On this day in 1957, Elvis Presley made a down payment on the property known as Graceland. Here’s Paul Simon’s great song mythically commemorating the place, performed in Central Park.

Independent since 1969.

The Washington Monthly is nonprofit and reader-supported. Your tax-deductible gift pays for the reporting you just read.

Ed Kilgore, a contributing editor of the Washington Monthly, is a columnist for New York.