It is ironic that Elvis Presley wrote a letter to President Nixon, to set up a meeting at the White House, so the president could declare Presley a federal agent in the war against drugs.
The meeting was held on December 21, 1970 and Presley was designated a federal agent at large in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
The irony comes in, when Presley becomes a drug addict himself, which led to him dying in August of 1977 from an apparent drug overdose.
In the time between the meeting and his death Presley had become a drug addict of the worst magnitude.
After the meeting President Nixon thanks Presley for the gift of a Colt .45 in a letter written to Elvis. However, the president did not sign the letter but had his name stamped at the end of the letter.
Presley mentions in one of the documents that the Beatles came to United States, earning a lot of money, then returned to England taking an anti-American stand. It is clear that Presley disliked the Beatles from his comments about them. After all his career took a hit when the Beatles led the British invasion that changed the American music scene.
The following article from the National Archives documents the meeting between President Nixon and Elvis Presley. There are eight documents and 26 photos commemorating the meeting at this website:
After reading these documents, it is sad to think of what happened to both participants of this meeting. Less than four years later the Watergate scandal would threaten President Nixon with impeachment, thereby causing him to resign from the office of president in August of 1974.
Less than seven years later, Elvis would die at the young ago of 42. It is sad that Elvis instead of fighting drug use, became a user himself, ending his life way too soon.