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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release December 16, 1997
                   PRESIDENT CLINTON'S PRESS CONFERENCE 
                          AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Tuesday, December 16, 1997

Today, in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the U.S. Department of State, President Clinton will give his 152nd press conference, the 19th press conference of his second term.

President John F. Kennedy was the first President to use this auditorium for a press conference, on January 25, 1961. In fact, President Kennedy conducted all of his subsequent Washington, D.C. press conferences at the State Department in what was then referred to as the west auditorium and was, at the time, the largest auditorium in a federal government building. Out of a total of 64 press conferences during the Kennedy Administration, 62 were held at the State Department.

President Lyndon Johnson was the last President to use the auditorium for a press conference, on July 24, 1964. He also used the State Department Treaty Room on February 29, 1964. It was during the Johnson administration that the auditorium was named for the 50th Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, who was Secretary of State during the Truman Administration.

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