Thomas, Helen

Reporter Helen Thomas covered 10 presidents and nearly 75 years of what she calls Washington's “kitchen sink” beat. The former dean, and doyenne, of the White House press corps, whose seniority allowed her to end presidential press conferences with “Thank you, Mr. President” until the George W. Bush administration rescinded that honor, is also the author of several books and was a newspaper columnist for Hearst Newspapers since stepping down as White House bureau chief for United Press International in 2000. Thomas retired on June 7, 2010.

Born in Winchester, Kentucky, on August 4, 1920, Thomas was the seventh of nine surviving children. Her father had immigrated to Kentucky in 1892 from a part of Syria now known as Lebanon, followed by her mother, as his bride, in 1902. In 1924, the Thomas family followed relatives to Detroit, where Thomas's father bought a grocery store. Thomas attended public schools in Detroit and graduated from Wayne State University in 1942 with a bachelor's degree in English. Shortly after graduation, she traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit a cousin and decided to stay.

She took her first journalism job as a copy girl, earning $17.50 a week at the Washington Daily News. A few months into the job, she was assigned local stories as a cub reporter, until her Detroit roots, which had led her to join a union and then participate in a strike, got her fired. The United Press quickly hired [Page 1455]Thomas to write wire stories and start her days at 5:30 a.m. Thomas continued working the “dawn patrol” until, in 1955, she convinced her bosses she deserved the beat that today defines her: Washington and the White House.

Thomas was president of the National Woman's Press Club in 1959-60 and became the first woman officer of the National Press Club in 1971, after the club had excluded women for 90 years, when she became financial secretary. Also in 1971, Thomas married her competition-Associated Press reporter Douglas Cornell. About five years into their marriage, Cornell developed Alzheimer's disease; he died in 1982. In 1974, United Press International promoted Thomas to White House Bureau Chief-a position she held until stepping down in 2000 to protest the acquisition of UPI by News World Communications, the “media arm” of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church. Since then, Thomas has covered the White House as a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. She has written several books about press and politics, a memoir, and a children's book.

Thomas has been honored with journalism awards from Ohio University, the University of Texas, Columbia University, and Wayne State University. In addition, Thomas has received lifetime achievement awards from the International Women's Media Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists. She has received the William Allen White Journalism Award, the National Press Club Fourth Estate Award, and the Bob Considine Award. Brown University, George Washington University, Michigan State University, and St. Bonaventure University have recognized Thomas with honorary doctorates.