History Book: The King meets the president

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, December 19th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Next up: the WORLD History Book. Today, the anniversary of an impromptu meeting between the King of Rock and Roll and the President of the United States. 

EICHER: Thank you, thank you very much. Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon, that’s a meeting!

Plus, 75 years ago, a first for children’s television.

Here’s WORLD’s Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: We begin today on December 27th, 1947.

CLIP: FIRST HOWDY DOODY BROADCAST THEME MUSIC

The first episode of Howdy Doody airs on the NBC television network.

CLIP: BUFFALO SMITH SINGING

Howdy Doody is a marionette boy dressed in a western costume. He’s got 48 freckles—one for each state of the union at the time. He plays off the show's host: human actor Bob Smith who calls himself “Buffalo Bob”

SMITH: You know very often when I meet people instead of just saying “hello” I say “Howdy Doody!” …

Howdy Doody’s name is derived from the American West expression: "howdy doody"/"howdy do." Bob Smith got the idea for the puppet character while working in radio years earlier. Here he is talking with David Letterman in 1987.

BUFFALO BOB SMITH: I had had Howdy Doody on a radio show—WNBC Radio—but just a voice. I’d say: “Here’s Howdy. Hi Howdy!” And he’d say: “Well howdy doody…” and then I’d just talk to myself…Well, the kids would come in to see the radio show and they’d say: “Well, where is Howdy?”

Besides Howdy Doody, the show features other marionette characters and a couple human actors—including Clarabell the clown who only pantomimes or honks horns attached to his belt to communicate…

SMITH: Well Clarabell, kid…tell me, are you ready for the big surprise?

A move that began as a budgetary consideration so they didn’t have to pay a higher rate for speaking parts.

The show runs for nearly 13 years…

CLIP: HOWDY DOODY THEME

The pioneering television program created children’s television. Many later programs are clearly inspired by the show, including Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood—though perhaps the most famous inspiration is a fictional one…Woody’s character in Pixar’s Toy Story movie franchise.

CLIP: HOWDY DOODY THEME

And we end today on December 20th, 1970. Elvis Presley boards a late-night American Airlines flight from LAX to Washington D.C. He settles into first-class with his childhood friend and sometimes body-guard Jerry Schilling. Audio here from a C-SPAN oral history interview:

SCHILLING: Elvis…sat down next to me and said: “Do you think there's any stationery on the flight?” And I got the stewardess's attention. And she said, “let me go check.” And she came back with American Airlines stationery…And he sat and wrote the letter.

Over six pages Elvis introduces himself as someone upset with the direction of the country. He cites Rock and Roll’s drug culture, hippies, and communist brainwashing as particular areas of concern. Elvis believes if the President would make him a Federal Agent at Large he could do a great deal of good as an entertainment insider.

SCHILLING: And then he said, “Jerry, I just wrote a letter to President Nixon, would you proofread it for me?” … And I said sure. And I read the letter and … I said Elvis, it's beautiful. Send it like it is. He kind of smiled. He sealed it up. And as we're flying he would put: “for the President only.”

Elvis decides the only way to make sure this letter gets to the President is to hand deliver it. The red-eye flight lands in D.C. before dawn. Elvis and Schilling hop into a limo and head to the President's residence. Schilling tries to talk Elvis into waiting till later in the day. But is unsuccessful.

SCHILLING: …And he jumped off the back of a black limousine. The White House security guards were pretty stiff…

Elvis is dressed in a cape with a high collar—his hair is longer than usual. He steps out with a cane in one hand—the President’s letter in the other.

SCHILLING: I see it's not going well. So I jumped out of the limousine. And I go: “Excuse me, gentlemen. But you know, this is Mr. Elvis Presley. He just wanted to drop off this letter to the President.” They immediately their whole demeanor changed and Oh, Mr. Presley, you know…we'll make sure the President will have the letter…

True to their word, the President gets the letter. Later that morning his staff calls the hotel and sets up an appointment with Elvis and President Nixon that very day.

Elvis arrives with Jerry Schilling and business associate Sonny West. Secret Service won't allow either into the Oval Office…only Elvis. So they wait. Then, the President sends word that he wants to meet Elvis’s friends…

SCHILLING: I never will forget. Who opens the door? Not Secret Service, not the President, but Elvis. And I kind of, you know, it's kind of like being at Graceland…And so, and he opens the door real wide, and he's beaming…

After a friendly conversation, Nixon approves Elvis as a special agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs—and Elvis gets a badge to prove it.

Many later accounts of the meeting explain the encounter as just another example of Elvis’s eccentricities—nothing more than trying to collect a badge. But Schilling thinks it was something more for Elvis:

SCHILLING: So Elvis…knew he had influence, especially in the music business. And he knew he could talk to anybody. You know, he could go to the worst section of town and wear all the diamonds that he wanted to and he was cool…People accepted Elvis Presley. And he really wanted to get I mean, he this is a worn out phrase, but he wanted to give something back. And if you're Elvis, this is how you do it.

The photo of President Nixon and Elvis’s meeting still remains one of the most requested images from the entire National Archives library of historic photos.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Paul Butler.

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