Belly dancer highlights Kissinger valedictory speech at Club, 1977

This Week In National Press Club History

January 6, 1977: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gives his valedictory address before a capacity crowd at a National Press Club luncheon. Without informing Kissinger's retinue, outgoing Club President Robert Alden had arranged for a well-known area belly dancer -- a school teacher by day, “Shadia” by night -- to perform before his speech, knowing that he had been photographed in Cairo at a similar performance with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Kissinger was delighted and informs Alden later that this was the “perfect ending” to his tenure as chief foreign policy adviser to President Richard Nixon and President Gerald Ford.

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

For information about the activities of the committee or to join it, contact Gilbert Klein at [email protected].

And to learn more about the Club’s history as the world’s largest, most prestigious club run by journalists, visit the Club’s website.

Compiled by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein ([email protected]) with material from the Club’s archives, Reliable Sources: 100 Years at the National Press Club, and former Club president Robert Alden.