[The following is a FirstDraft -- a machine-generated transcript by our AI, Margaret. She's good, but neither perfect nor human. There will likely be a handful of errors. Please check any quotes against the primary video source. Thank you.]

  Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam President. Mr. President. Good evening. Nancy and I are delighted to share these exciting moments with the White House Correspondents Association. The press is so much a part of my daily life at the White House. It's only fitting that I take this annual opportunity to pay tribute to the Fourth Estate. I should start off by warning you if you thought my jokes were bad at the gridiron, you ain't seen nothing yet.

  I'd like to begin each day by listening. I like to I begin by listening to Larry Speaks. 915 Briefing. That's where I got tonight's material. Sitting in the front row of those briefings are the top network and wire service correspondent. That's $2 million worth of talent. And some of my best ideas come from their questions. Just the other day, I heard Bob Novak down in the press room.

  Now he's my favorite. A day without Novak is like a day without darkness. And I know some of the things that you're all saying. And it may be true that the White House is slightly more has a slightly more conservative voice now. I used to be able to read the West Wing's leaks in The Washington Post. Now I have to read them in Human Events. Don Regan wanted to cheer me up today.

  He said tonight you're going to address the group that accurately and competently reports on the Washington scene. I said I thought that's funny. I thought I was addressing the White House correspondents. Yeah, but this is one night of the year when we can all put our differences aside. So I want to thank Lou Cannon for lending me this beautiful tux with the. With the target painted on the back.

  Quite seriously. It is good to be here tonight. The president and the press have a unique relationship. It's my job to solve all the country's problems. And it's your job to make sure that no one finds out about it. I called up the New York Times the other day and said, Fellows, can't you for once give me the benefit of the doubt? And the next day there was an editorial headlined, We doubt he's of any benefit.

  You know, it's true now that I'm wearing hearing aids and it's made a big difference. I can actually hear the sound of the helicopter over Sam Donaldson roaring. But photo ops are changing. The old Deaver rule was no questions, and the new Buchanan rule is no answers. I understand from the business pages that UPI is in financial trouble. So I called the other day about a $4,000 bill they owe us from the last campaign.

  The tape recorded Voice of Helen Thomas came on the line, said, If this is a mean G.M., come on over. If this is Dick Darman, I already interviewed you ten times this year. It's been a it's been a busy second term. Just last week, I went to the circus and when I was under the big top, all I heard was buy me popcorn, buy me candy, buy me a cone. And that's the last time I'm taking the cabinet to the circus.

  I'll never forget. When I went to my first circus, I knew Ringling when he didn't even have a brother. Oh. So you see, presidents have their problems, too. And sincerely, I know that all of you do. I know how hard you work. And I see you sometimes at the end of a long trip or whatever, and you're so tired that you're about to fall. And then we had one more meeting or one more speech to the schedule, and you're always there and you keep going.

  And I've always been impressed and sometimes touched by your unflagging efforts to maintain your professionalism and good cheer. Presidents always get mad at the press somewhere along the line, and it's understandable. We don't always like the spin you put on a story or the facts you sometimes leave out and the assertions that you sometimes include. Jack Kennedy got so mad he canceled his subscription to the Herald Tribune.

  Thomas Jefferson got so mad that he devoted half his second inaugural address to the scurrilous DS bandied about by the press. But no one appreciated the importance of a free press more than Thomas Jefferson and John Kennedy. And me, too. We're all Americans together. We all believe in the same ideals. We just disagree sometimes on how best to preserve and protect our beloved country and our beloved freedoms.

  It's good to remember tonight what we have in common. The mission we share and the great love that impels us as we do our work each day. And there's no better time to do that remembering than this lovely spring evening in the capital city of America and the year of our Lord, 1985. It's been good to be here. And for you folks on the beat tomorrow. Sleep late. I'm going to. Tonight.