Club changes constitution to admit broadcast journalists, 1948

This Week In National Press Club History

April 20, 1948: The Club’s constitution is amended to admit as active members “those whose principal work involved the gathering, writing or editing of news for dissemination by radio, television or facsimile.” In 1953 Ted Koop becomes the first broadcast journalist to be elected Club president.

April 20, 1959: Dressed in his trademark combat fatigues, Fidel Castro, victor over Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, tells a Club luncheon that he has no dictatorial ambitions. Not until 1994 does another Cuban official, National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon, appear at the Club, only to be heckled by uninvited protesters against Cuba’s authoritarian government.

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, panel discussions, events and its extensive Oral History project.

Compiled by Elizabeth Smith Brownstein ([email protected]) with material from the Club archives and Reliable Sources: 100 Years at the National Press Club.