Godfrey Sperling Jr. (September 25, 1915September 11, 2013) was an American journalist for ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

''. Sperling was best known for running breakfasts in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

that journalists and politicians frequented.

Biography

Godfrey Sperling Jr. was born in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, on September 25, 1915. His father was one of Idaho's first

civil engineers This list of civil engineers is a list of notable people who have been trained in or have practiced civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the desi ...

. He grew up in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. It is a principal city of the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, which had 236,000 residents i ...

, and graduated from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. As a child he was often referred to by the nickname "Budge", which would stick for the rest of his life. Sperling began working for ''

'' (CSM) in 1946. Sperling was also a member of the

Gridiron Club The Gridiron Club is the oldest and most selective journalistic organization in Washington, D.C. History :"an elitist social club of sixty print journalists" — Hedrick Smith, ''Power Game: How Washington Works'' February 1988 Random House ...

Breakfasts

From 1966 to 2001, Sperling hosted 3,241 breakfasts in

which were attended by journalists and politicians. For their first few years, the breakfasts were held at the National Press Club, and limited to twenty attendees; later on they were often held at the Carlton Hotel.

Later career and death

Sperling retired from journalism in September 2005. He died on September 11, 2013. Sperling's papers are held by the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperling, Godfrey 1915 births 2013 deaths The Christian Science Monitor people University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni People from Long Beach, California American newspaper reporters and correspondents American male journalists 20th-century American journalists