Many annual dinners have been cancelled or downsized due to deaths or political crises . The dinner was cancelled in 1930 due to the death of former president William Howard Taft ; in 1942 , following the United States ' entry into World War II ; and in 1951 , over what President Harry S. Truman called the " uncertainty of the world situation " . In 1981 , Ronald Reagan did not attend because he was recuperating after the attempted assassination the previous month , but he did phone in and told a joke about the shooting . President Donald Trump did not attend the dinners in 2017 and 2018 , but indicated in a tweet that he might attend in 2019 since this dinner did not feature a comedian as the featured speaker . However , on April 5 , 2019 , he announced that he again would not attend , calling the dinner " so boring , and so negative , " instead hosting a political rally that evening in Wisconsin . On April 22 , Trump ordered a boycott of the dinner , with White House Cabinet Secretary Bill McGinley , who oversees the cabinet agencies for the president , assembling the agencies ' chiefs of staff to issue a directive that members of the administration not attend . However , some members of the administration attended pre - and post - dinner parties
attempted assassination
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
White House Correspondents' Association