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Saturday, Mar. 13, 2021

Is President Biden unusually late in scheduling his first formal press conference?

Lisa Freedland, Gigafact Foundry
yes

President Joe Biden did not hold a press conference in his first 50 days in office. According to UC Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project, his 15 most recent predecessors all held solo events within 33 days of taking office.

Woodrow Wilson held the first presidential press conference in 1913. In 1921 Warren G. Harding upped the pace to twice a week. Since then, all but two presidents (Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan) averaged at least one solo or joint press conference a month over the course of their terms.

In his first year in office, Donald Trump held only one solo press conference. Barack Obama held seven, George W. Bush held four and Bill Clinton held 11.

The Biden approach seems to some right for 2021. “Presidential press conferences are not on the top of the agenda” for Americans worried about COVID-19 and the economy, one professor suggested to the Associated Press.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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