--- description: In the 40th anniversary of the King of Rock 'n' Roll's death, here what to know about the famous picture of the King and the President. title: Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon: The Story Behind the Photo image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ace4c05094b1406/6988d8bb0b72e36df46eef27/elvis-presley-president-nixon-gettyimages-3072025.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Music](/tag/music/) ## Music Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Story Behind That Famous Photo of Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 15, 2017 2:00 PM CUT  President Nixon and Elvis Presley meet at The White House, December 21, 1970. President Nixon and Elvis Presley meet at The White House, December 21, 1970.MPI/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 15, 2017 2:00 PM CUT Though Elvis Presley’s music has largely been responsible for sustaining fans’ [burning love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf2VYAtqRe0 "undefined") for the 40 years that have passed since his Aug. 16, 1977, death, one of the [most popular photos](https://twitter.com/usnatarchives/status/55… "undefined") of the star is not an image of him performing. Instead, it was taken with Richard Nixon in the Oval Office at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 21, 1970 — and it was, [as of 2015 at least](https://twitter.com/USNatArchives/status/553220575599292416 "undefined"), the most-requested photograph in the entire U.S. National Archives. Both men were at the top in their careers at this point. As [_The Telegraph_ ](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/06/20/elvis--nixon--the-true-story-of-how-the-king-met-the-president/ "undefined")has pointed out, Presley was in the middle of a successful comeback, selling out shows in Las Vegas and had just been nominated as one of the country’s Ten Outstanding Young Men by the United States Junior Chamber, an award he was[ particularly proud](https://www.graceland.com/blog/elvis-presleys-highest-honor/ "undefined") to have received. Nixon, meanwhile, who had not yet been tainted by Watergate, was experiencing a wave of [popularity](http://historyinpieces.com/research/nixon-approval-ratings "undefined") for vowing to get America out of Vietnam and to [desegregate schools. ](https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2013/12/nixon-enforces-civil-rights/ "undefined") But why did the King want to meet the President? When Presley had showed up that morning at the White House — decked out in a purple velvet suit, a gold belt and a Colt. 45 pistol — he came bearing a personal [letter](https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/nixon-met-elvis/assets/doc%5F1.1%5Ftranscript.html "undefined") to the President explaining his reasons. “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 35-year-old singer wrote in the letter, which noted that young people see him as one of them, thus making him the perfect person to help fight the war on illegal drugs. “I would love to meet you just to say hello if you’re not too busy.” Presley, a collector of police badges, wanted a badge from the [Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs](https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/170.html "undefined") and to be named a “Federal Agent at Large.” “The narc badge represented some kind of ultimate power to him,” Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ then-wife, wrote in her memoir _Elvis and Me_. “With the federal narcotics badge, he \[believed he\] could legally enter any country both wearing guns and carrying any drugs he wished.” The fact that there was no transcript of the meeting has left much to the imagination (as explored most recently in the 2016 film [_Elvis & Nixon_](http://time.com/4299360/review-spacey-shannon-elvis-nixon/ "undefined")_,_ starring Kevin Spacey as Nixon and Michael Shannon as Elvis._)_ What is known about what happened in the meeting comes from a [memo](https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/nixon-met-elvis/assets/doc%5F3.1%5Ftranscript.html "undefined") that an aide who was in the room, [Egil “Bud” Krogh](https://www.washingtonpost.com/postlive/bud-krogh-on-going-to-jail/2012/06/11/gJQAcXrIWV%5Fvideo.html "undefined"), wrote up: --- > “” --- The [badge](http://people.com/books/clint-hill-describes-the-time-elvis-presley-visited-richard-nixon-at-white-house/ "undefined"), aides later wrote, was an “honorary” one, but Elvis thought it was the real thing. Both men would face swift falls from grace in the mid-1970s, between Nixon resigning in 1974 and Presley’s reliance on prescription drugs — which, a former employee [later explained](http://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/09/arts/purple-in-the-oval-office-you-can-t-make-this-up.html "undefined"), he saw as separate from the illegal drugs he was so eager to help police — worsening in the lead-up to the heart attack that ultimately killed him. But the photograph would live on, as Nixon [might have put it](https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/nsa/elvis/docs/doc7.pdf "undefined"), in the nation’s collection of special mementos. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4894301/elvis-president-nixon-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4894301/elvis-president-nixon-photo/"},"headline":"The Story Behind That Famous Photo of Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon","datePublished":"2017-08-15T14:00:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:55:35.445Z","description":"It was, as of 2015 at least, the most-requested photograph in the entire U.S. National Archives.","url":"https://time.com/4894301/elvis-president-nixon-photo/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ace4c05094b1406/6988d8bb0b72e36df46eef27/elvis-presley-president-nixon-gettyimages-3072025.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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