After lunch, at 2:00 p.m. the group headed back to Bud Krogh’s office in the Old Executive Office Building and BNDD Deputy Director John Finlator arrived with badge a badge in hand for Presley. Finlator presented Presley with the badge. With that Presley, West, and Schilling departed, concluding their extraordinary White House visit. Although efforts were made to conceal the meeting at Presley’s request, word eventually got out. On January 27, 1972, Washington Post reporter Jack Anderson detailed the visit in an article titled “Presley Gets Narcotics Bureau Badge.” In response to the Washington Post article, Bud Krogh wrote up this memo, detailing the events of the meeting.

Both Presley and President Nixon remembered their unusual meeting positively. On December 31, 1970, President Nixon sent a letter thanking Presley for the commemorative World War II Colt .45 pistol and family photographs. Today, the pistol remains within the holdings of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, while Presley’s Memphis estate, Graceland, houses his BNDD badge.