Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon Signed "1970 White House Meeting” Display (BAS)

Offered is a wonderful pairing of signatures from Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon presented together in a framed display with three photos from their historic, albeit impromptu, White House meeting during Nixon's presidency. Photos of the meeting are the single most requested images from The U.S. National Archives. Elvis had landed in Washington on the morning of December 21, 1970, fresh off a red-eye flight from Los Angeles on which he had penned a letter to the president on American Airlines stationery. Once they landed, Elvis directed his limo to The White House. He jumped out to hand the note to Secret Service guards, who didn’t immediately recognize him despite his high-collared topcoat and cane. On his flight to DC, Elvis wrote a letter to Nixon to request an audience. He said he was staying at a hotel under the name “Jon Burrows.” Elvis was eager to get involved with the White House’s anti-drug campaigns. “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,” he writes. What Elvis really wanted was a special badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to add to his personal collection of police badges. Jerry Schilling, a close friend of Elvis who joined the visit to Washington, later described the King’s penchant for flashy signals of authority in a conversation with the Nixon Presidential Library: “It was kind of a James Bond thing to him as well, but with a lot of respect for it.” The Nixon signature is on a bookplate, and the Elvis signature is on a photo of a fan, Jim Curtain. Both pieces are accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Becket Authentication. The framed display measures 18 x 22 inches. Near Mint condition.