Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times

by Helen Thomas

Book Overview

"Thank You, Mr. President." From the woman who has reported on every president from Kennedy to Clinton comes a privileged glimpse into the White House -- and a telling record of the ever-changing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684849119
• ISBN13: 9780684849119
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

very informative

Written by a professional,told like a story teller on the front porch somewhere in a small town. The experiences of eight presidents and the insight she brings to you make a great story in itself. The other part of the story with her views intertwined make this a great book that sometimes sounds like fiction but we all know is fact, sometimes to our disdain. Read it and enjoy.

A Must Read for Political Afficionados

If you are looking into a behind-the-scenes look at how the White House interacts with the press corps, told by the premiere White House reporter of all time, this is the book for you. Thomas tells her wonderful story in an easy-to-read style that makes this book very, very hard to put down. I read it in less than two days. This will make a valuable addition to any political buff's library.

It's a joy to read.

The hours that I spent reading Helen Thomas' book have been a joy. If Helen has been re-reading her book, she must have filled in many more stories that have not been told. What a life Helen has had! As I was reading the book, I felt like going into the press room doing the routine of a White House correspondent every day and I could imagine the closeness that the correspondents had with the Presidents in the early years. "Don't lie" - her advice to any President. I hope journalists of today would follow her example of trying to be factual and objective, a quality that has been lost in the quest for circulation. The book has aroused my interest in the life of White House correspondents so much so that I have made a lot of efforts trying to track down "Thank You, Mr President" written in 1946 by Helen's colleague Merriman Smith. I have just started reading "some of the things that were overlooked in the big news of the day" as told by Smitty.

Great read! Interesting insights on 8 presidencies.

Helen Thomas tells her story of nearly 40 years at the White House with a great balance of history, personal experiences, and humor.Ms. Thomas is a fine writer who keeps the reader engaged in wanting to learn more about the office of the presidency from a behind the scenes view, the role of the media, the presidents' family life, and Ms. Thomas' own experience in becoming a Washington institution. It has altered how I view certain presidents, especially LBJ. I have also gained a new perspective on the media's role as a check and balance on our government (well, at least the responsible journalists).I was surprised at how quickly I finished the book. Well done!!

A Truly Unique Witness to History!

I believe it is near impossible to read this fascinating book and not come away with a tremendous admiration for Helen Thomas. Approaching 80 years young, Thomas continues to cover the White House as Dean of the White House Press Corps, and Chief White House Correspondent for United Press International (UPI). Thomas has covered the White House since the early days of the Kennedy administration. She has been daily witness to history in the making through her daily presence at the White House, or on travels with the President of the United States.Over the terms of eight U.S. Presidents, Thomas has clearly proven herself to be a fair, credible, and objective representative of the news media. Although "news" has increasingly become a cut-throat, opportunistic, money grubbing industry, Helen Thomas seems to have maintained perspective. She seems to be a principled, fair, yet uncompromising human being in an arena that is generally more interested in "scoops," "ratings" and "sensationalism." In her faithfulness to the finest tenets of her vocation, Thomas works hard to report "without a personal spin." While she has reported everything from the most boring and mundane -- to some of the most critical events in history -- Thomas appears to have done so in all fairness and with a minimum of personal bias. Titled in reference to the front row seat she occupies at the White House during press briefings, Thomas, despite often unflattering reports; albeit fairly represented, appears to have earned the respect of almost every President she has ever covered. In this retrospective, she is able to acknowledge her own flaws and limitations. As a woman who has earned the esteem she has, Helen somehow has remained at heart, a fair and humble reporter. "What you see is who she is" to turn a phrase. Yet, it is equally important to note that Thomas' objectivity and fairmindedness has never made her a soft reporter or a pushover. Thomas is indeed a feisty, hardworking, often impatient and intolerant human being. She is not satisfied with lies and attempts to obfuscate the truth. She can quite obviously be annoyingly in her singleminded quest for the the bottom line of a story. In addition, Thomas possesses an innate nose for anything less than full disclosure. She will pursue a story until she has a true read on it -- without a thought to whose nose she may put out of joint in the process.In "Front Row", Thomas puts aside her usual objectivity and shares many of her long held personal views of the men who have occupied the Office of the President of the United States, their spouses and the staff who have surrounded them. Her account is a fascinating portrait of the strengths and weaknesses of each administration she has witnessed. I indeed hope that some of those whom Thomas has mentored -- directly or indirectly -- have taken her lessons to heart and brought their learnings into their work. In an era when the news media is often