Helen Thomas was born in Winchester, Kentucky in August 4^th 1920 to Lebanese immigrant parents. At an early age the family moved to Detroit, Michigan and it was here that Helen attended Wayne University and graduated in 1942 with a bachelor’s degree.From a young age Helen new she wanted to follow a career path in journalism and took up a job as a copygirl for the Washington Daily News, which at that time was struggling to survive and subsequently laid Helen off before closing its doors completely.

After several general journalistic roles Helen began covering federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and in the late 1950’s she went on to reporting on the President-elect John F Kennedy in 1960.During the Richard Nixon administration, Helen was chosen as the only female journalist to accompany him on his historic visit to China in 1972.  Her success at traveling with Presidents saw her covering Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and both Bush’s around the world.

Helen’s position as a White House Correspondent was recognized in 1993 when she made a cameo appearance in the movie ‘Dave’ which starred Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver Laura Linney and Bonnie Hunt.After several years as the White House Bureau Chief for UPI, Helen resigned in 2000 but continued covering Presidential news as the White House Correspondent for the Hearst Corporation.

Becoming known for her difficult, direct style of questioning she was relegated to the back of the press room at the White House and has on occasions caused a riff between herself and President G W Bush, who for three years did not call on her during briefings in retaliation for her probing questions. When finally Bush welcomed her back into the fold Helen still didn’t become mealy mouthed and instantly asked the President,’ I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet, your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth.What was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil, quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?

During her career Helen Thomas has been recognized for her work as a journalist on several occasions: in 1976 she was named one of the first 25 most influential women in America and in 1986 she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.On May 20, 2007, Thomas received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Siena College in Loudonville, New York for her contributions to breaking the gender barrier in journalism.

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