This, the 58th Presidential inauguration sees the tightest security in history for the events of President Trump’s big day. Although even more tight-lipped than usual The Secret Service must be overjoyed to see that it will be a chilly, rainy, generally miserable day which should dampen protests somewhat and reduce the crowds.
Lockdown of Washington D.C.
A week ago I was notified that even to enter the Press Building (two blocks from The White House) I needed to be on a special list and present my membership card and photo ID if I wanted to join fellow journalists in club on the top floors for the traditional celebration.
The entire National Press Building will go on lockdown today at 3 p.m.
The normal procedure to enter the club is just to walk into the ground floor shops area and take the special elevator to the top two floors where the club is located. There is security at the entrance to the club itself but just showing your membership card (if you aren't there often enough to be a regular) is all that's needed. The club Archives is located on a lower floor and is open to the public.
Jaded as we members of the press are about washington, we still like to get together for a few drinks and talk every four years on inauguration day but this year I won’t be there in large part because it will be so difficult for a disabled person to navigate the extreme security being imposed on the city in general and the area along Pennsylvania Ave.
in particular.
Press Club
Until Eisenhower presidents tended to hang out at The National Press Club when they felt the urge to get out of The White House. In fact, there was a famous upright piano in the club where an even more famous photograph of then Vice President Truman playing and Lauren Bacall sitting on top showing her spectacular legs.
That was during one of the regular wartime canteens and the Vice President was playing for an audience of approximately 800 servicemen.
The regular Saturday afternoon canteens were held at the Press Club because American Legion Post 20 was founded at the Press Club one year after the WWI Armistice Day.
Bess was apparently less than pleased when the photograph appeared in the May 17 issue of Life Magazine and rapidly became one of the most published photographs in the world.
The refurbished piano is still there in the club, is a copy of the photo. Where else but in The Truman Lounge.
Events this week
Despite the fact that the club began admitting women as members decades ago, it’s not likely that we’ll be seeing Ivanka around the club during the next four years unless she is a guest speaker at one of the regular lunches. Membership in the club isn't limited to the press but is open to government officials and other movers and shakers in Washington.
Neither Ivanka nor The Donaldwill probably be missed when my fellow members join in the Reliable Sources bar January 20 to drown their sorrows or, more likely celebrate the potential for great stories during the next four years.
Perhaps ironically, perhaps appropriately this morning the only scheduled press conference at the club will be with The Faith Leaders of America, in the Bloomberg Room.
Not quite as stuffy as the many social gatherings in Washington society, Press Club members live it up these days with a regular Taco night.
(Note: this reporter has been a member of The National Press Club for 37+ years.)
