The day an American president met with an American king, of sorts, produced a photo that has endured for decades as one of the most popular and most requested photos ever from the U.S. National Archives (via National Archives). But for the release of that photo years later and a memo on the secret visit by an aide who was there at the time, we might never have known it even happened. Although a story about the meeting was published a year later, it didn’t receive much attention. We’re talking, of course, about the White House meeting between President Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, on December 21, 1970. The meeting occurred during a time both men were at the top of their game, before Nixon was corrupted by Watergate and while Presley was on a successful comeback tour.

Presley had flown to Washington with the intent of obtaining a badge from the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs to add to his extensive collection of police badges (via Smithsonian Magazine). After arriving in the Capitol, he dropped off a hand-written letter at a White House entrance gate asking for a meeting. “Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out,” he said in the note. Nixon aide Egil “Bud” Krogh, who happened to be an Elvis fan, received the note and thought the meeting would be a good idea. Nixon agreed (via Time Magazine).

Elvis gets his badge, sort of

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