DBWI: Elvis never gives "Christmas in Dixie" speech

Shortly after his meeting with President Nixon in December 1970, Elvis Presley gave what the papers would famously call his "Christmas in Dixie" speech. That, combined with his acceptance of the TOYA award just a few weeks later propelled him from show business into the political sphere.

So what if Elvis never gives his speech? Up until that point he'd been a fairly apolitical figure and preferred to keep his non-showbiz public engagement out of the limelight.
 
A lot of people see Elvis as the figurehead of voting for the candidate not for the party, given his endorsement of both LBJ and Nixon. Maybe without Elvis Ford would have been able to hold of Reagan in the 1976 primaries and we wouldn’t have seen President Reagan in 1977.
 
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