Tales from the National Press Club

by Gil Klein

Overview

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the National Press Club has been the hub of Washington journalism. Started by reporters as a watering hole for late-night card games, the Club soon attracted newsmakers who shaped American and world history, from Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump. Adapting to changes in the news media, it has stood for the values of journalism and press freedom. Author, journalist and longtime member Gil Klein tells just a few of the tales that stand out in the history of the Club, which CBS commentator Eric Sevareid once called "the only hallowed place I know of that's absolutely bursting with irreverence."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467143172
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	04/27/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	713,979
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Gil Klein has been a national correspondent and a journalism educator since arriving in Washington from the Tampa Tribune in 1985 to write for the Media General News Service. He was elected National Press Club president for 1994 and worked on two previous Club histories. He is now coordinator of the University of Oklahoma's Washington journalism program and its Gaylord News Bureau and is the author of Trouble in Lafayette Square: Assassination, Protest & Murder at the White House.

Table of Contents

Foreword Michael Freedman 13

Acknowledgements 15

Preface 17

Introduction: April 1, 2019, A Day in the Life 23

1 The Founding (1908-12)

Washington 1908 29

The Club's Birth 32

Why Are We Here? 35

Where Did the Club's First President Work? 36

The Race to the North Pole 38

Theodore Roosevelt's Tall Tale/Taft Meets the Neighbors 41

2 Woodrow Wilson, The Great War and Prohibition (1913-19)

Woodrow Wilson, a Club Regular 44

Promoting the Great War 49

What Was Harris & Ewing? 52

Prohibition at the Club (Wink, Wink) 54

The Need for a Women's National Press Club 57

3 The '20s That Roared (1920-29)

Did President Harding Really Say This? 61

The Death of Harding and the Birth of Princess Alice 64

The Face That Launched Television? 66

The "Menace" of Radio 68

How the National Press Building Came to Be 69

What Did Calvin Coolidge Say When He Laid the National Press Building Cornerstone? 73

The Day Charles Lindbergh Spoke to the National Press Club 74

The President Who Dreamed of Greater Things 76

4 Franklin Roosevelt's World (1932-45)

Herbert Hoover Escapes the Great Depression 78

Franklin Roosevelt and the Club 79

What Did an Early NPC Luncheon Look like? 84

The Sound of News 86

Eleanor Roosevelt Breaks Precedence 88

The Club in the Movies 90

We Want Willkie 91

Pearl Harbor and World War II 94

The Club's Most Famous Photo 97

5 The '50s (1950-59)

Hail Fellow Well Met? 101

Did the Korean War Start-and Almost End-at the Club? 103

Integration at Last 105

Eisenhower on School Integration 109

Fide] Castro Plays the Club 111

Now That's Entertainment 113

How Khrushchev Brought the Girls Down from the Balcony 114

But What Did Khrushchev Say? 116

6 From Camelot to Watergate (1960-75)

JFK 118

What Martin Luther King Told the Club 122

The Club That Saved the World? 123

Trading Witticisms with Lyndon Johnson 126

Satchmo's Last Notes 127

Why a Mug? 130

Nixon's the One 131

The Fourth Estate Award Begins with a Bang 134

A Headline for the Ages 136

John and Yoko 137

The Greatest 138

Kissinger and the Belly Dancer 141

7 Garter to Reagan to Bush (1979-89)

How the Camp David Middle East Peace Accords Began in the Ballroom 143

The Rise of Ronald Reagan 146

The First Woman President 150

The Metamorphosis of Conan the Republican 153

The Tiny Room with the Big Legacy 155

George H.W Bush at the Club 157

Bill Clinton's Debut 158

Elizabeth Taylor 159

8 Searching for Peace and Freedom in the '90s (1989-99)

Cold War Ends in the Ballroom 162

Arafat's Moment of Optimism 165

Nelson Mandela and the Fight against Apartheid 167

Chronicling the News Revolution with Marvin Kalb 170

Something for the Kids 174

What Two Carvings Say About Press Freedom 177

The Birth of Internet "News" 179

Is It Art? Or Is It Offensive? 180

9 The Angst of the Twenty-First Century (2000-20)

George W. Bush in the 2000 Presidential Campaign 183

9/11 184

The Day the Space Shuttle Crashed into a Presidential Inaugural 185

Speaking to the Club-Remotely 187

The Club Press Conference That Launched a Campaign Icon 189

News from Outer Space 190

Trump's First "Appearance" at the Club 192

Why Was $10 Million Hanging outside the Bar? 194

Freedom of the Press 196

Trump (Fake News) Trump (Fake News) Trump 199

Index 203

About the Author 208