Helen Thomas, Longtime White House Correspondent, Dead at 92

By Sean R. Sedam 

Helen Thomas, a fixture in the White House press corps for nearly half a century and who blazed a trail for women in journalism, died Saturday in her Washington, DC, apartment, according to reports.

She was 92.

The Gridiron Club, an organization of journalists of which Thomas was the first woman member, announced in an email to members that the veteran reporter and columnist died Saturday after a long illness, Politico reported.

Thomas spent much of her career with United Press International, covering presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. She left UPI in 2000 and became a columnist with Hearst Newspapers, Politico reported.

"I had the honor of working with Helen at UPI, where she was a rock star and an inspiration to generations of journalists," said Patch Senior Regional Editor Danna Walker, a former editor and Capitol Hill reporter for the wire service. "You will hear women journalists all over Washington say they owe her a great debt, and they do. She started out covering Jacqueline Kennedy and writing about fashion and other 'women's news,' and she ended up taking 10 presidents to task as the 'Dean of the White House Press Corps.'" 

The title of her 1999 autobiography, Front Row at the White House, was a nod to the seat of honor given to her in the White House briefing room.

"She was a stalwart, and she never 'phoned it in,'" Walker said. "She helped me personally in my career. It was my great privilege to have known her." 

Thomas’ career ended in controversy in 2010, when she said in an interview with the website www.rabbilive.com, that Israel should “get the hell out of Palestine,” according to cnn.com.

Two weeks after her comments sparked a firestorm of criticism, Thomas left the White House, Politico reported.

She would never to return to the press corps where she had gained fame by closing news conferences with “Thank you, Mr. President.”

Read more at Politico.com.