The History Of The National Prayer Breakfast, Explained

According to the website for the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, 

In April of 1935, nineteen business executives in Seattle, Washington, met together to face a critical situation in the life of their city. Looking for ways to deal with the tensions and fractures that often accompany public life, they turned to the 2,000- year-old story of Jesus of Nazareth - at a meal.

Drawing upon biblical practice, as described in John 21, this meeting was akin to the appearance of Jesus to several of his disciples after his resurrection. The meal is also associated with Jesus miraculously aiding the fishermen in their catch and with Peter's affirmations of his love of God.

The 19 executives in Seattle were led by Pastor Abraham Vereide; his group was called the International Council for Christian Leadership (later The Fellowship Foundation or The Family). Vereide moved the event to Washington DC in 1953, the year often referenced as the first official National Prayer Breakfast. It featured Congressmen, including some who had participated in earlier meetings of the group. 

President Dwight D. Eisenhower also attended and subsequently established the event as annual, designating the first Friday in February as the day it was to be held. Since 1953, the National Prayer Breakfast has expanded to become a multi-day event, with the first Thursday in February as the day of opening remarks. 

At the National Prayer Breakfast in 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave dedicatory remarks. He expressed his belief that,

prayer is just simply a necessity, because by prayer I believe we mean an effort to get in touch with the Infinite. We know that even our prayers are imperfect. Even our supplications are imperfect. Of course they are. We are imperfect human beings. But if we can back off from those problems and make the effort, then there is something that ties us all together. We have begun in our grasp of that basis of understanding, which is that all free government is firmly founded in a deeply-felt religious faith.

Eisenhower spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast again in 1956. Eisenhower also incorporated prayer into his Cabinet meetings and Congress established a prayer room as the tradition grabbed hold. 

It wasn't until 1961 that another US president attended the National Prayer Breakfast. Newly inaugurated President John F. Kennedy was present that year and, in 1962, he took part in the freshly named event: the Annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast. 

Between 1953 and 1969, the honorary chair of the National Prayer Breakfast was Senator Frank Carlson. Carlson was a Republican from Kansas and an advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Carlson was essential in securing Eisenhower's participation.

Carlson served as honorary chair and, at several meetings, functioned as one of the main speakers. Carlson and Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels, spoke at the first meeting of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, in 1953. Just one year earlier, their efforts helped establish the National Day of Prayer in the United States. The legislation read,

The President shall set aside and proclaim a suitable day each year, other than a Sunday, as a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals. 

The National Day of Prayer takes place on the first Thursday of May each year. 

Since the National Prayer Breakfast first took place in Washington DC, main speakers have included the likes of Reverend Billy Graham, Chief Justice Earl Warren, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Dr. Ben Carson, Bono (lead singer of U2) and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. With speakers who run the gamut, the main address at the National Prayer Breakfast necessary ranges in terms of content, perspective, and intent. 

While the main speaker changes each year (and is not announced in advance), the participation of US presidents has remained consistent. Every president of the United States has addressed the National Prayer Breakfast since 1953. The President of the United States speaks on the first morning of the event.

Attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast have varied over the years, too. As the program of the National Prayer Breakfast has expanded, the invitation-only event is attended by 3,500 individuals from across the globe.

The National Prayer Breakfast is intended to be a non-denominational, bipartisan event that promotes unity through prayer and faith. The Fellowship Foundation (or The Family, as it was known) oversaw the National Prayer Breakfast until 2023, when a group of Congress members pushed to established a non-profit group to host the event. 

Largely the result of concerns over funding and external influence, Democratic Senator Chris Coons from Delaware explained in 2023:

When Sen. [James] Lankford, [R-Okla.], and I were co-chairs of the National Prayer Breakfast a number of years ago, there were a lot of questions raised about the finances, about who was invited, about how it was structured... And we frankly had to admit, as co-chairs, we didn't know as much as we felt we should have.

The goal was to make the National Prayer Breakfast smaller, according to former Senator Mark Pryor from Arkansas, lowering the attendees to as few as 300. As of 2026, however, the number of invitees was in the thousands. 

The United States Congress and the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation work closely together to organize the titular event. The National Prayer Breakfast was briefly relocated to the Capitol Building between 2023 but, in 2026, shifted back to the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC.

The menu in 2026, according to individuals who were present, included "assorted bagels, cream cheese, oatmeal, spinach quiche; fresh cut fruit, coffee, orange juice and water."

In the words of American United for the Separation of Church and State, the National Prayer Breakfast is,

an annual Christian Nationalist ritual in service of the blatantly false claim that America was founded as a Christian nation: a nakedly political prayer breakfast in the nation’s capital... the event for most of its 73-year history has been the result of an unholy alliance between government officials and a secretive Christian Nationalist organization known as The Fellowship, or The Family.

This is one stance on the National Prayer Breakfast and its place in US governance, but represents the divisive nature of the event. Additional groups such as Interfaith Alliance take issue with the focus on Christianity in the group, while the overall intolerance of the group with respect to LGBTQ+ and minority rights has been widely criticized.

Calls for the president of the United States to no longer take part in the National Prayer Breakfast have not been met. When President Joe Biden spoke at the event in 2024, he used it as an opportunity to rally the audience to "stand against hate," reminding them:

We have really tough, tough differences. We really go at one another. But... let's remember who the hell we are. We're the United States of America. It's all about dignity and respect. So let's practice it.

At the event in 2026, President Donald Trump advocated for the role of the Commander-in-Chief in religion:

I’ve done more for religion than any other president. I want to tell you that... certainly modern-day presidents... they bailed out on you. They bailed out. 

The implication is that US presidents will continue to be involved in the event for the foreseeable future.