NPC in History: Why a mug?

At the end of every National Press Club luncheon, the president presents the speaker with a “coveted National Press Club mug.” It’s been going on for as long as I have been a member, more than 33 years, and I gave out scores of them myself.

But why a mug?

I got an email last week from Club photographer Noel St. John with this question: Upon receiving the mug at a Club luncheon, Robert Wilkie, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, asked if the Club gave out more valuable gifts in the 1970s and 80s? St. John asked how long the Club had given out the mug.

The tale there is about much more than just a coffee mug. It’s wrapped up in the women’s movement and how Club tradition had to make way for the changing times.

As an all-men’s Club that invited few women to speak, the traditional gift at the end of a luncheon was an NPC tie. But in the early 1970s, not only had the Club admitted women, but it started inviting leaders of the women’s movement as it pushed for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Perhaps giving a tie to women’s activist Germaine Greer started the head scratching. But when Gloria Steinem, the editor of Ms. Magazine, spoke on Jan. 24, 1972, with Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham at the head table, the tie didn’t go over well at all.

When presented with the tie, Steinem offered to don a man’s jacket, too “and confirm your worst suspicions.”

That was the end of the tie, but what to give? The selection expanded to include a scarf, paperweight and windbreaker before settling on the mug.

I am sure every past president has a story or two about the mug. For me, it was presenting one to Mario Cuomo just after he had left the New York governorship. As I started the windup, he said, “Do I get a mug?” I replied, “Do you get a mug? Not to be missed, the National Press Club mug, which you can put pencils in, or if you don’t get a job, you can hold out on the street.” Not sure if he appreciated that.

Or when I presented one to former Education Secretary Bill Bennett, I noted this was his sixth time speaking at the Club, so now he had a complete set he could use when he hosted a brunch.

And the photo of South Africa President Nelson Mandela raising the mug right after I presented it is my favorite keepsake of my presidential year.

Noel St. John has another view of the mug.

“To friends,” he quipped, “I sometimes refer to the mug as my mistress since I photograph ‘her’ so often.”

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.

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You too can have a "coveted National Press Club mug" by purchasing one (or many) at the front desk of the Club.