This Week In National Press Club History

March 12, 1908: The first meeting to establish the National Press Club is held at 4:30 p.m. in the Brentano Building at 12th and F Streets N.W. Thirty-two eager newspapermen gather in a room lent by the Washington Chamber of Commerce, with a kitty of $300, quite a sum in those days, considering that many reporters worked for fifteen or eighteen dollars a week. Just a few days later, a second meeting is held in the F Street Parlor at the New Willard Hotel, and the Club is on its way to becoming the world’s largest, most prestigious club run by journalists, now more than a century old.

March 13, 1985: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appears at a National Press Club luncheon, joining the ranks of Middle Eastern leaders to address the Club, including King Hussein of Jordan in 1970 and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1978.

March 14, 1963: Movie maker Alfred Hitchcock appears at a National Press Club luncheon to promote his new movie “The Birds,” noting that the first decision he made was to eliminate the word “For” from the title, and that there were more feathers in the movie since fan dancing went out of style. He confesses that homicide is a subject dear to him.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee. Its role is to preserve and revitalize the Club’s history through panel discussions, lobby displays of prominent guests from many professions, special events and an oral history project.

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