December 21st in Elvis History

It's December twenty-first, and on this day in 1970… Elvis Presley met with President Richard Nixon at the White House in one of the most iconic and unexpected encounters in American pop culture history. After hand-delivering a letter to the White House earlier that morning, Elvis was granted a meeting arranged through Nixon’s deputy counsel. Accompanied by Jerry Schilling and Sonny West, Elvis spoke about his concerns over drug culture and youth unrest, and requested a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The President agreed—and Elvis left the meeting with the badge in hand.