“first lady of the press” returns: helen thomas

Commonly referred to as “The First Lady of the Press,” former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas will deliver the keynote address for Women’s History Month. Helen brings her considerable knowledge, experience, and insider perspective to Emory during an auspicious time for women in politics. With Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Speaker of the House and Hillary Clinton as a female contender for the White House in 2008, Helen returns as a woman from Emory’s past—she delivered the Women’s History Month keynote address in March 2004—to speak about, among other things, the role of women in politics today and in the future.

Renowned as a trailblazer, Helen broke through barriers for women reporters while covering every president since John F. Kennedy. For fifty-seven years, Helen also served as White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI). She left that post to join Hearst Newspapers as a syndicated columnist. Helen was featured in Stephen Colbert’s “audition tape” for White House press secretary, a piece that was shown at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. She is the author of four books, the most recent of which is Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public; that volume is now in reprint.

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 for the old, now-defunct Washington Daily News. In 1943 Helen joined UPI and the Washington Press Corps. For twelve years, Helen wrote radio news for UPI.   Eventually, she covered news of the federal government, including the FBI and Capitol Hill.

In November 1960 Helen began covering then president-elect John F. Kennedy, following him to the White House in January 1961 as a member of the UPI team. It was during this first White House assignment that Helen began closing presidential press conferences with “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Helen was the only woman print journalist traveling with President Richard Nixon to China during his breakthrough trip in 1972. She has had the distinction of traveling around the world several times with every U.S. president from Nixon to George W. Bush, during the course of which she covered every economic summit. The World Almanac has cited her as one of the Twenty-Five Most Influential Women in America.

Join us on Monday, March 31, at 7:00 p.m. in Tull Auditorium of Emory Law School for an evening with journalist and author Helen Thomas. A book-signing and reception will follow in the Hunter Atrium.