The Day Elvis Tried to Join the DEA (And Nixon Kind of Let Him)

00:00:05
Speaker 1: And we returned to our American Stories. Up next, the story from those who witnessed a legendary meeting back in 1970 between a President, Richard Nixon, and a king, the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley. Here to start us off is Jerry Schilling, a longtime veteran of the music industry and a close friend of Elvis. Take it away, Jerry.

00:00:38
Speaker 2: I was asleep, and I get this call. “Hey!” And I go, “Who is this?”

00:00:45
Speaker 3: 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 traveled 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 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 a Saturday night, about 1:30 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.

00:01:34
Speaker 4: You know.

00:01:36
Speaker 3: 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.” He was buying a lot of gifts, and I think when the Colonel got involved in it, Elvis just went, “Whoa!” I think he got in his car. I think he took the first flight out.

00:02:08
Speaker 4: Anyway.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: 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. He looked like a little boy. He goes, “Okay.” You know, he said, first of all, he said, “I’ll get a Learjet 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 changed planes in Dallas, he said, “There was this smart little steward with a 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, “Mr. Presley, it’s okay, you can carry your guns.” You know.

00:03:15
Speaker 5: I made a deal with him.

00:03:17
Speaker 3: 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 flight, and if I could call one of the security guys there to meet us, where I can go back.”

00:03:31
Speaker 5: And hopefully still have my job.

00:03:34
Speaker 3: So that started the evening of us with no money — Elvis never carried money — taking the all-night flight from Los Angeles to D.C.

00:03:45
Speaker 5: I still don’t did not.

00:03:47
Speaker 3: Know why we were going, and I talked Elvis into letting his normal limousine driver take us to the airport, who he called, by the way, Sir Gerald, because he had found out years ago.

00:04:01
Speaker 5: I think he was a driver for Winston Churchill.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: 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. Elvis didn’t carry any cash because he didn’t have to. So, anyway, and I had Elvis’s checkbook, and Sir Gerald found a guy at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that would cash a check for $500. 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 $500 in my coat, and they pre-boarded us on the plane. It was Christmastime, and there were a lot of soldiers coming back from Vietnam. He got into a real conversation with one soldier for, I mean, like ten minutes, and he came to me, and I’m sitting in the window seat, and he’s here, and he goes, “Where’s that money?”

00:05:06
Speaker 5: I knew what was gonna happen, so I said, “What money?”

00:05:10
Speaker 3: And he goes, “The $500!” 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 $500. Anyway, Senator Murphy was on the plane with us. Of course, he was in coach; 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.

00:05:48
Speaker 5: When he came back, he sat down next to me.

00:05:50
Speaker 3: And I had never seen Elvis Presley write a letter, and he had only written three in his life at that point.

00:05:57
Speaker 5: That’s when he was in Germany, in the Army.

00:06:00
Speaker 3: So he said, “Do you think they have any stationery 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 stationery. You know, I wouldn’t look at. I didn’t say, “What are you writing?”

00:06:15
Speaker 5: A letter about what’s going on?

00:06:17
Speaker 3: 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 proofread this for me?”

00:06:27
Speaker 5: I was pretty impressed.

00:06:29
Speaker 3: 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 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.”

00:07:02
Speaker 6: Dear Mr. President, I’m Elvis Presley, and I 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 an 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 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 505, 506, 507. I’ve done an in-depth study of drug abuse and Communist brainwashing techniques. I would love to meet you and just say hello, if you’re not too busy. Respectfully, Elvis Presley.

00:07:54
Speaker 3: 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 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 cane, you know, for that time of the morning, it was kind of a Dracula look, you know, and he — you know — the security guards.

00:08:38
Speaker 5: I see this is not going well.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: So I jump out of the car and I said, “Gentlemen, please excuse me, but this is Mr. 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 Mr. Presley will make sure that your letter is carried up to be delivered to the President.” Elvis went to a meeting, was like 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.

00:09:18
Speaker 1: And you’ve been listening to Jerry Schilling telling one heck of a story about when the President met the King. What happens next? Stay tuned to our American Stories, and we returned to our American Stories and the story of how Elvis met Nixon. Here’s Bud Crowe, Assistant to the Counsel to the President.

00:09:49
Speaker 7: I was sitting at my desk, and I got a call from Dwight Chapin, “But ‘The King’ is here!” And I looked at the President’s schedule and said, “What king?” “There aren’t any kings 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, 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, 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 Crowe, and I had this letter here from Elvis Presley.”

00:10:40
Speaker 4: I’m laughing on the…

00:10:41
Speaker 7: 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, Mr. Crowe, guess it’s one of the letters Mr. 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.

00:11:01
Speaker 4: Do they take this?

00:11:02
Speaker 7: 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 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, 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.”

00:11:51
Speaker 4: Yes.

00:11:52
Speaker 7: And he had put in the letter that he would like to be made a federal agent-at-large.

00:11:58
Speaker 4: We don’t have federal agents.

00:12:00
Speaker 7: We got Secret Service agents, 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 1950s, 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 has never met anyone quite like Elvis Presley. Elvis hasn’t met anyone quite like the President, and I want to…

00:12:26
Speaker 4: Be in this meeting.

00:12:27
Speaker 7: 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.”

00:12:35
Speaker 4: I said, “What’s that?”

00:12:35
Speaker 7: He said, “Well, Elvis has brought a gun with it.”

00:12:40
Speaker 4: It’s a very nice gun.

00:12:43
Speaker 7: It’s got battles of World War II 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.”

00:12:53
Speaker 4: And I said, “Yeah, I realized that.”

00:12:55
Speaker 7: 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 that way either. He overlauded that, and the President had never seen anyone quite like 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 I sort of escorted him, you know, I put my hand on his back. Well, they started 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, and said some anti-American stuff.” And President, “Beatles, and Beatles have done that!” And I didn’t. “I’ll get right on it, Mr. 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?”

00:14:05
Speaker 4: “He know that?” “It’s just…”

00:14:07
Speaker 7: 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, “Mr. President, can you get me a badge from the…”

00:14:19
Speaker 4: “Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs?” “Now?”

00:14:22
Speaker 7: 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, “Mr. President, if you want to get him a badge, we can.”

00:14:43
Speaker 4: “Get him work.”

00:14:45
Speaker 7: Okay, exactly so. And so, at that point, the President said, “Get him a badge!”

00:14:52
Speaker 4: “I want him to have one.”

00:14:54
Speaker 7: 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, “Mr. President, do you have time to meet my friends?” And the President looks at me. He said, “Bud, do we have time for that?” “I already — we are far beyond anything anybody thought…”

00:15:23
Speaker 4: “About this meeting.” And I said, “Oh, yes, sir, we do.” He said, “Fine,” and…

00:15:26
Speaker 5: Elvis opened the door and said, “Come on.” You know.

00:15:29
Speaker 3: I looked down, and there was the President at his desk, and I realized the Oval Office 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.”

00:15:50
Speaker 4: It wasn’t not a technical assault.

00:15:52
Speaker 3: 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 were 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. 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 the Oval Office 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.

00:16:52
Speaker 4: Well.

00:16:52
Speaker 7: 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 4-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 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.

00:17:23
Speaker 4: Memories that I have of this entire episode.

00:17:26
Speaker 7: The President went behind his desk, and he opened the bottom left-hand drawer. The bottom drawer on that side of the desk is where he had the gifts.

00:17:34
Speaker 4: And they’re arranged.

00:17:35
Speaker 7: By golf balls, through cufflinks, to bracelets, to pins. And I don’t know if it’s ascending order of value from the cheapest to the 16-karat gold 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.