Where is the correspondents dinner held

The event, like so many other things in Washington , has since expanded: Today there are many more participants—some 3, people, a mix of journalists, politicians, and assorted power players, of the Beltway and beyond—and also more pomp, and also more circumstance.

Much more circumstance: The thing, all in all, clocks in at more than 3 hours. In the process, the WHCD has become its own kind of media event: a reliable source of cable-news clips and Saturday-evening Twitter fodder and Sunday-morning conversation, often by way of the comedian who is invited to roast the journalists and the people they cover with the twin efficiencies of a cavernous ballroom and a live cable feed.

Oh, I know. Aunt Coulter. A smattering of applause broke out at the jokes; there were a few gasps. Most of all, though, there was an enormous ballroom made silent by the power of awkwardness. She was addressing a ballroom full of black-tied grimace emojis, essentially, and the awkwardness of it all—the tension of it all—was the point.

She was the one, in her own way, holding power to account. During a time of anxiety about the fate of essential democratic norms, the dinner has served, in its awkward way, as evidence on the other side: as a reminder that some of those norms, particularly when they involve cocktail parties, can in fact have a remarkable staying power.

The current president—who might well, the lore goes, have decided to run for the office after being mocked by his predecessor at the WHCD —has for two years declined to attend the dinner. And yet the dinner carries on, expanded and expended, trying to answer that most loaded of questions: What does it mean to both hold power and, at the same time, to be charged with holding power to account? On Saturday evening, in the International Ballroom of the Hilton, that question got an uncomfortable answer.

Which was: Ask again later. There were also roasted-beet salads with honeyed goat cheese, and dessert trays panna cotta, cheesecake, tartlets featuring raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries that formed a pretty assemblage of reds, whites, and blues. His White House staff is also ditching the dinner out of solidarity with the president. But this year, journalism is back in the spotlight.

In , President Calvin Coolidge became the first presidential attendee. Since then, every president has attended the dinner at least once during his term in office. The dinner barred guests of color until the s, and women were not allowed to attend until , according to the WHCA. Helen Thomas , the first female White House reporter, threatened to start a boycott against the dinner until the rules changed. Pressure tactics against President John F. In its nearly year history, the dinner has only been cancelled three times, according to a History Channel report: in following the death of former President William Howard Taft; in after the country entered World War II; and in because of the Korean War.

In the s, the dinner saw the beginning of its transformation from a night of Washington insiders to a full-blown celebrity affair. It was customary for media outlets to give tickets to industry elites and Hollywood stars alike. But this year fewer stars will be turning up and several after-parties have been canceled which had previously attracted A-list celebrities to attend. The president delivers the initial, joke-filled speech, followed by the keynote roast by a famous comedian.

In its first half century, the evening's entertainment was musical performances, movies and variety shows. The dinner also serves to honor young and veteran journalists alike with scholarships and awards. The proceeds from the lofty ticket prices for the event go toward funding these accolades.