George Harrison: Dark Horse At the White House

Given the election season we just experienced, I had a jag to re-watch the 2016 film Elvis & Nixon, a light comedy about the real-life meeting in December 21, 1970, between Elvis Presley and President Richard Nixon. There is a scene where the Elvis character (played by Michael Shannon) tells the Nixon character (Kevin Spacey) that he hates the Beatles and describes them as a negative influence on the nation’s youth. Nixon agrees and says, “I think they are communists!”  I didn’t miss the film’s ironic point that within four years, not only would Nixon be forced to resign (to be replaced by Gerald Ford), but one of the “commi-Beatles” would indeed be asked to the White House.

Fifty years ago in December, (December 13, 1974) George Harrison would become the first Beatle to enter the White House (Paul McCartney would have several visits later in life). George would accept the invitation from the President’s son, Jack Ford, who had attended Harrison’s concert at Utah State University a month earlier.  George was big news at the time, being the first ex-Beatle since their 1970 break-up to execute a large-scale continental tour. For the visit’s support, he brought keyboardist Billy Preston, sitar great Ravi Shankar, saxophonist Tom Scott, and George’s father, Harry.

Before Bob Geldof, George Harrison stood as the prince of rock’s charitable side, having organized and performed the Concert for Bangladesh three years earlier. This was the first of its kind, two Madison Square Garden charitable shows of superstars whose revenues would be given to the nearly 10 million refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War along with victims of the recent Bhola Cyclone that reaped devastation to the area. No doubt this stood out when young Jack suggested it would be a good PR move for his father to be seen with the long-haired entourage (indeed, press pictures from the Oval Office meeting were dominated by Preston’s huge 1970s afro).

When arriving that day, George stepped out of one of the two limos parked on the White House driveway, and after introducing his bandmates to the small, assembled press constituency, he took a few questions.

With the Christmas-decorated White House entrance behind him, George said of the invite, “It’s wonderful. Very kind, very nice, I am flattered.”  When asked if his visit was going to help Bangladesh, George immediately shook his head and said, “No, I don’t know. I am sure he [President Ford] has a lot of things at the moment to be thinking of. I don’t want to impose….I think he has a lot on his plate, I don’t want to add to that.” The reporters then asked Jack if his father was a Beatles fan, and he smiled and offered, “Probably not. He doesn’t listen to a lot of music.”

Of course, the inevitable pop music question of the 1970’s came to the fore: “Do you think the Beatles will ever get back together again for a concert?”  Now George’s head bowed, and shook in the negative, “I don’t know. I don’t know. I’m having more fun with this band, you know? To tell you the truth, we all grew up living in a room together for years and years. It’s a natural thing for us to develop individually. Individually speaking for myself, I have never been so happy than being in this band.”

At that point, one of the reporters noticed that George was wearing several buttons on his plaid jacket, and wanted to know why he was not wearing a WIN button. The button was serving as the administration’s PR campaign slogan to WIN (Whip Inflation Now) with Ford’s policies for an ailing economy. George smiled and admitted he didn’t know what a WIN button was. Once the button was explained he smiled and soft-shouted “They haven’t given me one of them yet!” Jack Ford threw back his head with laughter and offered “We’ll give him one inside.” With George following up with, “Yeah, I’ll get one on the way out.”  Closing the impromptu press conference, George said he was glad to be visiting at that period in time, “I feel good vibes from the White House,” he stated while wishing everyone “Hari Krishna” before walking away.

Reports from inside the Oval Office meeting were thin on details, but it was indicated that all the members of the entourage wore smiles,  shook hands, and held considerate conversations.  Those there described George as mellow and polite. George has labeled this point in his life as a “naughty period,” given he had been battling a re-entrance of drugs in his life, along with moving forward with a divorce from his wife Patti.

To a lesser extent, George had also been absorbing gut punches from the press who were ruthless in their reviews of his newest album Dark Horse.  Keeping the banter light and general was seemingly his strategy, as the last thing George Harrison was considering was a political debate with the President of the USA. “I didn’t ask him [Ford] about Bangladesh,” George commented afterward. “I didn’t want to bug him.”  Years later, George described his meeting the President in his autobiography, I Me Mine: “Ford was friendly. I met [Henry] Kissinger. Kissinger looked like an Arab, talked like a German, and was tanned all over, like Clark Gable.  He was a bit like Charlie Chaplin, like a Rutle.”

Upon leaving the 15-minute visit with the President, George was finally given his WIN button. George in return gave President Ford an “Om” mantra pin. “Om” in written form is the most important symbol in the Hindu religion, it serves as a sonic representation of the divine. Later that evening during his Washinton concert, George was seen wearing his WIN button on stage. There are no reports of Gerald Ford wearing his Om button.

-Steven Valvano

Photo: Billy Preston, George Harrison, Gerald Ford, Ravi Shankar, 1974 (public domain)