In 1970, President Richard Nixon changed the White House Secret Service’s uniforms most dramatically.
According to Richard Reeves’ President Nixon: Alone in the White House, Nixon felt that the present uniforms were “too slovenly.” An upcoming visit by Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Great Britain was a good excuse to upgrade the uniforms.
The uniforms, inspired by ones that Nixon had seen on honor guards in Europe, featured “double-breasted white tunics, starred epaulets, gold piping, draped braid, and high plastic hats decorated with a large White House crest.”
The uniforms were roundly criticized in the press. One columnist said that they looked like old-time movie ushers’ uniforms. Another noted that the uniforms borrowed their style from “decadent European monarchies.”
In an AP January 28, 1970 article in the Colorado Spring Gazette, it was noted that each uniform cost $95 and were distributed to about 100 Secrete Service men.
Some critical comments from bystanders who caught a first public glimpse of the uniforms ranged from “Late Weimar Republic” to “They look like extras from a Lithuania movie” to “Nazi uniforms.”
The uniforms lasted 2 weeks.
What I find most striking is that one of the Secret Service guards, the one closest to the camera, is a dead-ringer for Elvis Presley. After all, Elvis did make that infamous nearly-unannounced trip to visit Nixon.
But the two dates are far apart. Prime Minister Wilson visited on January 29, 1970. Elvis visited on December 21, 1970.
