by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
‘Nerd Prom’ season has officially arrived but before we get too deep into things, here’s a photo of Tony Goldwyn from ABC’s Scandal for all you scandal loving Washingtonians – we know that’s what you’re looking to see first. Hey, we don’t blame you.
To kick off festivities for the 100th White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Foreign Affairs Magazine teamed up with Devex to throw a special event supporting the United Nations Foundation and celebrate international journalism. The excitement was high and people were thrilled to see a few special guests, the aforementioned Goldwyn and Richard Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations.
“This is so important. We’re alive at a time where a lot of history is happening.” said Haas in remarks to the guests. He pointed out that upcoming anniversaries like the 25th anniversary of the end of the Cold War and the anniversary of the start of World War I are important historical moments and serve as a “reminder that we’re also not just studying it but living in it.” Haas played up the importance of reflecting on the things going on around us, but also all over the globe and gave accolades t0 Foreign Affairs Magazine for giving that perspective. “Journalists provide the first draft of history.”
Richard Haas
Kathy Calvin, President of the United Nations Foundation, added an anecdote from founder Ted Turner describing the launch of CNN—that the world needed a 24-hour news service because when he looked around he said: ‘I don’t see foreigners, I see neighbors’ – and that really speaks to the global community that exists today.
Cathy Calvin
The President that people were really clamoring to see though was fictional President Fitzgerald Grant, portrayed by Tony Goldwyn on Scandal. Goldwyn is in town to attend the Correspondents’ Dinner for the second time and he mentioned that Hollywood and Washington are similar because they both host professions—politicians and actors, respectively—that people “become completely consumed with and obsessed by.” Confirmed.
Richard Haas and Tony Goldwyn
Hear more from Goldwyn about his time in DC and how real Washington stacks up to the made up DC he lives in on his show:
