Information AboutHelen Thomas |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HELEN THOMAS | |
| american reporters and correspondents | |
| lebanese americans | |
| arab americans | |
| american journalists | |
| people from detroit | |
| michigan writers | |
| 1920 births | |
| living people | |
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Helen Thomas (born August 4 , 1920 ) is a noted News Service reporter, a Hearst Newspapers columnist, and member of the White House Press Corps . She served for fifty-seven years as a correspondent and White House bureau chief for United Press International (UPI). Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy , was the first woman officer of the National Press Club , was the first woman member and president of the White House Correspondents Association , and the first woman member of the Gridiron Club . She has written four books, including her latest, ''Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public''. EARLY LIFE AND CAREER Thomas was born in Winchester, Kentucky to Lebanese immigrants.''Contemporary Heroes and Heroines''. Vol. 3. Gale Research, 1998; ''Encyclopedia of World Biography'' Supplement, Vol. 19. Gale Group, 1999; ''Current Biography'', H.W. Wilson Co., 1993. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan and attended Wayne University , graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1942. Thomas' first job in journalism was as a copygirl for the now-defunct '' Washington Daily News '', but shortly after she was promoted to cub reporter she was laid off as part of massive cutbacks at the paper. Thomas joined UPI in 1943 where she wrote news on women's topics for their radio wire service. Later in the decade she wrote their "Names in the News" column, and after 1955 she covered federal agencies such as the Department Of Justice , Federal Bureau Of Investigation , and the Department Of Health, Education, And Welfare . Thomas served as president of the Women's National Press Club 1959–60. PRESIDENTIAL CORRESPONDENT In November 1960 , Thomas 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 as the Sitting Buddha and closed presidential Press Conferences with the tagline "Thank you, Mr. President." Thomas was the only female print journalist to travel with President Richard M. Nixon to China during his Historic Trip in 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 later became White House Bureau Chief for UPI, where she was employed until her resignation on May 17, and a Columnist for King Features Syndicate ( Hearst Corporation ). Bush administration Traditionally, Thomas sat in the front row and asked the first question during White House press conferences, but according to Thomas in a 2006 '' Daily Show '' interview, this ended because she no longer represents a Wire Service . Thomas has since been moved to the back row during press conferences, although she still sits in the front row during press briefings. She is called upon at briefings on a daily basis but no longer ends Presidential news conferences saying "Thank you, Mr. President." Asked why she is now seated in the back row, she said, "Because they don't like me... I ask too mean questions." {Link without Title} On March 21 , 2006 , Thomas was called upon directly by President Bush for the first time in three years. Thomas asked Bush about Iraq: Bush responded by discussing the overall War on Terror, and stated as a reason for the invasion, that Saddam Hussein chose to deny inspectors and not to disclose. Thomas was criticized by conservative commentators for her exchange with Bush. [http://mediamatters.org/items/200603270001 Thomas has publicly expressed her opinion about President Bush. After a speech at a Society Of Professional Journalists banquet, she told an autograph seeker who asked why she was sad, "I'm covering the worst president in American history." The autograph seeker was a sports writer for the '' Daily Breeze '' and her comments were published. After she was not called upon during a press conference for the first time in over four decades, she wrote to the president to apologize.Ann McFeatters, "Thank You, Ms. Thomas", '' Ms. '', summer 2006. She also told '' The Hill '' "The day Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I'll kill myself. All we need is another liar... I think he'd like to run, but it would be a sad day for the country if he does."1 At a student journalism conference hosted by the Center For American Progress on June 2 , 2006 , Thomas lambasted journalists who, according to her, did not give accurate, critical reports on the Iraq War. She said she hopes for the return of hard reporting, and that the student audience should be "out on the street" in protest instead of sitting in the conference room. At the July 18, 2006 White House press briefing, Thomas remarked, "The United States is not that helpless. It could have stopped the bombardment of Lebanon. We have that much control with the Israelis...we have gone for collective punishment against all of Lebanon and Palestine." Press Secretary Tony Snow responded, "Thank you for the Hezbollah view." {Link without Title} AWARDS
On July 12, 2007, Thomas accused President Bush of starting the Iraq War as his "war of choice" and insisted that he alone could end it anytime he wanted to by handing it over to the United Nations. In the new pressroom, Ms. Thomas has been seated back on the front row. TRIVIA
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