Tales from the National Press Club

A behind-the-scenes history of the organization behind the White House Correspondents’ Dinner—and the news-breakers and newsmakers who’ve been part of it.

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 not only icons from Edward R. Murrow to Bob Woodward to Helen Thomas, but every US president from Theodore Roosevelt onward, and various newsmakers who shaped American and world history.

While adapting to changes in the news media, it continues to stand for the values of journalism and press freedom in the twenty-first century. Now 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.”