President Plans to Attend Dinner Hosted by All-Male Alfalfa Club
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WASHINGTON — Though the outing has been criticized in the past, President Bush plans to attend a stag dinner tonight sponsored by the Alfalfa Club, an organization that excludes women from its membership.
“He has gone every year, he intends to keep going and he believes these clubs are totally appropriate,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Friday.
Members of the 79-year-old club include some of the government’s most senior officials, such as Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who is scheduled to take over this year as the organization’s president. Founded in 1913, it has consistently excluded women from its ranks.
Bush was inducted into the club in 1970 and has attended its annual dinner virtually every year. The event was canceled last January because its tradition of boozy humor was regarded as inappropriate during the Persian Gulf War.
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