Monitor's Sperling Is New Gridiron President

GODFREY SPERLING JR., senior Washington columnist of The Christian Science Monitor, has been elected president of the Gridiron Club of Washington. He succeeds David Broder, columnist of the Washington Post. Elected vice president was Dan K. Thomasson, vice president for news for Scripps Howard newspapers and editor of the Scripps Howard News Service.

Gridiron, as the club is generally called, is a 105-year-old organization of 60 of Washington's premier print journalists. It is best known for its annual spring dinner roast in song and satire of Washington's top elected and appointed officials.

Previously Gridiron's vice president, Mr. Sperling this past weekend assumed his new position and addressed the club's regular midwinter banquet. Guest speakers were Barber Conable, president of the World Bank, and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D) of W.Va.

Sperling is also host of the Monitor's long-running Sperling breakfasts, at which print journalists regularly grill leading newsmakers. A former chief of the Monitor's Washington bureau, he is the first Monitor staff member to become president of Gridiron.