#1 on the National Archives chart...
Following a weekend of exciting playoff football and while the BCS championship game tonight will determine the #1 college football team, let's take a look at the top of another chart. The number one most requested document in the National Archives contains details of a secret meeting that took place between a President and a King almost 4 decades ago...
Going on display today to mark what would have been Elvis Presley's 72nd birthday are artifacts of the secret meeting between The King and President Richard M. Nixon on Dec. 21st, 1970. Nixon's Presidential Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda (CA) will feature the free exhibit that includes the outfits worn by both men and a WWII .45 Colt revolver given to Nixon by Elvis...
Egil "Bud" Krogh, now 68, was the point man for Nixon in getting the two most diverse personalities together to enlist Elvis in the president's war on drugs. Krogh, an admitted Elvis fanatic was Nixon's deputy counsel and set up the meeting. Elvis, desperately wanted a badge from the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and Nixon wanted publicity for his anti-drug campaign. Elvis got his badge after having been turned down earlier in the day by the chief of the narcotics bureau (something Nixon was not told) and the president got the photo for his campaign...
At Elvis' request, news of the meeting remained a secret until The Washington Post broke the story in January of 1972. Since then the top selling items in the presidential museum gift shop are - you guessed it: T-shirts, cups, notepads and watches bearing the National Archives #1 rated document photo of the President and the King...
Today's video link marks the date of the final "Shindig!" show starring The Who and The Kinks. Dick and Dee Dee were also on that show and we have a clip of their version of "Lightning Strikes" which they performed that night. Seeing Dick's outfit will remind you how big "Batman" was in 1966: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZZZEUqBzEA
Timeline Memories...
"Happy Trails": 1976] Chinese premier Chou En-lai dies of bladder cancer at 77...1996] Former French president Francois Mitterrand is a victim of prostate cancer at 79...
Elvis is in the building: 1935] Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo (MS)...1957] Elvis celebrates his 22nd birthday by taking an Army pre-induction exam...1973] Priscilla says "Happy Birthday Elvis" and Elvis says "Thank you Darlin'. By the way, I'm filin' for divorce." ...1993] An Elvis commemorative stamp is issued by the Postal Service. It's a likeness of the 50's era king...
War is declared: 1964] President Lyndon Johnson declares a "war on poverty"...
"Guilty as Charged": 1994] Tonya Harding wins the Ladies U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit but she's stripped of the title for her involvement in the Nancy Kerrigan beating...1998] Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life without parole for his role in masterminding the 1st WTC bombing in New York (Yousef is now making license plates in a Colorado maximum security prison)...
Something smells fishy: 1675] The 1st corporation in the U.S. is the New York Fishing Company...
Premiered on this date: 1952] Marie Wilson comes to TV as "My Friend Irma" (the sitcom will run 2 years)...
Chess King: 1958] 14-year old Bobby Fisher of Brooklyn, wins his 1st U.S. Chess championship...
#1 on this date: 1966] "Rubber Soul" LP - The Beatles (for the 1st of 6 weeks)..."We Can Work It Out" goes to #1 on the singles chart for the 1st of 3 weeks...
The Final Curtain: 1966} After a 2-year run, "Shindig!" bows out (see video link)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary...
There are lots of images of the NFL wild card playoffs dancing in my head (Romo's failure to hold the football for a field goal attempt in the Dallas loss, Wilfork's fumble return of Pennington's backward pass in the Patriot's win, the Eagles last-second field goal, etc., but the best line of the weekend was provided by ESPN's Sean Salisbury's after the Dallas loss. Commenting on Terrell Owen's performance after the Cowboys loss: "Boy was he great in the post game press conference."
Then there's this basketball story you may not have seen: Coach Roy Dow and his squad of brainy Cal Tech Beavers beat Bard College of New York 81-52 on Saturday night, ending a mathematically improbable run of 207 consecutive NCAA Division III losses. Now if they can only snap their 245 consecutive defeats in their local league (SCIAC) going back almost 22 years...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
David Bowie (60), Yvette Mimieux (65), Stephen Hawking (65), Anthony Gourdine (67), Bob Eubanks (70), Shirley Bassey (70), Charles Osgood (74), Soupy Sales (81) and Larry Storch (84)...
Timeline Countdown: 5 days until NFL Divisional playoffs, 13 days until Conference playoffs, 27 days until Super Bowl XLI and 38 days until 'pitchers and catchers'...
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