NPC in History: The Fourth Estate Award begins with a bang

With the National Press Club's Fourth Estate Award presentation coming up next week in the middle of a major special prosecutor investigation, now is the time to talk about the origin of the award and the strange events that surrounded the evening when it was presented for the first time.

The Fourth Estate was promoted by Club President Don Larrabee of the Griffin-Larrabee News Service, who wanted the Club to create a lifetime achievement award to honor those journalists who had contributed the most to the profession throughout their careers.

CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite was the first recipient. It is hard to imagine now how much influence one newsman could have. Known affectionately as “Uncle Walter,” he was considered one of the most trusted people in America. When in 1968 he went to Vietnam and came back to give an editorial questioning whether the war could be won, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”

The dinner honoring Cronkite was scheduled for Oct. 20, 1973.

Earlier on that Saturday, at the height of the Watergate investigation, Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox held a tense press conference at the Club, demanding that President Richard Nixon turn over secretly recorded tapes from the Oval Office, refusing a White House’s ultimatum and saying he would not resign.

That was where the issue was supposed to sit until Monday morning, but as the Fourth Estate festivities began, news was breaking.

As he prepared to make the presentation, Larrabee announced to the audience of journalists that “President Nixon refused tonight to turn over Watergate-related tapes to Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox but said with greatest reluctance he would prepare a summary of their contents to be verified by Democratic Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi.”

Accepting the award, Cronkite spoke of the importance of stripping away veils of secrecy in government, business, labor, lobbies, trade associations and the press itself. He said the press faced efforts to undermine its protection of news sources. The news media, he said, shoulders heavy responsibilities.

“Perhaps the greatest of these responsibilities is that of a sort of leadership by default in restoring to this nation a respect for honesty, integrity, candor -– belief in those things -– and credibility for our institutions.”

As Cronkite later told the tale, he noticed people darting in and out of the of the room while he was talking. Word spread through the audience that Nixon had ordered Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire Cox. When Richardson resigned in protest, Nixon told Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. He refused, and Nixon fired Ruckelshaus. Nixon then turned to Solicitor General Robert Bork, who fired Cox.

It became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” and it was Nixon’s undoing as the Watergate scandal swung out of the president’s control.

As the Club next week honors two journalists -- Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron and New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet –- who have been leading the newsrooms that have done so much to hold President Donald Trump’s feet to the fire, the president is threatening to fire Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor investigating Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election.

Where that will stand at the end of the Fourth Estate Award dinner on Thursday, Nov. 29, is anyone’s guess. But the words Cronkite said on that tumultuous evening –- that the press must play a leadership role in restoring honesty, integrity and candor to the government –- is just as relevant today.

This is another in a series provided by Club historian Gil Klein. Dig down anywhere in the 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