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PHOTOS |
The story of the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
US President George W. Bush, left, shakes hands with impressionist Steve Bridges at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2006. Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool/Getty Images.
Look in this gallery for more historical photos of the Correspondents' Dinner.
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The White House Correspondents' Dinner in 1923. It was started two years earlier by the White House Correspondents' Association, the organization of journalists who cover the president.
In 1924, Calvin Coolidge became the first president to attend the dinner.
Library of Congress.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt, seated, shakes hands with Raymond P. Brandt, Washington bureau chief of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, at dinner in 1945. Roosevelt congratulating Brandt on winning the first Raymond Clapper Award Memorial Award, given by the White House Correspondents Association for distinguished reporting.
Gil Friedberg/AP.
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President Harry Truman, second from left, presents a $500 check to Peter Edson, second from right, for winning the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award in 1949. AP.
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Legendary golfer Bobby Jones, left, presents a duplicate of his famous Calamity Jane putter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower at dinner in 1959. At center, Felix Belair Jr. of The New York Times.
AP.
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President Richard Nixon shakes hands with Navy Lieutenant John McCain at dinner in 1973. Just a month earlier, McCain had been released from a Vietnamese prison after being a prisoner of war for more than five years.
National Archives.
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Until 1962, the Correspondents' Dinner was open to men only.
President John F. Kennedy, center, refused to attend until it was opened to women.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
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President Gerald Ford, right, talks to comedian Chevy Chase, left, in 1976. Chase famously portrayed Ford as bumbling on "Saturday Night Live."
Between them, from left, "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels and cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi.
Fred Hermansky/NBCUniversal/Getty Images.
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Ford laughs with United Press International White House correspondent Helen Thomas at dinner in 1975. Thomas was the first female president of the White House Correspondents Association.
National Archives.
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President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter chat with Paul Healy, right, of the New York Daily News and Lawrence O'Rourke, left, of the Philadelphia Bulletin, upon their arrival at the dinner in 1977. Healy was the new president of the White House Correspondents Association, and O'Rourke was its outgoing president.
John Duricka/AP.
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At dinner in 1987, President Ronald Reagan called his wife, Nancy, to say a few kind words to the press.
After a pause, she replied, "I'm thinking."
Charles Tasnadi/AP.
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President George HW Bush laughs as he watches Jim Morris imitate him at dinner in 1989. Mark Reinstein / Corbis / Getty Images.
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President Bill Clinton holds up a banner proclaiming, "Don't blame me. I voted for me," at dinner in 1996. Clinton was rehearsing some potential slogans for bumper stickers.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP.
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Clinton high-fives a "clone" of hers played by actor Darrell Hammond in 1997. Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images.
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President George W. Bush conducts the Marine Corps Band at dinner in 2008. Kristoffer Tripplaar/Pool/Getty Images.
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Comedian Keegan-Michael Key plays President Barack Obama's "rage translator" Luther in 2015. Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images.
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Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, attend the Correspondents' Dinner in 2015. They did not attend any of the dinners while he was president.
Christy Bowe/ImageCatcher News Service/Corbis/Getty Images.
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Obama drops the microphone after speaking at his last Correspondents' Dinner in 2016. "Obama out," he said.
Olivier Douliery/Pool/Getty Images.
(CNN) --
President Joe Biden will attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner this Saturday, marking his first appearance since taking office at such a well-attended event in Washington.
This Saturday night dinner, which will take place inside the Washington Hilton and will host more than 2,500 guests, returns with a bang after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.
The event's program will be led by "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah and will feature Biden, who will make comedic remarks.
The White House Correspondents Association, which organizes this annual event of etiquette, will award several journalists for their contributions.
Biden's appearance will be the first time an American president has attended the dinner in six years.
Covid-19 anxiety
Inside the gala, negative covid-19 tests will be required to enter and masks will be voluntary, as in most of Washington.
But concern has grown that Saturday night's event could spark Covid-19 cases among partygoers, after dozens of attendees -- including some Biden cabinet officials -- who turned out for another party in Washington, the Gridiron Dinner, tested positive weeks ago.
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The cases of covid-19 in Washington have stabilized after having increased after the decrease in the wave of the omicron variant, but Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president's main medical adviser, has decided not to attend the dinner this Saturday after a personal risk assessment.
"Overall, the risk is low, but I've done a personal assessment. I'm 81 years old, and if I get infected, I'm at much higher risk," Fauci said earlier this week.
This Saturday's act also comes after two senior Biden officials recently tested positive for covid-19.
Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive on Tuesday and remains asymptomatic.
And the White House's top communications official, Kate Bedingfield, tested positive on Friday and is experiencing mild symptoms.
The president was not considered a close contact in either case.
But Biden's decision to continue attending the dinner, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this week, is "a risk assessment and a decision he made in his personal capacity."
And Biden intends to go, she said, to express her support for a free press.
First lady Jill Biden is also expected to attend.
The White House says the president will take extra precautions to avoid contracting COVID-19, including skipping the meal portion of the program.
Biden will also "probably" wear a mask when she is not delivering the speech, Psaki said Friday.
She will be at dinner for about 90 minutes and will sit on the dais, away from the crowded dining room, and will not attend any receptions before or after.
Biden tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday.
Setting the tone for Biden's jovial set
The president gets a rare chance to show off his comedic chops this Saturday night when he delivers his dinner speech, but the chance comes possibly at a difficult time for the country to laugh.
The economic recovery from covid-19 has stumbled in the first quarter of 2022, with figures revealing this week that gross domestic product fell at an annual rate of 1.4% during the first three months of the year, which is the worst quarter for the US economy since the spring of 2020. Russia continues with the war in Ukraine.
And as his party heads to the midterms, Biden's approval rating has plateaued: According to a CNN poll of Biden's handling of the presidency, 41% of Americans approve of the job he's doing, while there is a 54% disapproval.
The speech also comes at a time when the American political environment remains extremely polarized, arguably more divided than it was in 2016, the last time a president delivered a dinner address.
Biden's speech has been in the works for a few weeks, officials have said, and as of Friday it had not been finished.
But early in the drafting process, the president told his team that he had envisioned a speech that went beyond an amalgamation of jokes, banter and gossip.
Jokes about himself, the press and the GOP are expected, but Biden also intends to use the appearance to loudly assert his belief in press freedom after his predecessor -- who did not attend the annual dinner for his entire mandate -- brand journalists "enemy of the people.
The White House has drawn on a long list of jokes from across its staff to craft the ones for this Saturday night.
Officials said chief of staff Ron Klain, members of the White House communications team and others inside the White House submitted jokes to Biden's speechwriters for consideration.
Rob Flaherty, the director of digital strategy, and Dan Cluchey, a senior speechwriter -- both said to be among Biden's funniest employees -- have submitted material.
Biden is expected to do some proofreading of his speech to get an idea of how to say it and when he will deliver it, according to a person familiar with the matter.
CNN's Kevin Liptak and Ariel Edwards-Levy contributed to this report.
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