Elvis Presley was a keen supporter of U.S. police forces and security bureaus, as reflected in the opening page of his FBI file, which begins with a 1972 letter to Richard Nixon from a badge collector. The collector describes himself, like Elvis, as a "police buff," and asks whether he can be sent a Federal Narcotics badge like the one Elvis had recently been given.
The second document, dated from 1971, is a letter to Elvis from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover expresses his regret that he had been unable to meet the singer during his recent tour of the bureau's facilities. (The document that follows is a request on Elvis' behalf to be shown around the FBI buildings.) Undoubtedly, Hoover saw Elvis as an ally.
But as the Elvis files also show, two years earlier Hoover himself received a letter from a mother of five daughters, identifying the then-established music sensation as a danger to American life. "I believe he has done more harm in his style of dancing, to our young people than any one element in our society," the concerned citizen wrote (via PresLaw).
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