White House Correspondents' Association: Difference between revisions

White House Correspondents' Association

Abbreviation	WHCA
Formation	February 25, 1914; 110 years ago (1914-02-25)
Tax ID no.	52-0799067[1]
Legal status	501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[1]
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′52″N 77°03′18″W / 38.89778°N 77.05500°W / 38.89778; -77.05500
President	Tamara Keith (NPR News)[2]
Executive Director	Steven Thomma[2]
Revenue (2015)	$366,481[3]
Expenses (2015)	$311,090[3]
Employees (2015)	0[3]
Website	www.whca.press

The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor that a United States congressional committee would select which journalists could attend press conferences of President Woodrow Wilson.^[4]

The WHCA operates independently of the White House. Among the more notable issues handled by the WHCA are the credentialing process, access to the president and physical conditions in the White House press briefing rooms.^[5][6] Its most high-profile activity is the annual White House Correspondents' dinner, which is traditionally attended by the president and covered by the news media. Except for Donald Trump, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924.^[7]

The leadership of the White House Correspondents' Association includes:^[5]

• Officers
  • President: Tamara Keith, NPR
  • Vice President: Kelly O'Donnell, NBC News
  • Treasurer: Eugene Daniel, Politico
• Board members
  • Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning News
  • Doug Mills, The New York Times
  • Justin Sink, Bloomberg News
  • Karen Travers, ABC News
  • Sara Cook, CBS News
  • Jacqui Heinrich, Fox News
• Executive Director
  • Steven Thomma^[8]

The WHCA is responsible for assigned seating in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House.^[13][14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

The WHCA's annual dinner, begun in 1921,^[15] has become a Washington, D.C. tradition, and is traditionally attended by the president and vice president. Except for Donald Trump, every president has attended at least one WHCA dinner, beginning with Calvin Coolidge in 1924.^[7][4][16] The dinner is traditionally held on the evening of the last Saturday in April at the Washington Hilton.

Until 1962, the dinner was open only to men,^[17] even though WHCA's membership included women. At the urging of Helen Thomas, President John F. Kennedy refused to attend the dinner unless the ban on women was dropped.^[18]

Prior to World War II, the annual dinner featured singing between courses, a homemade movie, and an hour-long, post-dinner show with big-name performers.^[4] Since 1983, the featured speaker has usually been a comedian, with the dinner taking on the form of a comedy roast of the president and his administration.

The dinner also funds scholarships for gifted students in college journalism programs.^[19]

Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises. The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president William Howard Taft; in 1942, following the United States' entry into World War II; and in 1951, over what President Harry S. Truman called the "uncertainty of the world situation."^[20] In 1981, Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination the previous month, but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting.^[21]

During his presidency, Donald Trump did not attend the dinners in 2017, 2018, and 2019.^[22] Trump indicated that he might attend in 2019 since this dinner did not feature a comedian as the featured speaker.^[23] However, on April 5, 2019, he announced that he again would not attend, calling the dinner "so boring, and so negative," instead hosting a political rally that evening in Wisconsin.^[24][25] On April 22, Trump ordered a boycott of the dinner, with White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley assembling the agencies' chiefs of staff to issue a directive that members of the administration not attend.^[26][27] However, some members of the administration attended pre- and post-dinner parties.^[28]

The WHCD has been increasingly criticized as an example of the coziness between the White House press corps and the administration.^[29][30] The dinner has typically included a skit, either live or videotaped, by the sitting U.S. president in which he mocks himself, for the amusement of the press corps.^[29] The press corps, in turn, hobnobs with administration officials, even those who are unpopular and are not regularly cooperative with the press.^[29] Increasing scrutiny by bloggers has contributed to added public focus on this friendliness.^[29]

After the 2007 dinner, New York Times columnist Frank Rich implied that the Times would no longer participate in the dinners.^[31] Rich wrote that the dinner had become "a crystallization of the press's failures in the post-9/11 era" because it "illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows".^[31]

Other criticism has focused on the amount of money actually raised for scholarships, which has decreased over the past few years.^[19]

The dinners have drawn increasing public attention, and the guest list grows "more Hollywood".^[6] The attention given to the guest list and entertainers often overshadows the intended purpose of the dinner, which is to "acknowledge award-winners, present scholarships, and give the press and the president an evening of friendly appreciation".^[6] This has led to an atmosphere of coming to the event only to "see and be seen".^[6] This usually takes place at pre-dinner receptions and post-dinner parties hosted by various media organizations, which are often a bigger draw and can be more exclusive than the dinners themselves.^[32][33][34]

The public airings of the controversies around the dinner from the mid-2000s onward gradually focused concern about the nature of the event.^[35] While interest in the event from entertainers, journalists, and political figures was high during the Obama administration, by the period of the Trump administration, interest gradually slowed in attending, especially after President Trump announced he would not attend, nor his staff.^[36] Business related to the weekend event slowed considerably, including at hotels, high-end restaurants, salons, caterers, and limo companies. During the Trump administration, some media companies stopped hosting parties, while other of the roughly 25 events held during the three-day period gained more prominence as signs of social status.^[35] By 2019, the dinner and associated parties had returned somewhat to their previous nature as networking and media functions, with packed houses of media industry employees and Washington political figures.^[28]

After the April 30, 2022 dinner, where comedian Trevor Noah joked it would be "the nation's most distinguished superspreader event," several attendees including Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive for COVID-19.^[37] No cases of serious illness were reported as a result of the dinner.^[38]

Date	Performer(s)	Notes
May 7, 1921		[39]
May 3, 1924		President Coolidge becomes the first President to attend the dinner[40]
March 15, 1941[41]
March 14, 1942[citation needed]
February 12, 1943[41]
March 4, 1944[41]	Bob Hope, Fritz Kreisler, Gracie Fields, Pedro Vargas, Fred Waring, Elsie Janis, Ed Gardiner, Nan Merriman, Robert Merrill, and Frank Black[42]
April 28, 1945[citation needed]	Frank Sinatra, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye, and Garry Moore[43]
March 23, 1946[citation needed]	Ed Sullivan (host); featured performers included Herb Shriner, Señor Wences, Paul Draper, Larry Adler, and Sugar Chile Robinson.[44]
March 6, 1948	Spike Jones	[45]
March 14, 1949
May 1953	Bob Hope[46]
1954	Milton Berle, The Four Step Brothers,[47][48] Jaye P. Morgan, The McGuire Sisters, and Irving Berlin performed.	Berlin performed an original song, "I Still Like Ike," to honor President Eisenhower.[20]
March 1955	Duke Ellington, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Channing Pollock[49]
May 1956	James Cagney emceed; Nat King Cole, Patti Page, and Dizzy Gillespie performed.[50]
October 12, 1959[citation needed]
February 25, 1961	The Peiro Brothers (jugglers), Julie London, Dorothy Provine, Mischa Elman, and Jerome Hines[51]	[41]
April 27, 1962	Peter Sellers, Gwen Verdon, Richard Goodman, and Benny Goodman shared hosting duties.	Event opened to female correspondents for the first time.[41]
May 24, 1963	Merv Griffin emceed; Barbra Streisand performed.[52]	[41]
1964	Duke Ellington, the Smothers Brothers[20]
May 11, 1968[41]	Richard Pryor
May 3, 1969[53]	The Disneyland Golden Horseshoe Revue[54]
May 2, 1970[citation needed]	George Carlin[55][56]
May 8, 1971[57]		President Nixon was in attendance; he described the dinner as "probably the worst of this type that I have attended." He described the attendees as "a drunken group; crude, and terribly cruel."[58]
1972		President Nixon declined to attend and sent his wife, Pat Nixon, in his place.[59]
April 14, 1973		Held in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel[60]
May 4, 1974		Nixon again declined to attend;[59] Vice President Ford came in his place.[61]
May 3, 1975	Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas[62]
May 1, 1976 [63]	Bob Hope emceed and Chevy Chase performed.[64]	When President Ford rose to speak, he pretended to fumble, and began his speech with "Good evening. I'm Gerald Ford and you're not"—a reference to Chase's catchphrase from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.[64]
April 30, 1977		[41]
April 29, 1978		President Carter declined to attend, sending press secretary Jody Powell in his place.[65]
April 28, 1979		[41]
May 3, 1980
April 25, 1981
April 24, 1982		[41]
April 23, 1983	Mark Russell	Russell's stand-up bits replaces the traditional cabaret[40][41]
April 13, 1984	Rich Little[a]
April 27, 1985[67]	Mort Sahl[68]
April 17, 1986	Dick Cavett[69]
April 22, 1987[70]	Jay Leno[71]
April 21, 1988	Yakov Smirnoff[72]
April 29, 1989	Jim Morris (Bush impersonator)[73][74]	Garry Shandling made a surprise appearance.[75]
April 28, 1990	Jim Morris[76]
May 4, 1991[citation needed]	Sinbad[77]
May 8, 1992	Paula Poundstone	Poundstone was the first solo female host.[78]
May 1, 1993	Elayne Boosler[79][80]	This was the first year that the dinner was televised on C-SPAN.
April 23, 1994	Al Franken[81][82]
April 29, 1995	Conan O'Brien
May 4, 1996	Al Franken[83][84]
April 26, 1997	Jon Stewart[85][86]	Norm Macdonald delivered a Weekend Update parody.
April 25, 1998	Ray Romano
May 1, 1999	Aretha Franklin[87]	A non-comedian was chosen to host because of the recent impeachment of President Clinton.[88] NBC's Brian Williams performed a skit.
April 29, 2000	Jay Leno[89]	President Bill Clinton also mocked himself in the short film President Clinton: The Final Days, which depicted him as a lonely man closing down a nearly deserted White House, riding a bicycle, and learning about the Internet with the help of actor Mike Maronna.
April 28, 2001	Darrell Hammond
May 4, 2002	Drew Carey[90]
April 26, 2003	Ray Charles	President George W. Bush decided to eschew a comedian that year, given the recent invasion of Iraq.[91]
May 1, 2004	Jay Leno[71]
April 30, 2005	Cedric the Entertainer	First Lady Laura Bush also performed some jokes.[92][93]
April 29, 2006	Stephen Colbert[94]	Wikinews has related news: Comedians lampoon Bush at White House Correspondents' Dinner See also: Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner Colbert performed while being in character of his television satire of a right-wing cable television pundit.[95] Colbert also screened a video featuring Helen Thomas. Several of President Bush's aides and supporters walked out during Colbert's speech, and one former aide said that the President had "that look that he's ready to blow".[96] Steve Bridges also performed a Bush impersonation.[97]
April 21, 2007	Rich Little	David Letterman appeared by video with a Top 10 list of "favorite George W. Bush moments".[98]
April 26, 2008	Craig Ferguson[99]	Like his Late Late Show monologues, Ferguson appeared to go off script and started improvising new jokes. It was noted that President Bush had difficulty understanding Ferguson's Scottish accent.[100]
May 9, 2009	Wanda Sykes[101]
May 1, 2010	Jay Leno[102]	Leno hosted for the fourth time, more than any other individual in the dinner's history.[103] Leno had been chosen several weeks before his controversial Tonight Show conflict,[104] and his use of recycled jokes was noted by critics.[105]
April 30, 2011	Seth Meyers[106][107][108]	Both President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates were seen laughing at Meyers' jokes about the government's apparent inability to track down Osama bin Laden, even though they were a day away from the operation to assassinate him. President Obama and Meyers also mocked then-Celebrity Apprentice host Donald Trump's role as the face of the birther movement. Trump (who was present at the dinner) would go on to be elected President of the United States five years later in the 2016 United States presidential election. Journalists that were present at the dinner say that being mocked by President Obama and Meyers led him to decide to run for President of the United States, but Trump would later deny this, saying that he had been considering a run for the Presidency for many years prior to the dinner.[109]
April 28, 2012	Jimmy Kimmel[110][111][112]
April 27, 2013	Conan O'Brien[113][114][115]
May 3, 2014	Joel McHale[116][117]
April 25, 2015	Cecily Strong[118][119]	Keegan-Michael Key made a guest appearance as President Obama's "anger translator",[120] Luther, a recurring character from the Comedy Central show Key & Peele.[121] Head Writer: Cailean Hammacott
April 30, 2016	Larry Wilmore[122][123]	Wilmore delivered a controversial, searing routine targeting the president, elite media, lobbyists, politicians, and celebrities. At the end of the speech, Wilmore ended his set by thanking President Obama for having been the country's first black President and finished his speech by calling him "my nigga" on live television. This remark sparked controversy among the media, with some calling it disrespectful.[124]
April 29, 2017	Hasan Minhaj[125][126]	President Donald Trump did not attend the dinner.[127][128] The last time a sitting president did not attend in person was Ronald Reagan in 1981, who was recovering from an assassination attempt.[21] The Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein presented awards and spoke about the importance of the First Amendment.[128][129]
April 28, 2018	Michelle Wolf[130][131]	President Trump did not attend the dinner for the second consecutive year.[132] Instead, he sent his press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.[133] Several attendees walked out in reaction to Wolf's "brutal" comments.[134] Wolf received both praise and criticism for her monologue. The association released a rare statement regarding the monologue.[135][136][137] After the dinner, newspaper The Hill informed the WHCA that it would no longer participate in the event, saying, "In short, there's simply no reason for us to participate in something that casts our profession in a poor light. Major changes are needed to the annual event."[138][139]
April 27, 2019	Ron Chernow[140][141]	President Trump did not attend the dinner for the third consecutive year.[142] Additionally, Trump ordered some of his staff and administration members to boycott the dinner.[143] The WHCA chose historian Ron Chernow as the featured speaker instead of a comedian after Wolf's controversial set.[140]
2020	—	The dinner was originally scheduled for April 25, 2020, with comedian Kenan Thompson hosting and political entertainer and former WHCD host Hasan Minhaj as the featured entertainment.[144][145] On March 22 the dinner was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, without naming a substitute date.[146] On April 13 a new date of August 29 was announced.[147] On June 23 WHCA President Jonathan Karl announced that the dinner itself would be canceled, but that the WHCA was working on a virtual presentation format to honor award winners and scholarship recipients.[148][144] On August 14 Hasan Minhaj spoke privately via Zoom with the WHCA 2020 scholarship recipients, who also attended a private online panel discussion by three veteran Washington political reporters that day.[149][150]
2021	—	On April 14, 2021, WHCA executive director Steven Thomma announced that improvements in the pandemic situation had not been sufficient to allow the association to proceed with a large indoor event, and that no dinner would be held in 2021.[151] However, the association still intended to select recipients for its annual journalism awards and student scholarships, and announced that it planned to go ahead with the dinner the following year, on April 30, 2022.[151]
April 30, 2022	Trevor Noah[152]	The dinner was held in person for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.[152] President Joe Biden attended the dinner, making him the first president to attend the dinner since Trump boycotted the event throughout his presidency.[153]
April 29, 2023	Roy Wood Jr.[154]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2018)

Established in 1981in memory of Aldo Beckman (1934–1980), the "late Chicago Tribune Washington bureau chief, a past president of the association.... Given annually to a Washington reporter 'who personifies the journalistic excellence as well as the personal qualities exemplified by Mr. Beckman, an award-winning White House correspondent.'"^[155] Awarded for overall excellence in White House coverage.^[156]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2018)

The award was established in 1970 as the Merriman Smith Memorial Award for outstanding examples of deadline reporting.^[156] (Smith died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1970.) The award was renamed in 2022 after the WHCA determined that Smith had supported excluding Black and female journalists from membership in the National Press Club and from attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner.^[194][17]

"Honors excellence in news coverage of subjects and events of significant national or regional importance, written with fairness and objectivity. A prize of $2,500 was established by the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Newhouse Newspapers in honor of their distinguished correspondent, Edgar A. Poe."^[213] The award was discontinued after 2019.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2018)

Journalism award named in honor of Raymond Clapper (1892-1944) and given "to a journalist or team for distinguished Washington reporting."^[218] The award was presented from 1944 to 2003, usually at the WHCA dinner^[219] (although in the period 1951–1965 it was presented at the American Society of News Editors annual dinner).^[220][221]

In 2004, the award passed to the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards.^[218] Under Scripps Howard, the Washington Reporting Raymond Clapper Award was presented until 2011, at which point it was discontinued.^[222]

• Gridiron Club
• Radio and Television Correspondents' Association
• Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner
• Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner
• National Press Club
• Parliamentary Press Gallery
• List of dining events