JFK PIONEERED THE LIVE TELEVISED PRESS CONFERENCE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 7, 1963, John F. Kennedy held his 48th presidential press conference at the State Department Auditorium* here in the Nation's Capital.
Eleanor Clift says that President Kennedy...
"...pioneered the live, televised, no-holds barred press conference that became a staple of the modern presidency."
NBC newsman Sid Davis describes JFK as...
"...articulate, thoughtful, handsome and hip, a man who could think on his feet."
Martha Joynt Kumar of the White House Historical Association tells us the first presidential press conference was held in March 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. She says that it was JFK who began the "daytime and early evening press conference" on January 25, 1961.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first POTUS to hold a live televised press conference on January 19, 1955. JFK held 64 total conferences, about 2 per month during his 2 year 10 month term.
*The State Department Auditorium could seat more than 800 but there were approximately 200 reporters who covered the White House.
SOURCES
"How President John F. Kennedy Invented the Modern Press Conference," by Eleanor Clift, Daily Beast, May 23, 2017, www.thedailybeast.com/
"Presidential Press Conferences: Windows on the Presidency and Its Occupants," by Martha Joynt Kumar, The White House Historical Association, www.whitehousehistory.org/
Presidential Press Conference
State Department Auditorium
May 21, 1963
Photo by Abbie Rowe
JFK Library Image
