Elvis has left the Building. UPDATED

...The White House building that is.

On December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley paid a visit to President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in Washington, D.C. The meeting was initiated by Presley, who wrote Nixon a six-page letter requesting a visit with the President and suggesting that he be made a "Federal Agent-at-Large" in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Dear Mr. President

First I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley and admire you and Have Great Respect for your office. I talked to Vice President Agnew in Palm Springs a week ago and expressed my concern for our country. The Drug Culture, The Hippie Elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it The Establishment. I call it America and I Love it. Sir I can and will be of any Service that I can to help the country out. I have no concerns or motives other than helping the country out. So I wish not to be given a title or an appointed position, I can and will do more good if I were made a Federal Agent at Large, and I will help out by doing it my way through my communications with people of all ages. First and Foremost I am an entertainer but all I need is the Federal credentials. I am on the Plane with Sen. George Murphy and We have been discussing the problems that our country is faced with. Sir I am Staying at the Washington hotel Room 505-506-507. I have 2 men who work with me by the name of Jerry Schilling and Sonny West. I am registered under the name of Jon Burrows. I will be here for as long as it takes to get the credentials of a Federal Agent. I have done 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. I am Glad to help just so long as it is kept very Private. You can have your staff or whomever call me anytime today tonight or Tomorrow. I was nominated the coming year one of America's Ten Most outstanding young men. That will be in January 18 in my Home Town of Memphis Tenn. I am sending you the short autobiography about myself so you can better understand this approach. I would love to meet you just to say hello if you're not too busy.

Respectfully,
Elvis Presley

It is ironic that Elvis died of the very thing he seemed so adimately opposed of. Seven years after this meeting Elvis is found dead of a apparent drug over dose.

From 1972 - 1975, Elvis was involved in prescribed medications, and that went from use to abuse. For example, Elvis was 165-168 (pounds), '72 until '74; '75, about 200; '76-'77, 255. These were results of medications prescribed by doctors that Elvis took on a regular basis. This use-to-abuse scenario, a scenario that was probably, in that era, not considered a problem, since they were perscribed by a doctor.

Had Elvis lived, I have no doubt he would have eventually went into politics, but then he may not have become so beloved and the MSM none too kind.

HT: Powerline

Elvis admired law enforcement officers and collected the badges of police departments he visited. In Los Angeles on a secret getaway from tensions at home in Memphis, Elvis became inflamed with the desire to be deputized by the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangersous Drugs (BNDD). He inveigled his friend Jerry Schilling to join him on a quick trip to Washington. Bodyguard Sonny West would fly in from Memphis to meet them. Elvis asked Schilling to take out some cash for the trip, which Elvis ended up giving away to soldiers returning from service in Vietnam.

Of course it's no suprise he was a big supporter of our military

Elvis and the U.S. Army

On January 4, 1957 Elvis reported to Kennedy Veterans Hospital in Memphis for an army pre-induction physical. On January 8, 1957, his twenty second birthday, the Memphis Draft Board held a press conference and announced Elvis would be classified 1A and would probably be drafted sometime that year. At the time the U.S. was not involved in any conflicts or wars. With the news of Elvis's forthcoming induction, the Navy and the Air Force offered bids for his services - the Navy offering to create a specially trained "Elvis Presley company" and the Air Force thinking it would be good for him to tour their recruiting centers. Elvis turned down their offers, not wanting any special treatment. He was going to serve like a regular G.I.

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Elvis was assigned to the Third Armored "Spearhead" Division, whose motto was "Victory or Death". His unit was stationed in Friedberg, Germany. His troop train left Fort Hood for the Brooklyn Army Terminal where, on September 22, 1958, Elvis boarded the U.S.S. Randall and sailed for Germany.

Elvis went on maneuvers and performed all the regular duties as required. (Some say he did more than what was required to ensure that no one get the idea that he was getting any special treatment or had a "star" ego.) One maneuver took his unit to Grafenwohr, near the Czech Republic border, for field training and weapons proficiency tests. While serving in Germany, he earned medals for marksmanship and in February 1960 he received his sergeant's stripes.

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Just prior to his return, in an interview in Germany for Armed Forces Radio and Television, Elvis was asked about being in the field rather than entertaining in a service club. His response was, "... I was in a funny position. Actually, that's the only way it could be. People were expecting me to mess up (laughs), to goof up in one way or another. They thought I couldn't take it and so forth, and I was determined to go to any limits to prove otherwise, not only to the people who were wondering, but to myself."

When Elvis entered the Army his pay went from $400,000 to $78 a month. Elvis was discharged from the Army on March 5, 1960, with his final check from the service for $109.54.

In 1960 he starred in the movie "G.I. Blues." The film was about a young Army soldier stationed in Germany. Elvis made a number of movies over the years with a military theme. He never forgot he was a veteran and if you go to Graceland you will see his military memorabilia on display.

I was an Elvis fan that enjoyed all of his movies as a little girl and had several 8-track tapes. He was right up there in my book.

Thank you Elvis for your service to our country, for the music and for having a heart of gold.

Thank you, thank you verrry much.

Update: Seems Elvis accomplished alot more than influencing music and culture, Elvis's greatest achievement: as a cultural immune response to totalitarianism.

And perish the thought...What if Elvis, instead of his twin, Jesse Garon, had been born dead in that shack in Mississippi and buried in that unmarked grave? How different might our lives have been?

HT: Glenn

Blackfive Poetry Scoop

I don't know if y'all have seen this or not, but the video is pretty darn good.

Two Hansels & a Gretel (Kinda)

I've always found the story of Hansel & Gretel a little disturbing -- that a father should intentionally lose his children in the woods -- not once but twice! -- at the behest of the stepmother and that these "lovable" children stay in the cottage made of cake & chocolate for days while the wicked witch (who wanted to eat the children) was burned to death in the oven... and then they steal the witch's money, find the stepmother has died, the father is forgiven and they all live happily ever after. (What the hell was supposed to be the moral of that fairy tale??)

Be that as it may, I wanted to make the reader think mostly just of the children finding their way home after a harrowing and hellacious ordeal...

Noah signed out at Battalion at 10:43AM EDT this morning. He said leaving the Army was bittersweet (although the way he has been treated by some recently, more sweet than bitter.)

The rest of the story of this Hansel the Soldier and Gretel the wife... and our other Hansel the Sailor... over at Some Soldier's Mom