![]() She’s been a pioneer, she paved the way, she made the breakthrough for all of us and I think we are indebted for life.” 383)Īt Sarah McClendon’s 90 th birthday celebration, hosted by the National Press Club in 2001, Helen Thomas said, “Her greatest contribution, I think, is that there’s never been any woman in our country who has ever helped newspaper women more. Furthermore, she puts them to shame and makes them act.” (p. Her questions have made presidents squirm and I’m sure that she’s also made their blood boil – but they always answer her. President, Sarah wrote, “The top print journalist in my book is Helen Thomas… She was a real door opener for women.” (p.240-241) Helen returned the praise in her own memoir, Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times, declaring Sarah “an icon in the White House pressroom. She’s got the nerve to press it and press it through.” ![]() In an oral history interview with the Washington Press Corp Foundation, Sarah named Helen Thomas the reporter she most admired, saying, “She never fails to ask the questions that should be asked. Sarah McClendon poses a question to LBJ in the White House Press Room. Most importantly, each woman broke down barriers for generations of female journalists. Each woman was considered a Press Corps institution in her own right. New York Times described Helen as the “unofficial but undisputed head of the press corps… blunt question and sharp tone made her a familiar personality” and declared Sarah “the tiny, klaxon-voiced White House reporter who covered, pestered, lectured, and often infuriated presidents”. It’s hard to avoid comparisons between the two grand dames of the White House Press Corps, Sarah McClendon and Helen Thomas. ![]() Left, Helen Thomas at work in the White House.
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