Elvis Presley may have been the king, but he wasn’t much of a letter writer. In a 1970 missive to Richard Nixon in which he asked to be made a special agent in the budding War on Drugs, his sentences run together with the reckless abandon of a semi-literate speed freak. Plus, he also appears to really like Nixon, a hazy choice at best.
A few choice quotes from Elvis’s letter to Nixon:
“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 American and I love it. Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out. I have no concern or motives other than helping the country out…”
“Sir, I am staying at the Washington Hotel, Room 505-506-507…I am registered under the name Jon Burrow. I will be here for as long as long [sic] as it takes to get the credential of a Federal Agent. I have done an 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 was nominated this coming year one of America’s Ten Most Outstanding Young Men…I am sending you the short autobiography about myself so you can better understand this…”
P.S. “I believe that Sir, were one of the Top Ten Outstanding Men of America also.”
See the full Elvis letter here [pdf], or read a transcript here.
