This week in National Press Club history

Nov. 17, 1988: Tom Clancy, author of globally popular thrillers, signs copies of his novel The Cardinal of the Kremlin, during the National Press Club’s annual Book Fair and Author Night. The 38th event takes place this week.

Nov. 19, 1919: Club members returning from World War I service founded American Legion Post 20. The Post remains active today, recently featuring speakers including Doug Franz, assistant secretary of state, on press freedom issues; Jessie Jane Duff, retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, advocate for veterans concerns; and P.W. Singer, author of Ghost Fleet, a futuristic thriller about the next world war.

Nov. 20, 1975: Ronald Reagan announces his first bid for the presidency at a press conference in the Club’s ballroom. Just hours earlier, he had informed President Ford that he intended to challenge his renomination in the Republican primaries. Reagan loses the nomination to Ford, but four years later he is elected president.

Nov. 20, 1997: Placido Domingo, general director of the Washington National Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, and internationally acclaimed operatic tenor, makes the first of several speeches Club luncheon. Beverly Sills and Luciano Pavarotti are other opera stars to appear at the Club.

Nov. 21, 1995: Wynton Marsalis, jazz trumpeter and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, speaks at a Club luncheon.

This Week In National Press Club History is presented by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s century-plus history with lobby displays, events, panel discussions and oral histories. For more information on the committee’s activities, or to join it, contact Chair Gil Klein at [email protected]