National Press Club in History: Bill Clinton's Club debut

This is the third 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.

When I was chairman of the Club’s Speakers Committee in 1987, I was asked to extend an invitation to the governor of Arkansas. The governor of Arkansas? I thought. Who would come to that? But he was chair of the National Governor’s Association, so I invited Gov. Bill Clinton to speak.

Sure enough, the Luncheon drew a small crowd, and it was held in what was then called The Main Lounge, now the Holeman Lounge. But what I like about this photo, taken by then-Club photographer Martin Kuhn. is that it shows the dynamism of the up-and-coming future presidential aspirant.

That’s me to the right of Clinton, and doing the honors that day was Tom Squitieri, the Club’s vice president and a reporter with the Lowell Sun. He is in glasses to Clinton’s left.

After the luncheon, a Little Rock, Ark., TV news team approached me and asked if I thought the governor was presidential timber. I drew on my 18 months experience as a national correspondent and pontificated: “It will be a long time before this nation elects another governor from a small Southern state.”

And it was. Five whole years.