Helen Thomas Dead: Veteran White House Reporter Dies At 92
Helen Thomas, the trailblazing reporter and columnist who was known as the "Dean of the White House Press Corps," has died at 92.
The Gridiron Club, the press group that counted Thomas as its first female member, announced the news in an email, Politico first reported. The Associated Press said Thomas had been sick "for a long time."
Thomas was also the first woman to join the White House Correspondents' Association, and served as White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI) for 39 years. (She then moved to Hearst, where she became a columnist with increasingly open political views, though she retained her prime spot at White House press briefings.) She covered every president from Kennedy to Obama. She was the only woman who traveled with Richard Nixon on his trip to China. She was the one who ended every presidential press conference by saying, on behalf of her fellow journalists, "Thank you, Mr. President."
Thomas became known for her tough, relentless questioning of presidents and press secretaries. It was not an uncommon sight to see a president repeatedly saying, "Helen—Helen—Helen," as he tried to get a word in edgewise. She became a special foe of the Bush administration, whose policies she openly loathed. President Bush famously refused to call on her at press conferences for years at a time, perhaps due to exchanges like this one, as described by the AP:
In March 2005, she confronted Bush with the proposition that "your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis" and every justification for the attack proved false."Why did you really want to go to war?" she demanded.
When Bush began explaining his rationale, she interjected: "They didn't do anything to you, or to our country."
"Excuse me for a second," Bush replied. "They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al-Qaeda. That's where al-Qaeda trained."
"I'm talking about Iraq," she said.
It was that outspokenness that led to Thomas's resignation from her White House job in 2010. After she was recorded on tape saying she thought Israelis should "get the hell out of Palestine," the ensuing controversy forced her to step down.
Even so, on Saturday, her former colleagues remembered Thomas for the paths she carved. |
