The National Archives today released 122,800 pages of mostly routine correspondence from the Nixon presidency, none of it apparently earth-shaking but some of it mildly interesting. One of the more extraordinary letters was from Nixon aide Egil Krough Jr., thanking a friend for helping secure a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge for Elvis Presley following Presley's 1970 Oval Office meeting with the president. “We meet many fascinating creatures in this business," Krough wrote, "but I think that meeting between the president and Elvis Presley was one of the most interesting."

Elvis pledged his support to the president in the war on drugs, and had the president look in his desk for presents for his bodyguards… and their wifes… But Elvis was not the only celebrity to visit Nixon. .Frank Sinatra became a Nixon buddy, but early in Nixon’s presidency, his staff debated whether it was appropriate to have Sinatra sing at the White House. "I am sure that many of our friends in the entertainment field would think it wrong to have a former anti-Nixon person entertain at the White House," presidential aide Dwight Chapin wrote in a 1970 memo. But Sinatra did perform, and he was soon signing his hand-written notes to the president, "Affectionately, Francis," while Nixon, ever the stiff, signed a photo of the two, "Richard Nixon."

Source: ElvisMatters / Updated: Nov 29, 2007

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