Elvis wasn't prepared to just stew about John Lennon, the Beatle's anti-Vietnam War stance, and the personal slight Elvis had suffered in his own home. He wanted Lennon gone. As in, out of the USA. What's more, he actually went to none other than the President of the United States to get action.
To set the scene: Presley wasn't the only person keen to have Lennon silenced. The federal government wasn't exactly thrilled with Lennon's anti-war sentiments, either, and tried valiantly (and failed) to have him deported, according to NPR News. Elvis himself wanted the Beatles gone, too. And on December 21, 1970, the King met none other than President Richard Nixon, according to Vox. There, he tried to convince the POTUS to find a way to get rid of Lennon and the Beatles.
"The Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit. [They] came to this country, made their money, and then returned to England where they promoted an anti-American theme," Elvis said at the time.
Again in 1971, Elvis tried to get someone in power to get rid of the Fab Four. Touring the offices of the FBI, he told then-director J. Edgar Hoover that "the Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the problems we are having with young people by their filthy unkempt appearances and suggestive music."
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