Author and veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas held nothing back April 12 as she shared inside stories of covering nine presidencies and blasted the White House for going to war without what she calls a valid reason.

“Every American should know the fate of the country is in their hands,” she told the standing-room only crowd of 500 gathered in the newly renovated Decker Center Forum. “I do believe that the country is ready for a big change.”

Thomas has served nearly 50 years as correspondent and White House bureau chief for United Press International, and now as a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. Often called the “First Lady of the Press,” Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy. She has traveled around the world with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H. Bush, and Clinton, and continues to cover the presidency of George W. Bush.

“I wake up and say, ‘Who do I hate today,’ and that’s how you write a column,” Thomas told students in the class “Media and Politics,” taught by English Professor Terry Dalton.

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Ms. Thomas is the guest of honor at dinner.


“The country, in my opinion, has never been more soulless: Forty-eight million people without health insurance; Kids go to school with no breakfast; Schools are falling down,” she told the packed house.


Ms. Thomas with President Joan Develin Coley.