This week in National Press Club history: For first time, broadcaster gets Fourth Estate Award

This Week In National Press Club History:

Oct. 15, 2010: Bob Schieffer, longtime host of CBS’s “Face The Nation,” receives the National Press Club’s 38th Fourth Estate Award. In April 1948, the Club’s constitution had been amended to admit broadcast journalists to membership, and Schieffer is one of 11 broadcast journalists to receive the Club’s highest honor, beginning in 1973 with Walter Cronkite of CBS News. Later recipients were, Brian Lamb, founder of C-Span, Christiane Amanpour of CNN, Eric Sevareid of CBS News and David Brinkley of ABC News. Andrea Mitchell, NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, received the award this year.

Oct. 17, 2008: John Cosgrove, National Press Club President in 1961 and longtime Club activist, receives its first President’s Award of Distinction. President Sylvia Smith explains that he was chosen by the Board of Governors for his 62 years of service to the Club and his love of the organization.

Oct. 19, 1993: Stephen King, best-selling horror storyteller, including “Carrie” and “The Shining,” speaks to a luncheon crowd about literature in contemporary America. He had declined an invitation to appear on Halloween, explaining that he did not want to be stereotyped, and he expressed amazement that the luncheon was taking place on the 13th floor. “I have some concerns about that,” he confessed, listing some of his precautions against involvement with monsters and other scary creatures.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s exciting century-long history with lobby displays, panel discussions, events and its oral history project. The latter now contains over 200 interviews with key Club members and personnel, and are available to researchers in the Club’s archives.

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

For more on the Club’s history, visit our new Time Line on the NPC website at about/history.