Tonight: President Obama, First Lady Will Attend Exclusive Alfalfa ...

Members-only club founded to celebrate birthday of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee...
President Obama will deliver remarks at the 99th Annual Alfalfa Club Dinner at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC this evening. First Lady Michelle Obama will also attend the 7:15 PM affair. The dinner is always closed to press, and always held on the last Saturday each January. The private, exclusive membership of about 200 is former Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, Supreme Court Justices, lawmakers, and powerful business leaders. Each is allowed to bring two guests to the affair. The menu is always the same: Filet Mignon and Lobster, so the steak-loving First Couple should be pleased.

President Obama's remarks will be comedic, as is the tradition at the Alfalfa Club. It was founded in 1913, with its primary function being to celebrate the birthday of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee (born Jan. 19, 1807). President Obama spoke at the dinner in 2009. The club didn't admit African Americans as members until 1974, and women had to wait until 1994.

"This dinner began almost one hundred years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of General Robert E. Lee," President Obama said. "If he were here with us tonight, the General would be 202 years old. And very confused."

Presidential Alfalfa Club members...
During the course of the dinner, the Club's leadership will nominate a presidential candidate to serve for the year; the candidate is then required to make a speech. Several past candidates went on to become US Presidents after being nominated, including Richard Nixon in 1965 (elected in 1968), Ronald Reagan in 1974 (elected in 1980), and George W. Bush in 1998 (elected in 2000). In 2001, the Club's presidential nomination went to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). He had no luck with the US presidency. President Bush's father, President George H. W. Bush, is in DC this weekend: He and his son, Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida, met with President Obama in the Oval Office on Friday evening. The White House released a photo of the meeting, but did not include it on President Obama's official schedule for the day (above).

The Alfalfa Club's name is a reference to the plant's supposed willingness to do anything for a drink.

*Bush photo by Pete Souza/White House; top photo by AP.