YORBA LINDA, Calif. (CNN) -- A 1970 meeting between rock icon Elvis Presley and then-President Richard Nixon, during which Presley asked for and received an honorary Bureau of Narcotics Special Assistant badge, is commemorated in an exhibit at Nixon's presidential library featuring clothing the two wore and the gifts they exchanged.

Presley met Nixon Dec. 21, 1970, after presenting a White House guard with letter written by hand on American Airlines stationery. "Dear Mr. President," the letter said. "First, I would like to introduce myself. I am Elvis Presley and admire you and have great respect for your office."

Presley said that he had spoken to then-Vice President Spiro Agnew previously and told Agnew of his concerns regarding the country. He offered his services to Nixon: "the drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, Black Panthers etc. do not consider me as their enemy or as they call it 'The Establishment' ... Sir, I can and will be of any service that I can to help the country out."

At Presley's request, the meeting stayed secret until The Washington Post reported in 1972, five years before Presley's death -- which came, ironically, from a drug overdose.

"I didn't see anything that I thought would mean he was high on drugs at the time," Bud" Krogh, a Nixon aide who helped set up the meeting and later chronicled it in the book, "The Day Elvis Met Nixon," told CNN.