This Month in National Press Club history
Dip down anywhere in the National Press Club’s 117-year history and we find remarkable stories about events at our Club that contributed to American, world and social history. The Club’s History and Heritage team is highlighting just a few each month so our members can appreciate the role the Club has played for well over a century as the place where news happens. Here are a few from May.
Donald Trump with Club President Myron Belkind in 2014.
May 29, 1941 Gen. George C. Marshall, then the U.S. Army wartime chief of staff, made his first address to the Club. He would build and direct the largest army in history during World War II. Later he became Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. He returned to the Club to speak on March 28, 1946 as retired Army Chief of Staff whom President Truman had appointed special envoy to China. He returned as Secretary of State on Feb. 4, 1948.
May 26, 1992 Tennis great Arthur Ashe spoke at the Club, but the topic was not tennis. The previous month after a story appeared in USA Today, he had held a news conference to announce he carried the HIV virus, although he had known for three years that he had contracted the virus through a blood transfusion for an operation. That set off a controversy in the media between those who felt his medical status was a personal issue and those who felt his status as a public figure mandated publicizing it.
May 12 1994 South Korean statesman Kim Dae Jung spoke as a crisis on North Korean nuclear capability was rising. Kim suggested three things: President Clinton should invite North Korean leader Kim Il Sung to come to Washington; Clinton should name former President Carter as a special envoy to North Korea; and the Press Club should invite Kim Il Sung to speak. As Club President, Gil Klein said he would be pleased to invite Kim Il Sung, much to the consternation of the South Korean embassy. Kim Il Sung turned down the invitation and died shortly thereafter. But Carter was appointed and was able to defuse the crisis before then.
Kim Dae Jung wrote the Club: “Had Kim Il Sung died before President Carter’s visit, the entire free world would have been in great confusion and anxiety about the future course of United States-North Korea disputes. In that sense, the National Press Club made a great contribution toward a peaceful resolution of the disputes.” He went on to be elected South Korean president and win the Nobel Peace Prize.
May 23, 2000 As he was running for president the first time, Texas Gov. George W. Bush held a press conference at the Club accompanied by the leading lights of Republican defense policy – Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Brent Scowcroft and Donald Rumsfeld. He focused on reducing nuclear weapons and criticized President Clinton for missing a chance to work with the Russians to bring nuclear credibility up to date with the end of the Cold War. He proposed a missile defense system to guard against nuclear attacks by “rogue states and terrorists.” “The Cold War is history,” he said. “Our nation must recognize new threats, not fixate on old ones.”
May 14 2014 Donald Trump addressed the Club ostensibly to talk about the opening of his hotel in the Old Post Office Building that would become the Trump International Hotel in 2016. In the Q&A session, Club President Myron Belkind asked him about running for president. “If I don’t see the right person, I will do something in ’16,” he said. “I will do it as sure as you’re sitting here.” He also boasted of his relationship with Vladimir Putin that he said began in 2013 during his trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe Contest. After Trump was elected president, amid speculation of Putin’s role in the election, he said during a news briefing he had not spoken to Putin in 10 years. Belkind made sure a clip from this luncheon of Trump saying otherwise was widely circulated.