Julian C Arhire

Elvis and Nixon Julian C Arhire

Out of the millions of photos contained in the U. S. National Archives, the image of President Richard M. Nixon and Elvis Presley shaking hands in the Oval Office in Washington D. C., on Dec. 21, 1970, is the single most-requested. The meeting between Presley and Nixon may not be significant as political history, nor did it benefit the president. It's certainly interesting as cultural history in the sense that it captures a moment of early 1970s America, as the country was so taken with the changes being wrought by the counterculture. Here was Elvis, who used to be such a hero to young people, having aligned himself with the Nixon White House on the side of the squares. Presley got what he wanted - a special assistant's badge, now in Graceland's archives. It was an important moment in his life. I'm not sure how much humor he would find in that or not.