Elvis Fled the State After Telling His Father to Fire Colonel Tom Parker

Though Elvis Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, restricted his career growth, Priscilla Presley said the musician rarely bucked against his leadership. In 1970, though, Elvis decided he’d had enough. He instructed his father, Vernon, to fire Parker. Then, Elvis got up, walked out the door, and didn’t return for several days. Priscilla and Vernon would later find out that he left the state. 

Elvis left for an impromptu trip after telling his father to fire Colonel Tom Parker

In Dec. 1970, Priscilla walked in on a heated conversation between Vernon and Elvis.

“Goddamn, Daddy, call him and tell him we’re through,” Elvis said, per Priscilla’s book Elvis and Me. “Tear up the goddamn contracts and I’ll pay him whatever percentage we owe him.”

Elvis added that he hated the work he’d been doing and was “goddamn bored” of his career. Per Smithsonian Magazine, part of Elvis’ frustration with the conversation had to do with the fact that Vernon had scolded him for spending over $10,000 on Christmas presents. Either way, he left the house angry.

“Elvis stomped out the front door, never returning that evening nor the following few,” Priscilla wrote. “We were mystified.”

Priscilla said Elvis’ behavior was surprising because he had never made a plan on his own. He didn’t even have his own phone number memorized.

“For the first time he was traveling alone — without even one bodyguard,” she wrote. “Elvis didn’t even know his own phone number; nor did he carry cash. How was he going to get around? Arrangements had always been made for him.”

Later, Priscilla learned Elvis took a commercial flight to Washington D.C. before flying to Los Angeles to get treatment for a reaction to penicillin, before flying back across the country to D.C.

The musician met with Richard Nixon on the trip

The reason Elvis boarded the first flight to D.C. was because he wanted to meet with Richard Nixon. He ended up meeting with the president on his second time in the city. He’d written the president an impassioned letter detailing his hopes to get kids off drugs.

“When he first walked into the Oval Office, he seemed a little awe-struck,” Nixon aide Egil Krogh said, “but he quickly warmed to the situation.”

While there, Presley also took the opportunity to complain to Nixon about The Beatles. 

“Presley indicated that he thought the Beatles had been a real force for anti-American spirit,” Krogh recalled. “The President then indicated that those who use drugs are also those in the vanguard of anti-American protest.”

Elvis walked away from the meeting with a badge from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. According to Priscilla, Elvis returned home shortly after this, and “the argument about Colonel that started this escapade was never mentioned again.”

Elvis temporarily fired Colonel Tom Parker on another occasion 

While neither Vernon nor Elvis went through with firing Parker on this occasion, the latter tried again later. After Elvis visited the home of a Hilton employee whose wife was sick with cancer, Hilton fired the employee for contacting the hotel talent.

Per USA Today, Elvis went on a tirade against Hilton owner Barron Hilton while onstage, much to Parker’s anger. Elvis and Parker fought all night before Elvis ultimately fired him. Parker then drew up a bill for what he claimed Elvis owed him. Elvis decided it wasn’t worth it to pay this much money, and continued working with Parker.