This Week in Press Club History: Chief Justice Warren administers oath to Club president

This week in National Press Club History: Jan. 26, 1915: Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan makes the first transcontinental phone call for the Bell Telephone Company from the Press Club’s lounge.

Jan. 26, 1938: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt joins the Women’s National Press Club.

Jan. 30, 1960: Comedian Bob Hope, actress Maureen O’Hara, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon attend the swearing in of Club President Ed Edstrom of the Hearst Newspapers. Edstrom is sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Edstrom is accused of owing 10 cents on his Club account, and Nixon produces the dime, which he says he borrowed from presidential rival John F. Kennedy. Bob Hope jokes that Nixon’s campaign is so sure he’ll win they are building a log cabin he was born in.

Jan. 28, 1961: President Kennedy receives his Club membership card from Club president John Cosgrove. Kennedy is the last U.S. president to pay dues to the Club.

Jan. 27, 1964: Sen. Margaret Chase Smith, R-Maine, announces her candidacy for U.S. president at the Women’s National Press Club.

Jan. 27, 1968: President Lyndon Baines Johnson is a surprise guest at the inaugural ball of Club President Allan Cromley of the Daily Oklahoman. President Johnson receives his Club membership card and reviews the latest wire reports from the United Press International and Associated Press teletype machines near the main lounge.

Jan. 29, 1971: Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, legendary jazz trumpeter and singer, performs with trombonist Tyree Glenn at the inauguration of fellow New Orleans native Vernon Louviere, the 64th Club president. One of Armstrong’s last public performances , it is recorded and distributed by the Club as a limited edition album. It is re-released by the Club, Smithsonian Folkways and the Louis Armstrong Foundation in 2012.

Jan. 28, 2000: Marcel Marceau, the world’s most-famous pantomime, speaks at a Club Luncheon. Tracing his art to ancient Greece, he tells the audience that both he and the Club have the same dream for the world: truth, a positive spirit and integrity.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the NPC's History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s history through revolving lobby displays, panel discussions, events and an oral-history project.

For more information about the Committee and its activities or to join it, contact Chair Gilbert Klein at [email protected].