This Week In National Press Club History: Women's Press Club admits men; Carter announces

DEC. 8, 1970: The Women’s National Press Club votes 113 to 6 to admit men and changes its name to the Washington Press Club. Just a few weeks later, on Jan.15, 1971, the National Press Club votes 227 to 56 to admit women to membership.

DEC. 10, 1986: James Baldwin, novelist, essayist, playwright, poet and social critic, addresses a National Press Club luncheon, arguing that white people are trapped in a history they don’t understand, and that Americans are mistaken in our worship of innocence.

DEC. 12, 1974: Jimmy Carter announces his candidacy for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination at the National Press Club, describing himself as “a farmer, an engineer, a businessman, a planner, a scientist, a governor and a Christian.” He claims that America’s “great dreams still live within the collective heart of our nation.” But, he argues, our “commitment to these dreams has been sapped by debilitating compromise, acceptance of mediocrity, subservience to special interests and an absence of executive vision and direction.” Carter becomes the 39th president, the first president from the Deep South since before the Civil War and is defeated by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.

This Week In National Press Club History is sponsored by the History & Heritage Committee, which actively preserves and revitalizes the Club’s amazing history through lobby displays of distinguished speakers, special events, panel discussions and oral histories. For more information about the committee’s activities, or to join it, contact Chair Gilbert Klein at [email protected]