This Week in National Press History: Club hosts Richard Hottelet, John Denver, Stephen Ambrose

Aug. 10, 2011: Richard C. Hottelet, last surviving member of the famed “Murrow Boys” of CBS News, gives perhaps the shortest speech in Club history on accepting the presidential citation at the Club Awards night. “I have just one thing to say. I tried.”

Aug. 12, 1981: Singer-songwriter John Denver appears at a Newsmaker event to discuss world hunger and environmental issues. He is one of the many personalities, including Audrey Hepburn, Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton and Leonard Bernstein, who come to the Club on behalf of critical global problems.

Aug. 12, 2014: The National Press Club mourns the death of actress Lauren Bacall, whose photo perched on top of the Club piano as then-Vice-President Harry Truman plays along in 1945 at the Club’s World War II canteen, is mentioned in obituaries.

Aug.15, 1935: Will Rogers, beloved American humorist and National Press Club member, dies in a plane crash after taking off from Barrow, Alaska, with test pilot Wiley Post. Rogers once saved the Club from a potentially embarrassing disagreement at the inauguration of new NPC president Eugene Leggett by taking over the microphone and shouting, “Folks, if you ever want to see anything funny, just take a couple hundred newspaper men and dress ‘em up. They look downright comical.” The event then proceeded as planned.

Aug. 15, 2001: Historian and biographer Stephen Ambrose appears at the Club’s Book Rap to talk about his latest (and 21st) book "The Wild Blue," the story of the men and boys who flew B-24s over Germany during World War II in 1944 and 1945.

This Week In National Press Club History is sponsored by the History & Heritage Committee, which preserves and revitalizes the Club’s history with lobby displays, events, panel discussions, and oral histories. For more information on the Committee’s activities and plans, or to join it, contact Chair Gilbert Klein at [email protected].