This Week In National Press Club History: Martin Luther King Jr. becomes first African-American to speak at the Club

July 19, 1962: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the first African-American to speak at the National Press Club, just a week after his release from jail in Albany, Ga. He tells the luncheon audience about his demonstration there, and his subsequent arrest for parading “without a permit.”

July 22, 1974: Tennis champion Arthur Ashe, who broke the color barrier in U.S. professional tennis, speaks about his commitment to civil rights at a National Press Club luncheon. Eighteen years later, he focuses in a luncheon talk on media invasions of personal privacy, having recently revealed that he is ill with HIV/AIDS.

July 22, 1981:Lee Iacocca, chairman and CEO of the Chrysler Corporation, details his rescue of the company from bankruptcy during his first three years as head of the company.He explains how his corporate principles could help revive American industry.

July 24, 1973: John Swearingen, chairman of Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco) warns of the burdens of excessive federal regulations and taxes on the U.S. oil industry. A few months later, OPEC’s oil embargo brings on a global energy crisis.

This Week In National Press Club History is sponsored by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s history through lobby displays of prominent guests in its century-long history, panel discussions, events and oral histories. For more information on the Committee’s activities, or to join it, contact Chair Gilbert Klein at [email protected].