Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas (born August 4, 1920 in Winchester, Kentucky) is a news service reporter and dean of the White House press corps. She was White House Bureau Chief for United Press International (UPI), where she was employed for 57 years until resigning in 2000 when UPI was acquired by News World Communications. News World owns The Washington Times; Thomas claimed she resigned because of News World's ties to Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Thomas then became a White House correspondent and King Features Syndicate columnist.

Related Topics:
August 4 - 1920 - Winchester, Kentucky - News service - White House - Press corps - United Press International - 2000 - News World Communications - The Washington Times - Sun Myung Moon - Unification Church - Correspondent - King Features Syndicate - Columnist

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Known as “The First Lady of the Press,” Thomas has covered every President since John F. Kennedy. Born in Winchester, Kentucky, Helen was raised in Detroit, Michigan where she attended public schools and later graduated from Wayne State University. Upon leaving college, she served as a copy girl on the now-defunct Washington Daily News.

Related Topics:
John F. Kennedy - Winchester, Kentucky - Detroit, Michigan - Wayne State University - Washington Daily News

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After joining UPI in 1943, Thomas wrote radio news and later covered Federal government news; her beats included the FBI and Capitol Hill.

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1943 - FBI - Capitol Hill

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In November, 1960, Helen began covering then President-elect John F. Kennedy, following him to the White House in January, 1961 as a UPI correspondent. During this assignment, Thomas became known for closing presidential press conferences with the tagline “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Related Topics:
1960 - 1961 - Press conferences

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Thomas was the only woman print journalist to travel with then-President Richard M. Nixon to China during his breakthrough trip in January, 1972. She has traveled around the world several times with Presidents Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and has covered every Economic Summit. She was named one of the “25 Most Influential Women in America.” by the World Almanac.

Related Topics:
Richard M. Nixon - China - 1972 - Gerald Ford - Jimmy Carter - Ronald Reagan - George H. W. Bush - Bill Clinton - George W. Bush - World Almanac

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Helen Thomas has written three books, including her latest, Thanks for the Memories Mr. President: Wit and Wisdom from the Front Row at the White House.

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During the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's resignation, Thomas was recipient of numerous late-night phone calls from Martha Mitchell, wife of then-Attorney General John N. Mitchell. Mrs. Mitchell, in her calls to Thomas, spoke out against Nixon early in the scandal—but paid an enormous price: according to Thomas, she was cruelly discredited and abandoned by her family and she later died of cancer. But to Thomas, she was a true patriot.

Related Topics:
Watergate - Martha Mitchell - John N. Mitchell - Patriot

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“Perhaps it is fitting that she died on Memorial Day, the holiday of tribute to the nation's war dead. In a sense she was a personal victim of the political war of Watergate, and one of its very few heroines,” wrote Thomas.

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Beginning in 2003, Thomas sits in the back of the conference room instead of the first chair in the front row, is rarely called upon in press conferences, and no longer ends Presidential news conferences by saying “Thank you, Mr. President.” Speculated reasons for her new status range from Bush administration displeasure with her opinions to the change in her role from a reporter to a opinion columnist, a job that is traditionally not represented in the White House press pool.

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In July 2005 Thomas was quoted in the newspaper The Hill http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/072805.html saying "The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is one more liar." Thomas added, "I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does." Several days later, Thomas expressed outrage at The Hill for publishing her comments.http://drudgereport.com/flash3ht.htm

Related Topics:
July - The Hill

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She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1986.

Related Topics:
Michigan Women's Hall of Fame - 1986

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