White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Global Women Advocates Gather in DC

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Women gathered around the world today for the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. At the State Department, First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the “Women of Courage Awards” and announced a partnership with 10,000 Women and the successful Goldman Sachs Foundation program that goes into the poorest countries and teaches women business skills.

Monday evening some of the nation’s best women’s advocates were brought together by the ONE campaign, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, CARE, and the US Advocacy Advisory team Mothers Day Every Day at the home of former ONE chief, David Lane. Dr. Helene Gayle, Sheila Nix, Susan McCue and Theresa Shaver urged the crowd to redouble their efforts on behalf of women. Dana Perino, former Bush White House press secretary led a bipartisan call to action with the help of Barbara Bush and sister Jenna Bush Hager.

Barbara Bush’s Global Health Corp is in the process of selecting their third round of fellows. David Lane, who left the ONE campaign to work with Bill Daley at the White House, caught up with old friends as he accepted their well wishes. First Lady Michelle Obama’s chief of Staff Tina Tchen, and Jen Klein from the State Department’s women’s section, greeted colleagues and friends including Stephanie Psaki (sister of WH deputy communications director Jen Psaki), Jodee Winterhoff, Teri Whitcraft, and Anita McBride – fresh off her First Ladies Conference. David Lane was cheered when he walked into his own home, the location of some of the great advocacy work for women.

McCormick Moves to top of the Gibraltar Rock

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Kelley McCormick with Miss America 2010 Caressa Cameron

Kelley McCormick, one of DC’s top communications gurus, has been named partner and chief operating officer of Gibraltar Associates. McCormick will manage clients while focusing on growing the agency and assisting in operations.From the press release:

“We are delighted to have Kelley join the team,” said Eric Bovim, GA’s CEO and co-founder. “With nearly 20 years of agency experience, she is a true agency veteran who knows how to take GA to the next level. With Kelley on board, we are poised to exceed our plans for aggressive growth in corporate communications and consumer marketing.”

McCormick joins GA after nearly nine years at Qorvis Communications, where she most recently served as a partner. Some of her previous clients include Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Feld Entertainment, Scientific American, Bloomberg Businessweek, GQ and World TeamTennis’ Washington Kastles. She has also provided counsel to a number of non-profit organizations including YouthAIDS, Creative Coalition and Earth Conservation Corps.

“I am thrilled to join the GA team. It is a fresh, nimble agency that is entering into a period of intense growth and success,” said McCormick. “I look forward to applying all that I have learned in my 20 years of agency life and putting it towards the continued success of GA.”

McCormick was also recently elected to the Board of the Miss America Organization, where she will work closely with fellow board member, Regina Hopper on developing new initiatives around the MAO mission of empowering young women through education and scholarship.

Celebrating the First Ladies

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Forty-six women have served as First Lady, standing alongside our US Presidents throughout history. To kick off Women’s History Month, the American University’s School of Public Affairs is holding an afternoon conference, The Legacies of America’s First Ladies, to celebrate and examine the role of the nation’s first ladies.

The conference was organized by Anita McBride, former chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush and now an executive in residence at American University.

“A first lady’s role may be a mysterious to many, but these leaders behind the leaders help effect change and advance our society in valuable ways,” says McBride.

Susan Sher, former chief of staff to Michelle Obama, will be making her first appearance since leaving the White House. She will be participating in a panel discussion with McBride and Melanne Verveer, former chief of staff to Hillary Rodham Clinton, on how these modern women have redefined what it means to be First Lady.

There will be other panel discussions throughout the afternoon with premier historians, authors, White House correspondents and journalists, who have studied, written, covered and traveled with the first ladies. Representatives from the Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush administrations will also be participating including Gahl Hodges Burt, former special assistant to President Reagan and social secretary.

Events will be held at AU’s Katzen Arts Center and the White House Historical Association, the National Archives’ Presidential Libraries, and American University’s Library are conference partners. For a full list of speakers and conference agenda, click here.

In addition to the conference, McBride is also spearheading the creation of the First Ladies Foundation to cultivate the first non-partisan history on the impact these women have made. For more information go to FirstLadiesFoundation.org.

Ron Reagan Interview on POLITICO

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WHC Insider’s Tammy Haddad sat down with Ron Reagan to discuss his new memoir “MY FATHER AT 100.” The youngest son of President Ronald and Nancy Reagan wrote the book to commemorate what would have been his father’s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011.

Reagan candidly offers new insights on his parents’ relationship and the Reagan family dynamic; he also sets the record straight on what he actually wrote about his father and glimmers that he was not always “completely 100 percent” while in the White House.

Never one to shy away from political opinion, Reagan responds to comparisons between his father andPresident Obama. And as for those rumors about Joe Scarborough, Reagan’s former co-host on an MSNBC after-hours show, making a possible run for president or vice-president in 2012? Reagan says, “He’d be the only Republican candidate not on FOX.”

As for Keith Olbermann’s recent departure from MSNBC, Reagan said “Keith was a remarkable figure there. In many ways I think he made that network what it is today.”

You can read more and watch the two-part interview on POLITICO and for more information on the book go to www.ronreagan100.com.

Inside Ron Reagan Book Party

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Fred Ryan, President of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; close friend and adviser to Nancy Reagan and the Executive Director of The Prince of Wales Foundation, Robert Higdon, a close friend of Nancy Reagan; former Reagan staffers and Washington notables gathered at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the new memoir from Ron Reagan, MY FATHER AT 100. Connie Milstein, Tammy Haddad and Jon Meacham hosted the party. Here’s an excerpt from Jon Meacham’s interview with Ron Reagan.

Check out ronreagan1oo.com for more information about the book.

Ron Reagan Returns to Washington

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Ron Reagan wrote the words about his father’s final moments on this earth but could not bring himself to read them out loud again without getting emotional. And so, in a poignant end to an interview with Jon Meacham, Reagan asked the Pulitzer Prize-winner to please read them instead as he, the son of the 40th President of the United States, listened with his head partially bowed in front of a captivated audience at the Jefferson Hotel.

“His eyes found the face of the woman who for more than half a century had formed the core of his private world. ‘I love you honey, I love you’ was all she could say.  Was all she needed to say,” began Meacham.

Personal family memories and moments such as these fill the pages of MY FATHER AT 100: A MEMOIR, Ron Reagan’s new book reflecting on the life of his father Ronald Reagan who would have turned 100 years old this February. Researching and writing the book was a son’s tribute to the father he knew and loved behind the presidential pomp and circumstance.

Ron Reagan shared a few of these memories at a book party Monday evening at the Jefferson Hotel co-hosted by Connie Milstein, JC de La Haye Saint Hilaire, Tammy Haddad, and Jon Meacham.

One particular anecdote harkened back to the image of the Hollywood Reagan when he was best known for playing University of Notre Dame varsity football player George “The Gipper” Gipp on the silver screen.  As a youngster, Ron knew that when he and his buddies were a man short to play football out on the front lawn that his father, even though busy working as Governor of California, would be up for a game.

“I’d pass by the window with the football,” said Reagan as he mimed tossing a football in the air to the delight of the crowd,  “and I knew within half an hour or so he’d be out there. He insisted though that he had to quarterback for both teams, that was his position.”

Reagan was warmly greeted by friends and Washington, D.C. notables including Fred Ryan, President of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and close Nancy Reagan confidante Robert Higdon, now chief of the Prince of Wales Foundation.

Also attending: Senator Maria Cantwell, Tammy Duckworth, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale, Geoff Morrell, Judy Woodruff, Amy Nathan, Steve Scully, Chris Isham, and Roger Simon.

You can watch Jon Meacham and Ron Reagan’s interview below. And for more information on the memoir check out www.ronreagan100.com.

Watch Ron Reagan Interview Here!

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Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, would have celebrated his 100th birthday on February 6, 2011. To mark this milestone, his son Ron Reagan has written MY FATHER AT 100: A Memoir. Reagan shares his personal memories and traces his father’s journey from his family’s roots in Ireland to the Midwestern streets of his birth; from Hollywood to the California Governor’s mansion, and ultimately the White House.

Ron Reagan will talk about his new book with Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian at a celebration at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, DC.  Hosted by Connie Milstein, JC de La Haye Saint Hilaire, and Tammy Haddad. And for more information about MY FATHER AT 100, check out RonReagan100.com.

WATCH the Party Program below:

Italy’s President Honors Café Milano’s Franco Nuschese

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Franco Nuschese with Arianna Huffington at her Washington, DC book party October 2010
Franco Nuschese with Arianna Huffington at her Washington, DC book party October 2010

The owner of Café Milano and president of Georgetown Entertainment Group has a new award to add to a long list he’s received, including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Franco Nuschese was born in Minori, Italy on the Amalfi Coast and has spent more than 20 years building a successful business and working to improve the lives of people across the globe. Now, Nuschese can be called “Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana,” the third of six ranks in the organization which is comparable to Britain’s Order of the British Empire.

“Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic” is a prestigious honor conferred by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano for promoting a positive image of Italians around the world. Past honorees include designer Giorgio Armani, race car legend Mario Andretti, tennis star Francesca Schiavone, and astronaut Dr. Umberto Guidoni. Nuschese was presented with his new title December 13th at a dinner hosted by the Italian Ambassador to the United States, Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, at Villa Firenze, the Italian residence in Washington, D.C.

Guests included Nuschese’s son Gianfranco, a Georgetown University student; Supreme Court Justice and Mrs. Antonin Scalia; General and Mrs. Jim Jones; Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge; UAE Ambassador and Mrs. Yousef Al Otaiba; BET co-founder Bob Johnson; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“I am grateful and humbled by this honor,” said Nushcese. “I will accept it as a tribute to my father, Giuseppe, who several weeks ago died in Italy after a long and wonderful life.”

When Nuschese opened Café Milano in 1992, it quickly became the place to spot politicos and celebrities alike. In 2008, Nuschese was so moved by being chosen to host a luncheon for the pope during his visit to Washington, D.C., he wrote about it for The Washington Post. The event for His Holiness Benedetto XVI happened to coincide on the pope’s 81st birthday and Nuschese left no detail unattended. President Bill Clinton was such a favorite regular at Café Milano, that Nuschese and legendary producer Quincy Jones were chosen to speak when Clinton was honored in May with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service at the Sons of Italy Foundation’s 2010 NELA Gala.

Much like the former president, Nuschese has devoted himself to public service. He is the director of international relations for the Robert C. Gallo Foundation for AIDS and Virus Research, and is a member of the boards of the University of Maryland’s Institute of Human Virology, the Afghanistan World Foundation, the foundation for Georgetown University Hospital, the Washington National Opera, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Congratulazioni, Commendatore Nuschese!

Axelrod-Milstein Team Up for Epilepsy Research

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Hundreds gathered at the Newseum Wednesday evening to recognize the scientific work of CURE Epilepsy, raise awareness, and to honor 2010 Friend of CURE Awardee, longtime television producer and WHCInsider’s own Tammy Haddad.

Susan Axelrod, Chair and founding member of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, was on hand to mark the special occasion. Axelrod and Connie Milstein, CURE supporter and noted philanthropist, co-hosted the event.

Connie Milstein, a CURE board member, announced the Axelrod Milstein Challenge Grant. It is a $500,000 two-year program. CURE Challenge Grants are CURE’s most prestigious, and fuel the much needed research to find the key to the cure of this dreaded disease.

“Susan works tirelessly to find a cure for epilepsy and seizure disorders. Like many families across the world, the Axelrods live with this disease every day, but their work, their strength, and their optimism give hope to so many, as they fight and live for a cure,” said Milstein.

Susan Axelrod described the lack of progress and the difficult research road ahead:  “With so many troops returning from war with traumatic brain injuries and epilepsy, the need is more urgent now.”

Axelrod, along with her husband David, was desperate to find answers when their own daughter Lauren was diagnosed with uncontrollable epilepsy at 7 months old. Twelve years ago, CURE was founded by Axelrod and two other mothers around a kitchen table. Many members of the CURE family were on hand last night and gathered on stage for a group photo and greeted with a round of applause.

The room was a living tribute to CURE and Ms. Haddad, as devoted friends from both sides of the aisle raised a glass to what many have called a “force.” Haddad used her annual White House Correspondents Weekend Brunch to raise awareness for CURE after seeing Susan and Lauren Axelrod on the cover of PARADE magazine, and later on NBC’s The Today Show.

“I chased her down for weeks to get her to host the Correspondents Brunch because I wanted to help. Here was a chance to use a HUGE platform for an important message,” said Haddad. “What did she tell us? No parent, no child, no family — no person should have to suffer and experience the pain of epilepsy.  That is her goal…and since she is unstoppable we know she will reach that goal.”

Cabinet appearances by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Dr. Howard Koh, NIH’s Story Landis and Dr. Tony Fauci.

The audience roared as a video roast of Haddad began with David Gregory anchoring a “Meet The Press” open lamenting the lack of agreement on anything in Washington except in friendship and respect for Haddad.  Also in the video: ABC’s Jake Tapper from the White House, Greta Van Susteren and John Coale.  Jon Meacham roasted the longtime network and cable news producer by reminding the audience that Christopher Buckley put her in his novel “Thank You for Smoking.”  Haddad’s former MSNBC’s colleagues, the “Morning Joe” team – Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, Mark Halperin and Harold Ford taking turns trying to figure out what award Haddad hadn’t won yet while praising her work for CURE.

The surprise ending was a song written and performed for Haddad by Glee superstars Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch.

Among those there to help celebrate: Rima al Sabah, the Kuwaiti Ambassador’s wife; British Ambassador to the US Nigel and Julia Sheinwald; AFT President Randi Weingarten; Tom Oliphant, Mary Louise Oates and Robert Shrum.

Politicos aplenty including Bloomberg’s Kevin Sheekey, Joel and Lisa Benenson, Jim Margolis, Susan Sher, Stephanie Cutter, Julianna Smoot, Dan Pfieffer, Eric Lesser and Jen Psaki.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard fresh from a Supreme Court appearance, along with crowd favorite Terry McAuliffe; Tony and Heather Podesta; Podesta Group CEO Kimberly Fritts and hubby, Marion Turner; Holly Page; Bruce Reed and Bonnie LePard.

Media biggies included Wolf Blitzer, Howard Fineman and Amy Nathan, Lynn Sweet, Betsy Fischer (producer of the surprise video), Andrea Mitchell, Gloria Borger, Roger Simon, Annie Groer and Hilary Rosen.

Both republican and democratic political operatives included Bob Stevenson, Jane Oates, Dan Meyers, Erica Elliot, Rich Galen and Tom Synhorst.

Designed by Jacquie Bloom, the Newseum’s Knight Center was aglow in CURE red. Guests enjoyed the pomegranate martini ice luge and the ice cream sundae bar.

CURE is in the middle of their Every Dollar Counts Every seizure Matters campaign.  To donate CLICK on CUREEpilepsy.org.

"Other Mom" Jarrett fetes Graham Moore

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For the second time in a week, author Graham Moore graciously thanked his supportive mother, Susan Sher – soon departing the East Wing as the First Lady’s Chief of Staff – while celebrating the publication of his first novel “The Sherlockian,” a new take on the characters of Sherlock Holmes.

Moore was surrounded by friends during the relaxed evening at the home of Hilary Rosen. The party was thrown by his “other mother” Valerie Jarrett who in true mother form told the crowd how Moore had a wild streak growing up. The other “mother” co-hosts were Anita McBride, Tammy Haddad, Rhoda Glickman, Anne Fleming and Anita Dunn.

There to wish the young novelist well and have a few books signed were US Ambassador to Israel Michael Oren and wife Sally, Tom Oliphant, Wolf Blitzer, Sally Quinn, Winston Lord, Lynne Wasserman, John Coale, Mark Leibovich, Jodi Kantor and Mark Ein. Most of the East Wing staff took photos with proud mama and son.