We all know how and why Elvis Presley earned the title: The King. He was known and will always be known by that moniker. However, not too many people know that there was another title he was hoping to earn during his lifetime: Special Agent.
That’s right, in a letter making the rounds due to the upcoming release of the book, “Letters of Note,” Elvis Presley asks then-President Richard Nixon if he could become an undercover agent with his very own official ID badge. The story is pretty bizarre and the eventual meeting between President Nixon and The King became public shortly after, but here are some highlights from Presley’s five-page request:
- “The drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS [the radical organisation Students for a Democratic Society], Black Panthers, etc., do not [underlined] consider me as their enemy or as they call it “the establishment.” I call it American and I love it.”
- “I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent at Large and I will help out by doing it my way through my communications with people of all ages. First and foremost, I am an entertainer, but all I need is the Federal credentials.”
- “I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques and I am right in the middle of the whole thing, where I can and will do the most good.”
The letter got him a meeting with Nixon, where Presley then took the opportunity to verbally attack some of his biggest competition in the music scene. According to the Daily Mail, Elvis “indicated that he thought The Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. He said that The Beatles came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England, where they promoted ‘an anti-American theme.'”
The final result of the meeting was Elvis obtaining a badge and being made an Honorary Agent at Large. It’s good to be The King.
