THE AFRO — McAlpin’s peers promised, they would share their notes, and make sure he got the same story if he just wouldn’t go in the room. They would even make him a member of the White House Correspondents Association if he just didn’t go into the Oval Office for the press conference. McAlpin walked into the Oval Office for the press conference with President Franklin D Roosevelt, who shook McAlpin’s hand afterwards saying “Harry, I’m glad you are here,” according to Blackpast.org. The New York Times covered the news of McAlpin’s first White House briefing. “Harry McAlpin, the only Negro yet to be accredited as a White House correspondent, attended his first press conference today. He represents the Atlanta Daily World and the press service of the Negro Newspaper Publishers Association,” according to the 1944 article.
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