--- title: The Washington Press Corps at Work and at Play: Classic Photos description: Pictures of political reporters, photographers and newscasters who try to make sense of the riddle that is the American political system. canonical: https://time.com/3879725/white-house-correspondents-vintage-photos/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-30T16:31:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:43.423Z og:title: The Washington Press Corps at Work and at Play: Classic Photos og:description: Pictures of political reporters, photographers and newscasters who try to make sense of the riddle that is the American political system. og:url: https://time.com/3879725/white-house-correspondents-vintage-photos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dec3ba67dfa6760/69884bbea988ca359c6b217e/140430-white-house-correspondents-17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: 00864686.JPG og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Washington Press Corps at Work and at Play: Classic Photos twitter:description: Pictures of political reporters, photographers and newscasters who try to make sense of the riddle that is the American political system. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5dec3ba67dfa6760/69884bbea988ca359c6b217e/140430-white-house-correspondents-17.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Washington Press Corps at Work and at Play: Classic Photos > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 30, 2014 4:31 PM UTC  President-elect John F. Kennedy at Georgetown Hospital after the birth of his son, John Jr., Nov. 1960. President-elect John F. Kennedy at Georgetown Hospital after the birth of his son, John Jr., Nov. 1960. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Apr 30, 2014 4:31 PM UTC Each year, much of the mainstream media manages to work itself into a self-congratulatory lather around the time of the annual [White House Correspondents’ Dinner](http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/04/29/tech-takes-over-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-parties) — and, of course, the event’s attendant parties, meet-and-greets and other (largely booze-fueled) functions. That said, not everyone is besotted with the spectacle. Some notable outfits, like the New York _Times_, don’t attend the dinner, evidently finding the cheek-by-jowl mix of celebrities, journalists, politicians and other characters rather smarmy — or, as one _Times_ editor [reportedly put it](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/white-house-correspondents-dinner-roger-simon-106118.html): “The press and pols take their costumes off, sing together, mingle with celebrities and act like we are all in it together.” An unsettling image, no matter how literally one chooses to take it. But even those who view the proceedings with a decidedly jaundiced or gimlet eye can, perhaps, appreciate the _spirit_ in which the dinner takes place. After all, one can hardly expect White House correspondents to constantly, perpetually inhabit their dogged, adversarial reporting roles. Right? And besides, now that the correspondents’ dinner has become a kind of South by Southwest for wonks, with celebrities and tech upstarts on hand all weekend to lend the affair a gloss of sex and relevancy, who can really hold it against the pols and the press if, for one night a year, they feel like — in the words of our anonymous friend at the _Times_ — taking off their costumes and singing? Here, in tribute to the intrepid men and women who cover the White House, and Washington in general, LIFE.com presents a series of photos from the last century — pictures of reporters, correspondents, photographers and newscasters who, with their pens, cameras, typewriters and microphones, tried to make sense of the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma that is the modern American political landscape.  Reporters wait outside the White House for news of Japan's surrender, 1945. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters work away as President Harry Truman, his wife Bess and their daughter Margaret wave from a train during a whistle-stop at Pocatello, Idaho, in 1948. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  News reporters waiting for President Franklin D. Roosevelt's conference. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters on a plane with Lady Bird Johnson, mid-1960s. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President Lyndon Johnson talks to the press at his ranch in Texas, 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President-elect John F. Kennedy at Georgetown Hospital after the birth of his son, John Jr., Nov. 1960. Stan Wayman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporter Mary McGrory (left) working with CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl (right) and others during the Senate Watergate hearings, 1973. Gjon Mili—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Harry McAlpin, pictured the same year that he became the first African American journalist to cover a White House press conference, 1944. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Vice-President Richard Nixon talks to reporters on a plane, 1957. Mark Kauffman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Newsmen eat while waiting for news on Japan's acceptance of surrender terms, Washington, 1945. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  President Lyndon Johnson (far right) talking to the press outdoors at the White House, 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters at the White House after President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a mild stroke, Nov. 1957. Hank Walker—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters in Washington, D.C., on the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A young journalist following and reporting on Eleanor Roosevelt, 1943. George Silk—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Official press accompanying President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The White House press (incl. long-time Washington journalist May Craig, in hat), 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Lyndon Johnson's press secretary, George Reedy, addresses reporters at the White House, 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters after a press conference at the White House, 1941. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters in the bowels of the University of Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum during the school's Founders Day Convocation, at which President Johnson spoke, Feb. 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters after a John F. Kennedy press conference, 1961. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporter (and later celebrated columnist) Marianne Means waiting for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters (incl. Newsweek's Norma Milligan, right, with name tag) on a plane with Lady Bird Johnson, mid-1960s. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters and photographers (incl. Harry Benson, at left in black shirt) waiting for information on President Lyndon B. Johnson's condition after a gall bladder operation at Bethesda Naval Hospital, 1965. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elated reporters race to spread the news of Japan's surrender, August 1945. George Skadding—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Journalist May Craig, Washington, 1945. Marie Hansen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Reporters and photographers at President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration in 1941. Thomas D. McAvoy—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Equipment used by newsmen waiting on news of Japan's surrender, Washington, 1945. 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