The National Press Club Luncheon Speaker Series began in 1932 with a speech by President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Press Club hosts an average of 70 luncheons a year as an opportunity for world leaders, newsmakers and prominent figures in the realms of finance and culture.
August 19, 2005 · Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, speaks about reforming Medicaid at the National Press Club. Gingrich proposes a new model for the program "that maximizes Americans' ability to live as long as possible, as healthily as possible, with the highest possible quality of life at the lowest possible cost."
August 2, 2005 · Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley talks about homeland security and presents his suggestions for protecting major metropolitan U.S. areas, in a speech at the National Press Club.
July 28, 2005 · Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services gives an address at the National Press Club as Medicare prepares to turn 40. "We are aiming higher than the support for dignity in old age called for 40 years ago. We are aiming for -- and often getting -- much longer, healthier lives."
July 31, 2005 · Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-NY) gives a speech titled "Modesty and Stability on The Bench: How John Roberts Can Convince Democrats to Vote for Him" at the National Press Club.
July 20, 2005 · Dr. Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India, gives an address to the National Press Club about the growth of the Indian economy and the interdependence of the United States and India.
July 6, 2005 · Gov. Mark Warner, (D-VA) spoke to the National Press Club about the changing role of the National Guard and Reserves programs. In his speech Warner cautioned against turning the Guard "into full-time soldier citizens."
July 11, 2005 · Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop of Washington, speaks to the National Press Club about the selection of Pope Benedict XVI and what it means for the direction of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and around the world.
May 24, 2005 · PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell speaks to the National Press Club amid recent efforts by Kenneth Tomlinson, chairman for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- which subsidizes PBS and NPR stations -- to address what he says is a liberal bias in public broadcasting.
May 20, 2005 · Attorney General Alberto Gonzales addresses the Department of Justice's recent crackdown on child pornography and human trafficking as well as his take on the president's stalled judicial nominees and the implementation of the Patriot Act.
May 19, 2005 · Burt Rutan, founder and chief executive of the Mojave, Calif.-based aerospace research company Scaled Composites, made international headlines as the designer/developer of SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately built manned spacecraft to reach space. He addresses the topic "Space for the Rest of Us."
May 13, 2005 · Wangari Muta Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, speaks to the National Press Club about the linkage between the environment, democracy and peace. In the 1970s Maathai opened an agency in Kenya, The Green Belt Movement, which enabled poor people to earn a rudimentary living by planting trees and shrubs.
April 26, 2005 · As the Senate Finance Committee holds the first Senate hearing on President Bush's Social Security plan, Sen. Barack Obama addresses the National Press Club on the topic of Social Security and its future. Obama is introduced by James Roosevelt, grandson of Franklin Roosevelt.
April 20, 2005 · U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson talks to the National Press Club about how the agency is working to provide health care and other benifits to veterans. Nicholson is a former Republican National Committee chairman and ambassador to the Vatican.
April 10, 2005 · Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post speaks to the National Press Club about his battle with polio. Bradlee is joined by Anne Eleanor Roosevelt, national chair of the Salk vaccine 50th anniversary, and secretary of the March of Dimes board of trustees.
March 15, 2005 · Mark Everson, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, speaks to the National Press Club about IRS enforcement efforts. A survey by the IRS Oversight Board in 2003 found that 17 percent of Americans believed that it is acceptable to cheat on their taxes.
Transcripts, audio and videotapes of National Press Club luncheon speakers are available for purchase from Federal News Service at 1-888-343-1940.
