The President, The PM & The King

President Bush And Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Are On Their Way To Graceland

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller

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President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi have made it to Graceland.

It's a presidential first as Mr. Bush accompanies Koizumi on a pilgrimage to the estate in Memphis that was home to rock ’n’ roll legend Elvis Presley.

Koizumi is an unabashed Elvis fan. He shares a Jan. 8th birthday with the late singer and once put out a charity record album titled: “Junichiro Koizumi Presents My Favorite Elvis Songs.” No kidding!

Mr. Bush, who calls Koizumi “one of my best buddies in international politics” is so tickled by Koizumi’s affection for Elvis and his music that he mentioned it more than 20 times during the ’04 re-election.

“Laura and I are very fond of him,” said Mr. Bush at a campaign event in Paradise Valley, Arizona. “He's an interesting, interesting man. His favorite singer is Elvis ... pretty unusual.”

No question about that.

Even more interesting are the connections that other American presidents had to Elvis.

Perhaps more than any other president, Bill Clinton felt a certain kinship to Presley. They were both sons of the South who rose from very humble beginnings.

But only one President claimed to have been a relative of Elvis.

“Elvis is kin to me on my mother's side,” Jimmy Carter once boasted. “Our families came from Union County, North Carolina, and Elvis is my cousin.”

Mr. Carter said that when Elvis would come to Atlanta, “we would visit with him (and) obviously attend his concerts.”