ELVIS and the White House:

This articel is about Elvis as the nationalist and the connections he had to the White House. The artical was written by Tommy Udo and published in VOX magazine in the August issue 1997.

Elvis the Traitor:
In the ´50s, white God-fearing Republican America feared Elvis almost as much as they feared communism. They needn't have worried. Elvis may have wiggled his butt suggestively on TV, but deep down he was just as much of a small-minded redneck, racist, flag-waving, red-meat-gorging, gun-loving, American-values worshipping creep as the rest of them.

In 1970, at the height of the Vietnam War, American society was polarised. Student anti-war protesters were being gunned down by National Guardsmen; American forces had launched an illegal, secret and undeclared war against neutral Cambodia. The American Right were seeking to crush the gains of the civil rights movement and the growing sense of sexual and political liberation. Elvis nailed his colours firmly to the mast: he offered his services as an establishment stooge.

"The drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS [Students For A Democratic Society - National Left Wing Anti-war Organisation Ed], the Black Panthers etc... do not consider me as their enemy or, as they call it, ´the establishment´," he wrote in a grovelling letter to President Richard Nixon, figurehead of the reactionary forces. "I call it America and I love it."

The White House

Elvis wanted to meet Nixon and be made a ´Federal Agent At Large´ in the Bureau Of Narcotics And Dangerous Drugs to "help the country out."

"I have done an in-depth study of drug abuse and communist brainwashing techniques," he wrote. "I am right in the middle of th ewhole thing where I can, and will, do the most good."

Elvis had certainly studied drug abuse in depth; he turned up at the White House to meet Nixon on December 20, 1970 whacked off his face on presciption amphetamines. He gave the President a commemorative World War II Colt 45 pistol and some autographed pictures and showed him some of his collection of police badges. Nixon responded by getting Presley an FBI badge with his name on it.

Whether Elvis ever grassed anyone up to the Goverment is open to question; one Elvis- was-murdered theory has the Mafia as a prime suspect because Presley was investigating their influence in Las Vegas casinos.

But the King never got in touch with the White House again, nor did he take part in the proposed TV special in which he and other stars were to, as the US National Security Agency archives have it, "sing popular songs and interpret them for parents in order to show drug and other anti-establishment themes in rock music."

Nor did he encourage fellow artists to develop a rock musical on the theme "get high on life"; or record an album called ´Get High On Life´at the Federal narcotic rehabilitation and research facility in Kentucky; or act as a consultant to the Advertising Counsil on how to communicate anti-drug messages to youth - all of which were mooted by the White House staff.

Probably Elvis only wanted the FBI badge for his collection and special agent status to allow him to carry guns over State lines. As for President Nixon´s war on drugs and the counter culture, for the most part, Elvis was just to stoned to care.

Other related links: See Elvis and the F.B.I - links or Elvis and Nixon - links under LINKS concerning Elvis

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