Gridiron Club (Washington DC) - Gridiron Club Dinner

Gridiron Club Dinner

The Gridiron Club is best known for its annual dinner which traditionally features the United States Marine Band, along with satirical musical skits by the members and remarks by the President of the United States and representatives of each political party. The skits and speeches by various politicians are expected to be self-deprecating or otherwise sharply comedic.

Every U.S. President since 1885 except Grover Cleveland has spoken at the dinner (President Barack Obama attended the 2011 dinner after missing both the 2009 and 2010 dinners. In addition, he spoke as a Senator in 2006). Bill and Hillary Clinton have both spoken at Club dinners, and the 2008 dinner marked the sixth time that President George W. Bush attended during his presidency. The dinner is held in the Spring, usually in March. Between 1945 and 2006, the dinner was held at the Capital Hilton. In 2007, it moved to the Renaissance Washington.

It is one of the few remaining large-scale white-tie affairs in Washington. It offers a neutral ground on which members of the press and various elected officials and political operatives can break bread together.

Also as is true of the WHCA Dinner and RTCA Dinner, the Gridiron Club Dinner has been subject to criticism that it encourages journalists to engage in undue coziness with the political officials they are supposed to fairly cover, and also that the public spectacle of "playing footsie" with reporters' main subjects is bringing the political press into disgrace.

For example, at the 2007 dinner, columnist Robert Novak impersonated Vice President Dick Cheney while satirizing the Scooter Libby case, which Novak helped initiate.