Ben Bradlee tells of polio battle, April 2005

This Week In National Press Club History

April 8, 2005: Former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, Benjamin Bradlee, speaks at a Club luncheon about his battle with polio, contracted 12 years before the development of the Salk vaccine. He is joined by Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, national chairman of the Salk Vaccine’s 50th Anniversary, and secretary of the March of Dimes.

April 9, 1970: Roberta Flack, acclaimed jazz and R&B vocalist, whose musical career began in Washington, performs at the Club. Flack is one of the many legendary entertainers to play at the Club, including Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman.

April 11, 2011: Harold Holzer, one of the world’s leading authorities on the political culture of the Civil War era and on President Abraham Lincoln, reveals how the Civil War transformed journalism, at a event co-sponsored by the History & Heritage Committee and the Book and Author Committee. It occurred on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter, which began the four-year conflict.

This Week In National Press Club History is brought to you by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s history through displays, events, panel discussions and the oral history project, which now contains interviews with about two hundred Club members and personnel.

For more information on the History & Heritage Committee’s activities, or to join the Committee, contact Gil Klein at [email protected].

Compiled by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein ([email protected]) with material from the Club’s archives, member Art Wiese and "Reliable Sources: 100 Years at the National Press Club."