Gov Docs: Elvis Presley: Home

National Portrait Gallery
The world of visual art has also become a repository for images of Elvis—tributary, allegorical, and satirical. Today, Elvis is the subject of works—in every form and medium possible—by artists from all over the world. His face is no longer the face of the man who sang, danced, and played the good guy on the silver screen; rather, it is the face of an icon whose character echoes the views and passions of the artists who portray him.

Elvis was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, in a two room shotgun house in East Tupelo, then a separate municipality that some called the "roughest town in north Mississippi."

National Archives
On the morning of December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley personally delivered a letter to the northwest gate of the White House. Written on American Airlines stationery, the five-page letter requested a meeting with President Nixon. Presley intended to present the President with a gift of a World War II-era pistol and obtain for himself the credentials of a federal agent in the war on drugs.

Elvis Aron Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1958, and then spent three days at the Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, Reception Station. He left active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 5, 1960, and received his discharge from the Army Reserve on March 23, 1964.

Elvis Aaron Presley (1935-1977), rock-n-roll singer and movie actor, was not investigated by the FBI. His name, though, appears in many different FBI files. Presley was the target of many extortion attempts investigated by the FBI. Reactions to his music and stage presentation led concerned citizens to write the FBI suggesting that it investigate Presley; we did not. And there is correspondence regarding Presley’s interest in meeting Director J. Edgar Hoover.

In this photograph President Richard Nixon examines Elvis Presley's cuff links. Assistant Egil Krogh stands nearby.

National Archives

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