morning and we weren't secreting him
through tunnels or anything like that. I mean, we were
moving him through the Roosevelt Room into the Oval office. Afterwards,
we went down the hall and Elvis was friendly with
a lot of the employees, a couple of kissed, a
couple of girls. Announcer, it's to keep that confidential. I mean,
(19:24):
it's incredible. Top secret material floats out of that place
every day, you know, but having this man come in
and have that be kept secret for thirteen months was incredible.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
And I have just you know, I've milked this as
much as we still are. Well, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Forty years that's right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And what terrific storytelling. Thanks to Jerry Shilling and Bud Krogue.
And to the National Archives for preserving so much of
American history, includ this story when the President met the King.
Here on our American Stories.
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, the
story from those who witnessed a legendary meeting back in
nineteen seventy between a President, Richard Nixon and a king,
the King of rock and roll, Elvis Presley. Here to
(00:26):
start us off is Jerry Shilling, a longtime veteran of
the music industry and a close friend of Elvis. Take
it away, Jerry.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I was asleep and I get this call Hey, and
I go, who is this?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
He says, it's me, so I knew it was Elvis.
He said, I'm at the airport. Could you meet me
at the airport? And I said, well, who's with you?
Elvis Presley always travel with an entourage, you know, five
guys at a minimum. He said, nobody. I don't want
anybody in the world to know where I am. He's
(01:05):
never bought an airline ticket. And he started giving me
his flight numbers and what time he was coming in.
I didn't know what mission he was on. I'm not
quite sure if he knew to the extent, but he
was on a mission. That was the start of me
picking him up at lax on his Saturday night, about
(01:26):
one point thirty in the morning of course I couldn't
go to sleep. I was the only person in the
world that knew where Elvis Presley was.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
You know.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
So Elvis goes to sleep, and the next day is Sunday,
and we get up and we have coffee at his
old home in la and it was just two friends,
really catching back up. In that conversation he had told me,
he said, you know, I really got mad at Graceland
and people were telling me how to spend my money.
(01:57):
He was buying a lot of gifts, and I think
when the colonel got involved in it, always just went WHOA.
I think he got in his car. I think he
took the first flight out.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
Anyway.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
He said, you know, Jerry, I need you to come
to Washington with me. And I just got this job
at Paramount Studios, and I go, Elvis, I can't. I
got to be at work in the morning. And you know,
he was hard to say no to it. He looked
like a little boy. He goes, okay, you know, he said,
(02:30):
first of all, he said, I'll get a lyric jet
and fly you back. Well, I'm thinking they were upset
with him back there because he was spending too much money.
I said, Elvis, I can't. And then I thought, man,
he had this incident flying out on the airlines with
the guns and everything. When he change planes in Dallas.
He said, there was this smart little steward with a
(02:52):
mustache that came up to me and said, I couldn't
imagine this today. You can't carry your guns on the plane.
There had been threats on his life. And Elvis got
very upset stormed off the plane, and the pilot came
after him said, mister Presley, it's okay, you can carry
(03:13):
your guns. You know.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
I made a deal with him.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I said, Elvis, if you will let me call Graceland
and let them know you're not kidnapped, then I will
take the all night or flight and if I could
call one of the security guys there to meet us,
where I can go back.
Speaker 5 (03:31):
And hopefully still have my job.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
So that started the evening of us with no money,
Elvis never carried money, taking all night flight from Los
Angeles to DC.
Speaker 5 (03:45):
I still don't did not.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Know why we were going, and I talked Elvis into
letting his normal limusing driver take us to the airport,
who he called, by the way, Sir Gerald, cause he
had found out years ago.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
I think he was a driver for Winston Churchill.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, and Elvis was a real history buff. I mean,
this is the thing he knew. He knew his history.
And so it was Sunday night. We had no cash.
I didn't carry any cash because I just didn't have
any Alvis didn't carry any cash because he didn't have to.
So so anyway, and I had Elvis's check book, and
(04:27):
Sir Gerald found a guy at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
that would cast a check for five hundred dollars. So
I made out the check, had Elvis sign it. We
on the way to the airport. We stopped at the
Beverly Hilton and I had an envelope with five hundred
dollars in my coat and they pre board us on
the plane. It was Christmas time and there were a
(04:50):
lot of soldiers coming back from Vietnam. He got into
a real conversation with one soldier for I mean like
ten minutes, and he come to me and I'm sitting
in the window seat and he's here and he goes,
where's that money.
Speaker 5 (05:06):
I know what was gonna happen, So I said, what money?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And he goes the five hundred dollars. I said, Elvis,
we're going to Washington. That's all we've got. He said,
you don't understand. This man's been in Vietnam. He's going
back home for Christmas to see his family. He gave
me the entire five hundred dollars. Anyway, Senator Murphy was
on the plane with us. Of course, he was in coach,
(05:33):
we were in first class. We had met when Murphy
came on, but when we were on the flight, about
halfway through, Elvis went back and talked with Senator Murphy.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
When he came back, he sat down next to me.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And I had never seen Elvis Presley write a letter,
and he had only written three in his life at
that point.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
That's when he was in Germany and the army.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
So he said, do you think they have any stationary
on the plane, And I said, well, you know, let
me find out. And I asked the steward and she
brought us some American Airlines stationary. You know, I respected
his privacy. I wouldn't look at I didn't say, what
are you writing.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
A letter about what's going on?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I'm still figuring out how I'm going to get back
to my job without losing it. And he finishes the
letter and he goes, Jerry, would you proof read this
for me?
Speaker 5 (06:27):
I was pretty impressed.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I mean, I knew Elvis so well, I knew where
his heart was, and there was obviously some grammar that
could have been corrected, but I thought, you know what,
this is a letter from a guy who experienced the
real American story, from poverty to being probably the most
(06:51):
famous guy in the world, who was writing a letter
from his heart to his president. And I said, you know, Elvis,
I think he said, sent it just as it is.
Speaker 6 (07:02):
Dear mister President. I'm Elvis Presley and admire you and
have great respect for your office, Sir. I can and
will be of any service that can help the country out.
I have no concerns or motives other than helping the
country out, So I wish not to be given the
title or appointed position. I can and will do more
good if I were made a federal agent at large,
and I will help out by doing it in my
(07:24):
way through my communications with people of all ages. First
and foremost, I'm an entertainer, but all I need is
federal credentials. I am on this plane with Senator George
Murphy and we've been discussing the problems that our country
is faced with. Sir, I'm staying at Washington Hotel, Room
five oh five, five oh six, five oh seven. I've
done an in depth study of drug abuse in communist
(07:44):
brainwashing techniques. I would love to meet you and just
say hello, if you're not too busy, respectfully, Elvis Presley.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Well, knowing Elvis, he's not going to put it in
a mailbox, you know. Elvis said, I want it dropped
the letter by the White House. And I said, Elvis,
it's not even daylight. Let's just go to the hotel.
I want to freshen up, you know, I've been up
two days now. And he said, no, no, no, I
really want to deliver this. I wanted to be there
first thing. Monday morning. We get in the limo and
(08:16):
we're driving up to the gate. He said, you just
stay in the car. I said fine. So Elvis gets
out of the limo. He's wearing a kind of cape coat.
He's got a keen, you know, for that time of
the morning, it was kind of a dracular look, you know,
and he, you know, the security guards.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
I see this is not going well.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
So I jump out of the car and I said gentlemen,
please excuse me, but this is mister Presley who just
wants to drop a letter off to the President. And
they really warmed up, and they said, you know, a
senator's coming up at seven, and mister Presler will make
sure that your letter is carried up to be delivered
to the president. Elvis went to a meeting, was like
(09:01):
he had. I had never seen him in a meeting either.
And he had left me a phone number and said
you stay here and wait for the White House call.
And I didn't want to hurt Elvis's feelings until we
weren't going to get a call.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
And you've been listening to Jerry Shilling telling one heck
of a story about when the President met the King.
What happens next? Stay tuned to our American stories, and
(09:39):
we returned to our American stories and the story of
how Elvis met Nixon. Here's Bud Crowe, Assistant to the
Council to the President.
Speaker 7 (09:49):
I was sitting at my desk and I got a
call from White Chapin, but the King is here. And
I looked at the President's schedule and said, what king.
There aren't a king's in the schedule here. He said, no,
not any two bit king, the King, the King of Rock.
Elvis Presley, he's right here and he wants to help
on the drug program, and that's what you work on,
(10:09):
because one of Dwight's jobs was to help get people
in the policy area involved. So he said, oh, send
a letter over to you can read it and tell
me what you think. Now, full disclosure requires me to
tell you that I belong to a group of eight
guys who played practical jokes on each other in the
White House every week, and this was my turn to
have one played on me by Chapin. So I figured, okay,
(10:31):
well I'll go along with it. I'm going to try
this out. So I called over Jerry Answers the phone.
I said, my name is Bud Krog, and I had
this letter here from Elvis Presley.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I'm laughing on the.
Speaker 7 (10:41):
Phone because I'm expecting to be talking to Dwight's daughter,
you know, who's all part of it. And he said, oh, yes,
mister Grog, guess it as one of the letters mister
Presley has written, and we would very much like to
see if we could arrange some kind of a meeting
with the president. Well, I'm still thinking all right, So
he got a personator of an aide.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Do they take this?
Speaker 7 (11:02):
And this is still Chapin's joke. So I said, look,
why don't you come on over to the White House
and let's talk about this, because normally, when you're responsible
for a meeting with a president, you sort of like
to know who's going to go in. So they said, oh, well,
we'll be right over. And I still did not know
you guys were for real. And it wasn't until they
(11:23):
walked into my office that I realized, Oh, my goodness,
this is Elvis Presley. Oh my secretary's oh Sonda Green,
Oh it is it is Elvis Presley. And then you
all came in, and I will tell you that was
one of the most lovely half hours that I've had
talking to you all and hearing Elvis talk from the
heart about what his country meant to him. He sort
of paraphrased the letter, I've gotten a lot from my country. Yes,
(11:45):
I want to give it back. I want to help
the country out. I could go into any group of
people and be accepted by anyone.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
And he had put in the letter that he would
like to be made a federal agent at large.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
We don't have federal agents.
Speaker 7 (12:00):
We got Secret Service agent's, FBI, we got all kinds
of agents, but not agents at large. But I didn't
seem to me to be a showstopper. But I should
also full disclosure requires me to tell I was the
biggest Elvis fan in the nineteen fifties, never went on
a date without him, you know, I mean that. So
here he is, and he's in my office with you guys,
and this meeting has got to take place. The president
(12:21):
has never met anyone quite like Elvis Presley, Elvis hasn't
met anyone quite like the president, and I want to.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Be in this meeting.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Well, they came back over and I got a call
from the Secret Service. The head of the Secret Service
detail said, we've got a little problem here.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I said, what's that.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
He said, well, Elvis has brought a gun with it.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
It's a very nice gun.
Speaker 7 (12:43):
It's got battles of World War Two engraved in the
barrel and there are bullets in the display case. He said,
but you know that no guns in the Oval office
is standard policy around here.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
And I said, yeah. I realized that.
Speaker 7 (12:55):
I took the gun and we walked into the Oval
Office and he's wearing his cool glue and his cape,
and he's sure nobody was ever dressed quite that way.
Speaker 4 (13:05):
He overlauded that, and the.
Speaker 7 (13:06):
President had never seen anyone quite like that that either.
And I mean, just to get Elvis over to the
desk took a little effort because he walked in the
door and he looked at the eagles engraved in the
ceiling and eagles engraved in the carpets on the floor,
and I knew it sort of overwhelmed him. I'm a
poor boy from Tupelo, Mississippi, and I'm here in the
oval office of the President of the United States. So
(13:27):
I sort of escorted him, you know, I put my
hand on his back. Well, they start talking about things
that Elvis has been studying, and he had put this
in his letter too, that I made a study of
communist brainwashing. You have, okay, And then he said something
about the Beatles that wasn't that flattering. He said, you know,
the Beatles came over here, made a lot of money
(13:48):
and said some anti American stuff, and President Beatles and
Beatles have done that, and I didn't. I'll get right
on it, mister President. Find out what they're doing. You know,
it's just And then he talked about how difficult it
was to play Las Vegas, and the President said, yes,
I understand, that's a that's a hard, hard gig to
do out there, and go how does.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
He know that? It's just.
Speaker 7 (14:07):
So this stuff is going back and forth, and I'm
just watching this amazing conversation unfold. And then Elvis turns
to the President and he said, mister President, can you
get me a badge from the.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
Bureau of Narcotics Dangers Drugs? Now?
Speaker 7 (14:22):
I asked this audience, if you don't know the answer
to that question, what is the right answer. As the
staff person responsible for the meeting? What should I have said?
I'll look into it, let me check it out, let
me find out if it's legal. You know, I mean
a lot of things that you want to find out
in advance. What do you think, I said, mister President,
if you want to get him a badge, we can.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Get him work.
Speaker 7 (14:45):
Okay, exactly so, and so at that point the President
said get him a badge.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I want him to have one.
Speaker 7 (14:54):
Elvis is overcome and he steps forward and he grabs
the President hugged me, which wasn't the norm in that
white house, you know, you know, it's just and I'm watching.
It's probably the last meeting. They're going to let me
run around this place. I'm out of here. And then
after that he turned to the President said, mister President,
do you have time to meet my friends? And the
(15:15):
President looks at me. He said, Bud, do we have
time for that? I already we are far beyond anything
anybody thought.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
About this meeting. And I said, oh, yes, sir, we do.
He said fine, and.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
Elvis opened the door and said come on. You know.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I looked down and there was the President at his
desk and I realized the Oval room was oval. Pictures
are flat, right, And Elvis thought I was afraid, which
I was intimidated, and he kind of pushed me in,
and as we're going over, the President kind of did
a little thing like that on my shoulder and yeah,
and goes look like some football players.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
It wasn't not a technical assault.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Then I realized there was a human side of president
personally politically. I was on the other side at that time,
and I saw there was these two great men, both
who had been at the top of their professions, but
weren't at that moment, you know, Elvis was okay at
the time, and the President wasn't that popular at the time.
(16:16):
But my observation of seeing two great men connect on
a human level, and I think they really got the
loneliness of both of their positions in the world. And
it wasn't just that meeting. They stayed in touch. We
grew up in North Memphis and here we were in
(16:37):
the Oval Room of the White House with the President
of the United States. There's so many funny things about
that meeting. But the real thing about that meeting, to me,
if there was ever a true American story, I think
that's one of the top.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Well.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
And what was so fun about this part of it too,
is that after the President has met with some guests,
he often likes the meeting coming to an end. He
wants to give gifts to the people that have been there. Now,
let's say that you've won the award for best cow
for the four H club in King County, Washington, and
you come to the Oval Office. President will go in
his bottom drawer and give you a golf ball. Here's
(17:12):
your ball, and it's no there's no connection between ball
cow four. It's nice and the chief This is one
of the most abiding.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Memories that I have of this entire episode.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
The President went behind his desk and he opens the
bottom left hand drawer. The bottom drawer on that side
of the desk is where he had the gifts.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And they're arranged.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
By golf balls through cuff links to bracelets to pins.
And I don't know if it's ascending order of value
from the cheapest to the sixteen carrot goal that you
give to the big hitters. But anyway, he's behind his
desk starting to reach down. Now, Elvis didn't get to
be the King of Rock by not knowing where the
gold is. He went behind the desk with the president.
(18:00):
The KGB can't do this, you know. But Elvis Presley
is diving into the President's drawer and the President is
looking at me out back in now. I mean you
saw that what he said, Remember, mister president, they have
wife to sweethearts.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Elvis wasn't clear about what it would say there.
Speaker 7 (18:21):
And you have to understand, halfway through this meeting, the
President and Elvis concluded that it ought to be kept
secret because they weren't sure that their respective constituencies would
understand why we were all together. Elvis was saying well,
you know, it's I think we need to keep this confidential.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
In president's a good Yes, that's a good idea. Well,
we'll do that.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
Well after lunch, I called John Finn later over at
the Peer of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. He brought a
badge over and when I said it was secret, it
was secret. Not just for a week, it was a
secret for thirteen months.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Amazing.
Speaker 7 (19:01):
Now imagine this, The King of Rock comes to the
White House in the morning and we weren't secreting him
through tunnels or anything like that. I mean, we were
moving him through the Roosevelt Room into the Oval office. Afterwards,
we went down the hall and Elvis was friendly with
a lot of the employees, a couple of kissed, a
couple of girls. Announcer, it's to keep that confidential. I mean,
(19:24):
it's incredible. Top secret material floats out of that place
every day, you know, but having this man come in
and have that be kept secret for thirteen months was incredible.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
And I have just you know, I've milked this as
much as we still are. Well, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Forty years that's right.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And what terrific storytelling. Thanks to Jerry Shilling and Bud Krogue.
And to the National Archives for preserving so much of
American history, includ this story when the President met the King.
Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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