This Week in Press Club History: Guess which glamorous celebrity made her first of three Club appearances in 2005

June 22, 2005: Ashley Judd, actress, humanitarian, and political activist with a masters degree in public administration from Harvard, makes her first appearance at the National Press Club. At a Club luncheon in her role as ambassador for Youth AIDS, Judd explains the how the global initiative that generates funding for grassroots programs in 65 countries and raises awareness to help fight the spread of HIV/AIDS among the world’s most vulnerable population.

Judd, an 8th generation Kentuckian, appears again at a Club luncheon on June 9, 2010, this time warning of the dangers of mountaintop coal mining, which she describes as “the rape of Appalachia.”

She returned again on March 8, 2013, this time as a potential liberal candidate for the U.S. Senate against Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Judd expressed her long-time opposition to the Kentucky’s $4 billion coal industry, which supports nearly 20,000 jobs in the state. A few weeks later, she decides not to run.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s century-old history through lobby displays, events, panel discussions and its ambitious oral history project.

For more information about the History & Heritage Committee’s activities, or to join it, contact Chairman and past NPC president Gilbert Klein at [email protected].

And be sure to look at the committee’s on-going displays in the lobby, which feature historical Club events and appearances by many distinguished guests over the years, utilizing the Club’s expanding archives.