The day Charles Lindbergh spoke to the National Press Club

This is the fourth in a series provided by Club historian Gil Klein.

Dig down anywhere in the National Press Club’s 110-year-history, and you will find some kind of significant event in the history of the world, the nation, Washington and the Club itself. Many of these events were caught in illustrations that tell the stories.

June 11, 1927, was an incredible day – in American history, Washington history, broadcasting history and Club history. It was the day that Charles Lindbergh arrived home from Europe after his death-defying solo flight across the Atlantic.

The U.S. Navy light cruiser Memphis, carrying Lindbergh and his plane, the “Spirit of St. Louis,” was accompanied by four naval destroyers, 88 airplanes, two giant dirigibles and a fleet of private boats as it arrived at the Washington Naval Yard on a hot, clear morning. A 21-gun salute greeted the aviation hero to the accompaniment of factory whistles and church bells.

The largest crowds ever seen in Washington up until that date lined the streets and surrounded the Washington Monument where Lindbergh was greeted by President Coolidge, who presented him with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Narrating all this was radio broadcaster Graham McNamee, who was himself making history. For the first time ever, a broadcast was heard simultaneously on 50 radio stations across the country linked by the National Broadcasting Co. (NBC), the world’s first radio network.

“Here comes the boy!” McNamee cried as Lindbergh appeared on the deck of the Memphis to an estimated 30 million listeners. “He stands quiet, unassuming … He looks very serious and awfully nice. A darn nice boy.”

As writer Bill Bryson wrote in his book, “One Summer: America 1927,” “Lindbergh Day in Washington was in many ways the day that radio came of age.”

The National Press Club had captured the honor of hosting a reception for Lindbergh that evening. So many people were expected that the Club’s home at the top of the Albee Building on 15th Street could not possibly hold it.

The event was moved to the auditorium at the Chamber of Commerce of the United States on Lafayette Square. The evening is remembered in the surviving ticket pictured here. (M.N.G. stood for Missouri National Guard).

Club President Lewis Ludlow of the Columbus Dispatch spared no purple prose in his introduction of Lindbergh. He ended:

“His name is now among the immortals. Around the firesides and in the vast, crowded halls of the future, wherever worth is recognized and genius is extolled, his achievement will be recalled with pride by countless generations yet unborn. Nothing finer could have been done; nothing grander could have been done; no greater epic could have been written into history, and tonight we thank Almighty God that in His infinite goodness and mercy He has permitted Charles A. Lindbergh to return to the arms of those who love him.”