In the context of war, this is what happens. You normalize the situation so you can live through it. If you dont, you die. One of a 41 unique voices from 25 years of our footnotes and conversations. Sundays at eight. Now available at your favorite bookseller. Off andthe women went became these incredible successes, not only would they be the first women stockholders in the world to own a brokerage firm, not to be repeated for 100 years they had a radical newspaper. They became lecturers. They spoke to 6000 people. They were celebrities. They had headlines with just their names. They were really very famous based on their beginnings with vanderbilt. And the family just kept threatening them with blackmail. Were going to expose you. The mother started this ridiculous court trial. Victorias thenhsband thenhusband wanted to put her in an insane asylum or kill her. The sisters had been trying very hard for two years to hide all that, and they were inventing and reinventing themselves. They were not the least bit educated. They said they were. What help them move on forward, they were willing to wreck their whole life just to get back in the fold. They had some really rotten characters in the family, which i address. Two little remembered victorian sisters change the course of womens writes in american history. Tonight at 8 00 on cspans q a. On the next washington look at the upcoming midterm elections. Our guest is nathan gonzales. On taxonversation credits that benefit large corporations. We will talk to david kautter. Your Facebook Comments and tweets, every day on cspan at 7 00 a. M. Eastern. The head of the u. S. Air force pacific command, general hawk carlyle, speaks tomorrow at the center for strategic and International Studies about u. S. Military strategy in the asiapacific region. See his remarks live on cspan at 11 15 a. M. Eastern. In the afternoon, a discussion on russell russias intervention in ukraine, u. S. Response, and role of nato. You can see it at 1 30 eastern on monday afternoon here on cspan. For over 35 years, cspan brings Public Affairs events from washington directly to you. Putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, briefings, and conferences. Offering complete, gavel to gavel coverage of the u. S. House, all as a Public Service of private industry. Cspan, created by the cable tv industry 35 years ago and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch as in hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. The White House Correspondents Association held its annual dinner last night. President obama and Comedian Joel Mchale spoke to the gathering. First, we will hear from the reporter who has the White House Correspondents Association. [applause] thank you. Now, i want to talk for just a minute about the video we are going to show. Over the years we have had a lot of very funny videos at this dinner. They have all been a lot of fun. Because it was our centennial, i made a different choice. Abouted to have a video us, the White House Correspondents. Unfortunately, i had a grand vision to do a lot and i found out it would be more expensive than i had hoped, and it would take a lot of money out of our scholarship fund. We did not want to do that. Woman from the a e network, eager to talk to us about our scholarships. We met with her. I found her very interesting. At the end of the night i said, you own the history channel. I asked them if they would do a video about our Correspondents Association, the history of the presidency and the press, and they were very kind to do it. Id like to show you that video. [applause] said, as jefferson once government without a tough and vibrant media of all sorts is not an option for the u. S. They are the watchdogs, the historians, the daily observers of the white house. An unofficial assembly of journalists assigned to watch with clear eyes and breaking news. They are the White House Correspondents Association. Do you have an extra camera in case the lights go out . The Founding Fathers wrote this job into the constitution. Freedom of press is in there for a reason. I have been having a wonderful time. Both houses of congress have been having a wonderful time. During during principal remains that we exist to keep the eyes of a free press on the government and the president. Sometimes you dont like the decisions i make. Our role is very much on the ground. I view the association as the shop steward for correspondence. We deal with a lot of logistics. We are the ones working on who has a seat in the briefing room, who is in the press pool at the oval office, in the motorcade, on the plane. One of the great things about our job is being there when history is being made. The evolution of the presidency has gone handinhand with the evolution of the White House Press association and the relationship of the press to all attacks are at the White House Correspondents perform a Vital Service in letting folks know what the white house is all about. Im not taking any more questions. Iowas try to put myself in their position. To have a difficult job to do. Nd they need a new story president , theew relationship is changing. There is an unchanging quest for the Correspondents Association. Access. We have to continue to press for those doors and windows to remain open so you can see the account of history from an unbiased view. We are not from this period, where there is a big contest between people who believe in the Free Exchange of ideas and freedom of press and the freedom to argue back. Her andt go back to more polarized world where somebody puts the hammer down a more polarized world where somebody puts the hammer down. People have to be informed during niforinformed. There will always be government that tries to be a little bit more insulated. Its important to push back on that. The Correspondents Association is a good form for reminding all reporters that they also work for the public. They also have a responsibility to the American People. Press is an institutional part of the white house, and it should always be an institutional part. The best moment was when the press conference ended. Struggles many of the inside the beltway, this one started as a turf battle in 1914 on capitol hill. All the press conferences in those days were dominated by the violence in mexico, mexican revolution. There was no controls on who attended those press conferences. Congress tried to move in on the white house. The ones toed to be help Woodrow Wilson start having regular press conferences. A select group of journalists was formed. Looking back 100 years and seeing the pictures, its amazing how things have evolved. The organization was started by a group of white men. Not women, not minorities. Freckle roosevelt was the first president to allow a black White House Correspondent into the president ial press conference. Journalist Terry Mcalpine broke down the barriers of inequality, becoming the first africanamerican White House Correspondent. Honor that the Correspondents Association has established the harry mess harry mcalphine scholarship. We always had women members. The general attitude was that this was a stag affair. Women journalists were not part of the boys club. It was not until three women reporters, including helen thomas, went to john f. Kennedy and said, you we would like you to help us get to this dinner. Said, tell them im not attending the dinner next year unless women are invited. All of a sudden it changed. How did it change . We do nothing but body jokes now. Three hillarys . That sounds like clintons worst nightmare. While 99 of the correspondents job is working the beat, there is one night a year when serious washington can make fun of itself. The White House Correspondents dinner. We started the dinner in the 20s. It was not televised and did not have celebrities. We would have animal acts or jugglers. There would be somebody doing, i wish i were there, animal impressions. I was toying with the idea of having a juggler. What is the key to navigating the icy and sometimes treacherous waters of washington humor . Winging it. Improvise a lot. Just see what happens. There is three models. People who do the politics and get it right trade that is rare. Is there anyone im excited to roast tonight . Ibo go into politics and get it wrong. People go into politics and get it wrong. Than there are people who just avoid politics like the plague. M i a political guy . Yes. Thats why i work with the e network. Youre supposed to keep it clean and selfdeprecating. In 1945, you had frank sinatra. This year, its me. Did you know that the president will be there . Yes. Of the United States. Hes opening for you. Is the place where a president can bring down the house, getting as good as he gets. Known as the prom of washington, d. C. President s think, this is a chance to make fun of the press. Thats not what you do. You going make fun of yourself. You have got to show them you can take it. Easy to do standup comedy at one of these dinners. Jay leno is here. Totogether, we give hope grayhaired, chunky baby boomers everywhere. We want people to be teased. Washington can use a little teasing. Theyll make fun of the press. They cannot take it. They dont want to hear it. Laughter aside, the first and foremost mission of the Correspondents Association dinner is to promote journalism, education through the scholarship fund. Your attendance tonight allows us to give back to these students. We appreciate it. Ands this dinner has grown grown over the years, it has generated more revenue for this very important scholarship. The main reason we are there is for the scholarships and to help these young people. They are all remarkable, talented folks full of energy, and the kind of people you want to see going into journalism. Having Something Like this scholarship give some hope to say, there is something i can go to. Tremendousuch a honor. Im really thankful to them for the scholarship and that experience. There is still a future in journalism. There will still be a need for people to cover the white house and government. I hope it will be around for another 100 years. Twitter or thes typewriter, the Correspondents Association continues to blueprints message. Deliver its message. Sending off the news in an ever changing media landscape. Year in and year out, we have dealt with a lot of changes. We have seen the start of radio, the advent of television. We have seen the internet as a tool. A the white house had telephone system that had been there since president carter. Social media has exploded in the last four or five years. One thing i often like to say is that speed kills. We are racing faster and faster to get raw information in front of the public. Reporters are under such stress and pressure from their editors to get it first. Reporters cannot be as thorough as they used to be. From the point of view of the reader, the main thing is, is it accurate . We are dealing with multiple time zones. Everything is in real time. The question we ask ask is still the same. Its important there is a hodgepodge of voices. It is not just all about that one story. Storiesut various around the world and in this nation. That brings together this one group. From now,100 years when we are celebrating the next anniversary of our association, we will still have a room at the white house with people asking the president or his staff questions every day. The dissemination of the news will change. The media will change. I think the journalism will not change. This is a great window on the world. Our democracy does not work unless we have a strong state. If you dont have that interaction, you dont have a true democracy. [applause] i want to take an extra second on that and think macy, thank nancy. Crews worked on this for months, at no cost out of our scholarship fund. It was a Great Service to our association. Sawyer,o thank diane who agreed to do the voiceover for us. [applause] politico and life, who lent us some of their photos. I want to thank our colleagues who participated, all of the press secretaries who agreed to be interviewed, and particularly president obama and clinton, who agreed to be interviewed for that. Thank you very much. [applause] i want to talk for a minute about the state of play. I want to thank my family, my wife denies denise, and my sons, for all their support. I want to thank the mcclatchy company. I want to thank our ceo. Our washington bureau. It allows us to keep doing work that needs to be done. I want to thank my colleagues, particularly leslie clark, Barbara Barrett and david goldstein. They covered it while i turned this job into a fulltime job. They have done all the briefings and travel i have not been able to do. I want to thank this board. Our board is a terrific group of people. The vast majority of the work you never see. The most recent example was the president s trip to asia. Negotiation on getting a thing into a certain country. Some of us here were working around the clock. They really keep the wheels going around so we can all do our jobs. Christi parsons. She is our Vice President this year. [applause] christie does more work in keeping the pool moving. The pool is the group that keeps closest and keeps their eyes on the president. She does a wonderful job. She will be our president next year and we are in very good hands. [applause] i want to thank george lehner. You do not hear his name a lot. Hes our attorney. Pro bono. [applause] hes a terrific First Amendment attorney. He has been the liaison between us and the rest of the and some ofommunity the work we have done on access that will continue on, he has worked with journalism schools. The dean is with us tonight. George has done a terrific job. [applause] i want to thank julie wisdom. Those of us who have been involved in the association have known julie wisdom for a long time. This dinner is an epic undertaking. We put this on with a paid staff of one. Thats her. She does it with the help of friends, her husband who volunteers. We could not have this dinner without julie wisdom. [applause] this year, we have added events and receptions and panels that we normally dont do. To 100d not have made it years without julie wisdom. I want to thank my peers in the white house for this honor. Take a minute and introduce some people in the room. I want all the past president s of the White House Correspondents Association to please stand and stay standing. [applause] off. Hold off. Stay standing. Everyone who has been elected or served on our board, please stand and stay standing. I would like everyone who covers the beat today, goes to the briefings, goes on the trips, sits in the pool van to please stand. Hasuld like everyone who ever covered a briefing at the white house and work this beat to please stand. [applause] finally, i would like our scholarship winners, and all the journalism students in the room to please stand. [applause] we welcome all our guests to this dinner. There is a lot of attention paid to the people who come here, and we have well thumbed welcomed them all. These are the White House Correspondents. These are the people whose name is on the dinner. [applause] we referred to it a little bit in the video. We are going through a major and significant change in the media. They were all white men. White president s, two. Correspondence is half man, half women. Our board is half women. We have faces of color. We have new media all over the room. Yahoo is on our board. This year for the first time, we added to the press pool a gay newspaper. We have new voices for the first time ever. We have a foreign reporter joining us on air force one on our trip. In our briefing room, if you listen, you will hear foreign accents asking questions of our government. You will hear a russian accent. You will hear other accents. Good thing. Ry this is america at its best. Sometimes very differing views of what this free press can do. There is a noble view. The president referred to Thomas Jefferson in our video. Sometimes the view of the people on the receiving end of it i found a quote from grace kelly said, quote, the freedom of press works in such a way theres not really much freedom from the press. Thats true. Thats the core of the tension we have on our beat between the present government. We try to keep as many eyes as possible on them. They dont always want us in the room. This has never been truer than today. A changing media gives us more tools, but also allows the government to set its own image, send its own videos directly to people in ways that we find challenging. It is something that predecessors to the president would have envied. Thats all fine. We like the white house staff and photographers and video. We just want to be in the room too. We can take the competition. When we are all paying attention to the government and asking questions, we are all the better for it and its a bragging point for democracy. Minute andurn for a talk about Harry Mcalpine. It was 70 years ago that he walked into the oval office. He was the first black reporter to attend and cover a president ial press conference. Im glad to see you, and very happy to have you here. Not everyone was so happy. This association was not happy that he walked into the oval office. Tohad denied membership blacks. We had rigged our rules to make sure they could not participate in covering the white house or president. Fdr did that on his own. Tonight we are announcing an creating a new scholarship, t