Letters from an American - White House Correspondents' Dinner

Episode Date: April 26, 2026

April 25, 2026Trump decides to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time, Trump has tried to silence the press during his second term, Trump and the First Lady were rushed out of the event after word that an armed man was outside the event, No one at the event was harmed, The right to freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution, While the press was openly partisan in the early days of the republic, by the 1880s the country began to push back and the number of independent newspapers took off, Reporters looking for stories began to station themselves at the White House, White House reporters organized the WHCA in 1914, The WHCA ensured that journalists who covered the White House would have access to press passes, After Trump’s re-election, the administration would no longer recognize the role of the WHCA in managing the White House press pool. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather Cox Richardson is unable to read the letter today, so I will be reading it in her place. April 25, 26. Tonight, the White House Correspondents Association, or W.HCA, held its annual Black Tie Dinner, which is designed both to raise money for the institution and to provide a glitzy night out for journalists. In recent years, the event has drawn criticism for the chumminess it reveals between White House journalists and the lawmakers they cover. This year, that concern was heightened dramatically when the WHCA invited President Donald J. Trump to attend the dinner and to give a speech. Since he entered the political arena, Trump has denigrated the press and even urged supporters

to attack journalists. But in his second term, his administration has gone further, trying to silence the press with lawsuits or threats of them against media outlets and individuals, blocking access to the White House and the Pentagon for journalists Trump dislikes, personally attacking female journalists, arresting independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, and raiding the home of Washington Post political correspondent Hannah Natanson. Inviting him to address the press at a fancy dinner seemed to normalize his attacks on the First Amendment. While it is customary for a president to attend at least one W.HCA dinner, where traditionally a comedian roasts him, Trump has always refused to attend. This year, though,

he agreed, although a mentalist was engaged to perform instead of the usual comedian. With his job approval numbers plummeting, and the administration mired in a war in Iran that Trump appears to have started on a whim, along with the economy stumbling, there was plenty of speculation about what he would say at the event and how journalists should react if he used the opportunity to insult them. We will probably never know. Something happened at the event that made Secret Service agents evacuate Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. Exactly what happened is not yet clear.

It appears law enforcement stopped an armed man outside the event and a subsequent noise alarmed dinner attendees and Secret Service agents who rushed the president, the First Lady, and other government officials to a secure location. During the confusion, as Trump was being held near the ballroom, he posted, quite an evening in D.C., Secret Service and law enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we, let the show go on, but will entirely be guided by law enforcement. They will make a decision shortly.

Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned and will just plain have to do it again. Then, at 836, he posted that law enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do immediately. I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press briefing room. The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days. Trump took to the podium a little after 1030. referring to the threat of a shooting at the White House correspondence dinner, which has never happened before, he said,

I will say, you know, it's not a particularly secure building. And I don't want to say this, but this is why we have to have all the attributes of what we're planning at the White House. It's actually a larger room, and it's much more secure. It's got, it's drone proof, it's bulletproof class. We need the ballroom. That's why secrets, service, that's why the military are demanding it. They've wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons, but today's a little bit different, because today we need levels of security that probably nobody's ever seen before. Trump said there was a record crowd at tonight's event, and that he felt everyone coming together, but he urged people to do so even more fully in light of what he said was another attempt on his life. In response to a question, question about why Trump thought attempts on his life happened so frequently. A reminder,

there is as yet no information about what the man's plan or motives were. He responded that assassins come for impactful people and boasted of how much he has done for the country. The framers of our Constitution enshrined the right to freedom of the press in our Constitution along with the right to gather together, to practice any religion we want, including none at all, the right to say what we want, and the right to ask our government to do or not to do things. After writing a new constitution that created a far stronger national government than existed under the Articles of Confederation, which had underpinned the government since 1777, although the articles were not ratified until 1781, the framers designed the 10 amendments that make up the Bill of Rights

to hold back government power. The power to control what citizens can publish about the government would give leaders the power to destroy democracy. A free press is imperative to keep people informed about what leaders are doing. Lose it, and those in power can do whatever they wish without accountability. From the beginning of the American Republic, though,

the press was openly partisan. This meant the president worked quite closely with newspaper reporters from his own party, while ignoring or sometimes even trying to silence his opponents. By the 1880s, the country had begun to turn against the partisan press and two independent newspapers, and the number of papers took off. No longer advocates for a party position and eager to attract readers, reporters began to look for new, exciting stories, and not much was more exciting in 1886 than a marriage in the White House.

On June 2nd of that year, 49-year-old President Grover Cleveland married 21-year-old Francis Folsom, who had been his unofficial ward in the blue room. Reporters had dogged their courtship. Many thought he was interested in her more age-appropriate mother, and they flocked after the newlyweds, finally prompting the irritated president to ask his personal secretary to keep them away. But while the president was angry at the scrutiny, editors recognized a good story.

And by the end of Cleveland's first term, a reporter had figured out he could just stay at the White House and write columns based on interviews with people coming from meetings with the president. Other papers immediately stationed their own people at the White House. In Cleveland's second term, which started in 1893, his private secretary worked directly with the press. Through the next few presidencies, the role of press secretary began to take shape. Theodore Roosevelt relished attention from reporters. When his shy successor William Howard Taft shunned them, they complained he was hiding things. So, shortly after he took office in 1913,

President Woodrow Wilson held the nation's first press conference, only to complain both that reporters were quoting statements he considered off the record and that the conferences were a free-for-all, in which anyone could shout out questions, often ones Wilson found irritating, like his opinion about Groundhog Day. In 1914, rumors circulated that Congress might begin to choose which reporters would be allowed at Wilson's press conferences. In alarm, 11 White House reporters organized the White House Correspondents Association.

In 1921, as part of their annual election of officers, 50 members of the growing W.HCA held a dinner. With former newspaperman Warren G. Harding in the White House, they were in a celebratory mood despite prohibition, which they ignored. Taking their cue from the famous gridiron club, which held dinners where they roasted politicians, WHCA members poked fun at the administration and Congress. While at first the reporters simply wanted access to the president,

as the WHCA became an established force, it came to work for transparency more generally, recognizing that journalists are the main eyes and voice of the people. It protected press passes for journalists who regularly covered the White House and to sign seats in the briefing room. But all that changed in February 2025 after Trump took office for the second time. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt

announced that the administration would no longer recognize the role of the WHCA in managing the White House press pool. Instead, she said, the White House press team would control access to the White House. At the same time, then, NWHCA President Eugene Daniels said the change tears at the independence of a free press in the United States and suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president.

In a free country, Daniel said, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps. Trump repeated tonight that the White House correspondence dinner will be rescheduled. from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.