This Week in National Press Club History

Nov. 26, 2012: The “Life, Legacy and Values of Nelson Mandela” are the subject of a National Press Club evening program, which features excerpts from Mandela’s 1994 speech to the Club during his first visit to the United States as president of South Africa, after emerging from decades in prison. South African Ambassador Ebraham Rasool cites Mandela’s refusal to give in to vengeance as a lesson for the world where extremists are creating turmoil that could be allayed by following Mandela’s example of seeking reconciliation.

Nov. 30, 2009: H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco appears at a sold-out luncheon and addresses “the greatest challenge of our time, the protection of our planet.” Environmental concerns, he argued, are alarmingly bigger than when his great-great grandfather, Albert I, spoke at the Club in October 1913, and the foundation Albert II established three years ago has a three-fold mission: “to fight the effects of climate change, to protect biodiversity, and preserve water resources.”

Inevitably, when asked to identify the favorite film of his mother Princess Grace, the actress Grace Kelly, he responded, “I would have to go with “Rear Window.” It has a great story, and an incredible quality to it. The relationship in the movie between Jimmy Stewart and my mom was simple magical.”

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

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