1936 NPC president’s collection presented to Club archives

George Stimpson was the National Press Club President in 1936 while he was a columnist for the Houston Post. His most lasting legacy – as far as Club histories go – is the photo of him sitting next to luncheon speaker Eugene Cardinal Pacelli, the Vatican Secretary of State, who would become Pope Pius XII in 1939.

But this week, his grandniece, Julie McKeen, and her husband Garry presented the Club’s Archives with three boxes of President Stimpson’s memorabilia. In them were albums of photographs taken with prominent people during his Washington career, including House Speaker Sam Rayburn and a very young Lyndon Johnson.

But most startling is a large original cartoon by the famed newspaper cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman, the creator of the teddy bear image that spawned a zillion stuffed animals. The cartoon was done for Stimpson’s satirical newspaper distributed at his inaugural party. It shows Stimpson banging a gavel and saying, “I want you Tories to back this administration or shut up.” On the table is a paper that says “Stimpson Deal,” which Julie says refers to Stimpson’s ardent backing of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. A little Teddy bear pokes his head out from behind Stimpson’s presidential chair, saying, “Just like Teddy and FDR.”

Because of his backing of the New Deal, Stimpson was often invited to the White House, Julie said. 

Apart from newspaper reporting, Stimpson was best known nationally for a series of 10 books he wrote on information, starting with Nuggets of Knowledge (1928), Popular Questions Answered (1930), Things Worth Knowing (1932), Uncommon Knowledge (1936), What do you Know? (1942) A Book About the Bible (1945), A Book about a Thousand Things (1946) Information Roundup (1948), A Book About American History (1950),and A Book About American Politics (1952).

In poor health much of his life, Stimpson died in 1952 at the age of 55, nearly blind and suffering from diabetes and heart disease.

Stimpson had no children of his own, but Julie said her mother, Stimpson’s niece, revered him and kept much of the memorabilia from his administration. She passed it onto Julie, who organized it and labeled most of the photos. Since her children had no interest in the collection, Julie said she was pleased it would find a good home at the NPC archives.