An extraordinary life

When I first started reading this book, I was a bit disappointed. The book jacket describes the book in the following way:

“From the woman who has reported on every president from Kennedy to Clinton for United Press International: a unique glimpse into the White House and a telling record of the ever-changing relationship between the presidency and the press.”

Because of this description, what I expected was a chronological history of her experiences as a reporter and an in depth look into each presidency.

But, instead, Thomas starts out by describing journalism and her early family life. In a following chapter, she talks about a favorite Café of hers, which she has frequented before, during, and after assignments over the years. In that same chapter, she discusses some reporters she worked with early on. In the next chapter, she describes how female journalists were barred from many important organizations for many years. And so on. Within each chapter are many anecdotes about the presidents as Thomas jumps back and forth from one era in time to the next.

It’s not until the second half of the book that she begins to directly discuss each president individually and in order (as well as each of the first ladies) from Kennedy to Clinton.

In addition, Thomas tends to repeat herself several times, so much so that I wondered if parts of this book had been written after gaps of time. And she also tends to explain some things in great detail while, in other cases, she makes comments that seem decipherable only to “insiders” which is kind of frustrating.

So, at first I was a bit frustrated by the organization (or lack thereof) of this book.

But, as I read on, I really began to like this book. It’s sort of like having a really long “conversation” with this impressive reporter as she discusses both her personal life and her work life and how they have intertwined over the many years she’s been in Washington.

Her philosophy, first and foremost, is that nothing should prevent her from asking the presidents the really tough questions so that the American people will be well informed. You can tell in most of her descriptions how dedicated she has always been to this philosophy.

That philosophy has earned her respect from her peers. It has sometimes earned her respect from the public and sometimes it has caused contempt. For example, in one chapter she describes being on vacation after the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation:

“Nixon had resigned and Doug (her husband) and I needed a break…We’d been in Guatemala a couple of days and one night were sitting in a restaurant having a fine time with margaritas in hand when a woman approached our table. ‘Aren’t you Helen Thomas?’ she asked me.
“I answered in the affirmative and she immediately launched into a diatribe against ‘you reporters,’ railing about Watergate and shaking her finger at me. ‘You’ve destroyed the greatest president who ever lived,’ she yelled.”
“I just looked at her and said, ‘Madam, have you heard the tapes?’”

I also got the impression that Helen Thomas scares the heck out of most presidents who have heard ahead of time about her reputation for no holds barred reporting and seen it first-hand during press conferences. But, at the same time, her personality seems to have won them over as she has actually been thrown birthday parties by presidents such as Clinton and received kind words from many others (usually after they’ve parted the White House, however). In one chapter, she relates what Sam Donaldson once said about her at an awards ceremony as he recalled a press office staff party that then President Jimmy Carter arrived at:

“Of course, Helen started out polite,” said Sam. “’Hello, Mr. President, now about your energy program’…well, of course, Carter ran way. So if you want to have a president at your party, don’t invite Helen or keep the door closed. But she taught me a valuable lesson: Never stop working.”

And that’s the thing. This lady is dedicated the her job. And like I said before, reading this book in like having a conversation with her: A conversation where she opens up completely about what she has learned about the presidents and the presidency and what she hasn’t been able to learn about it. It’s also very interesting to read how journalism has changed over the years.

One of the biggest changes she notes has to do with access. Lyndon B. Johnson used to invite reporters to his ranch, giving “reporters the closest look they have ever had into the home life of a president.” During the Kennedy days, according to Thomas, “reporters went in and out of the Oval Office and I became a familiar face to JFK as part of the UPI team.” With each subsequent presidency, access has decreased pretty significantly.

Thomas also exhibits a great sense of humor and a real warmth in this book and you get the impression that if you ever met her you’d like her (unless you’re like the lady in Guatemala).

I laughed out loud at a number of points when reading this book and much of it had to do with her descriptions of how the Presidents and/or first ladies would make fun of themselves during annual press dinners. At other times, the humor is self-deprecating and comes from Thomas' reactions to certain events going on around her.

Thomas also deviates from the presidents themselves to discuss some of the other people in Washington who made up the news, including press secretaries. She even devotes a chapter to stories about being aboard Air Force One. There is an interesting story about turbulence interrupting a Mexican dinner and another story about bored reporters on the campaign trail watching the movie Fargo more times than they could count until it became a Rocky Horror-esque experience.

One of the most interesting chapters is the bizarre life story of Martha Jennings Mitchell, the wife of one of the “key players” in the Watergate scandal (John Mitchell).

There are some cute anecdotes too. I know cute seems like a silly word, but it’s a good way to describe some of the little stories she throws in that help put real human faces on the famous names of past presidents. For example, the Johnson root beer story:

“Johnson had developed a taste for a certain brand of root beer and the flight crew packed enough on board for Johnson but for no one else, since nobody else ever ordered the stuff…As it was, Master Sgt. Joy Ayers, who had been LBJ’s personal steward aboard the plane, requested and got a transfer because of a root beer incident. Johnson had consumed all six bottles aboard and Ayers unfortunately was the one to tell him they were out of it.
‘How many times do I have to tell you that I want diet root beer on this plane at all times?’ Johnson screamed. ‘It’s not a difficult transaction. You can buy the f—kin stuff anywhere Sergeant. I want an order sent out to all Air Force cases: stock root beer.’
“The crew learned to stock as much as they thought was necessary…until one trip, LBJ ordered his usual root beer and then told the crew to serve it to the rest of the staff and the press pool.
“Then LBJ called for another one and (was told) ‘We don’t have anymore’.
‘That’s funny,’ said Johnson. ‘I just talked to the company president yesterday and I didn’t get the impression they were going out of business.’”

Finally, Thomas’ job not only brought her close to presidents, it took her all over the world and brought her up close and personal with just about every major news event from the 1960s on. She does a good job (even if it’s not in chronological order) of relating these events. And, subsequently, she has renewed my faith in the importance of journalism.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone interesting in politics or journalism or just looking for a good read that illuminates some of our national history.