What really happened when a 1960s rock group performed at the White House at the request of the first daughter and while the President was on an overseas trip?
It was on this day, May 10, 1970 that the popular 60s rock group, The Turtles, performed at the White House. The Turtles were the favorite band of 24-year-old Tricia Nixon, and they were invited to play at a big party for Tricia at the White House.
In the 60s, there were the “good boys” and the “bad boys.” The Beatles and Herman’s Hermits were considered “good boys” while The Rolling Stones and The Animals were the “bad boys” of the British Invasion.
The Turtles were part of the “good boys” group, but their behavior at the White House on this day in 1970 would certainly have expelled them from that group. During their White House visit The Turtles did drugs, got in trouble with the Secret Service, and had one of their members hit on Lucy Baines Johnson, daughter of the previous president Lyndon Baines Johnson.
The two frontmen of The Turtles were “Flo and Eddie.” Mark Volman was Flo and Howard Kaylan was Eddie. In his autobiography, “Shell Shocked: My Life With The Turtles," Kaylan opened up about the day The Turtles performed at the White House.
The Turtles did not agree with the policies of President Richard Nixon, but the band was encouraged by their management to perform at the White House - so they did.
Upon arrival the Secret Service was doing their job and inspecting the band’s equipment when their electronic metronome accidentally turned on. When the Secret Service heard the ticking sound of the device their pulled their guns and took apart the device before giving the all-clear signal. The band was ultimately reimbursed $17 for the destruction of their metronome.
The Turtles were led to President Lincoln’s library to use as their dressing room. The band had been smoking pot at the hotel and drinking champagne, and they continued smoking pot at the White House. Kaylan admitted the band was buzzed, and here they were “roaming around the most important home in America unsupervised.”
At one point, the band set up lines of cocaine and snorted off the desk of Abrham Lincoln. As the coke went up his nose, he “wondered if this was exactly what the founding fathers had in mind. Land of the Free, indeed. Well, I felt free and on top of the world.”
The Temptations and Helen Reddy were also part of the line-up, and there were no problems with their performances. However, Mark Volman, “Flo,” was so high that he fell off the stage an estimated 5 times, and the audience seemed quite amused.
Volman was also seen trying to pick up Lucy Baines Johnson in the presence of her husband. The tense situation ended without everything getting out of control.
President Nixon was on an overseas trip at the time of the concert; and Kaylan wrote in his book, “I am absolutely positive, considering our states of mind that evening, that, I - or some other equally messed-up Turtle - would have given him an earful of our contempt and probably would have ended up in Gitmo.”
And that’s the real story behind The Turtles' performance at the White House on this day, May 10, 1970!
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