Photo: Helen Thomas was regularly called on to ask the first question during presidential briefings later in her career. (AFP: Paul J. Richards)
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Former White House correspondent Helen Thomas has died at the age of 92 after a long illness.
Ms Thomas gained notoriety for asking short, straightforward questions of the past 10 US presidents, from John F Kennedy to Barack Obama.
She worked for 49 years on the White House beat for United Press International (UPI) and Hearst newspapers and retired in 2010.
In her later years, Thomas was regularly called on to ask the first question during presidential briefings.
In 2009 she asked Mr Obama: "When are you going to get out of Afghanistan?
"Why are we continuing to kill and die there? What is the real excuse?
"And don't give us this Bushism 'If we don't go there, they'll all come here.'"
She ended dozens of presidential news conferences with the familiar phrase, "Thank you, Mr President."
Some people, including many fellow reporters, considered Ms Thomas's straight-to-the-point questioning to be too combative and agenda-driven.
Tributes flow
Mr Obama and his wife Michelle released a statement praising Thomas for her work.
"Helen was a true pioneer, opening doors and breaking down barriers for generations of women in journalism," he said.
"She never failed to keep presidents, myself included, on their toes.
The life of Helen Thomas
- Born 4 August 1920 in Winchester, Kentucky.
- One of nine children born to Lebanese immigrant parents.
- Graduated from Wayne State University, Detroit in 1942.
- First job as a copy girl at Washington Daily.
- Joined United Press as a reporter in 1943, assigned to the White House in 1961.
- Married a professional rival, Douglas Cornell, of the Associated Press in 1971.
- Accompanied president Nixon to China in 1972.
- Promoted to White House bureau chief in 1974, the first female in the role.
- Remained in the role until 2000, when she joined Hearst as a columnist.
- In 1975, she became the first female to join the Gridiron Club and is appointed president in 1993.
- Becomes the female president of the White House Correspondents Association in 1975.
- Husband died in 1982.
- Her third book "Watchdogs of Democracy?" was published in 2007.
- Retired in 2010, after controversial comments about the Israel-Palestinian relationship.
- Died in 2013 after a long illness.
"What made Helen the 'dean of the White House Press Corps' was not just the length of her tenure, but her fierce belief that our democracy works best when we ask tough questions and hold our leaders to account."
Former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, also paid tribute to Thomas.
The pair praised her as "a pioneering journalist" who added "more than her share of cracks to the glass ceiling".
Veteran NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell tweeted that Thomas "made it possible for all of us who followed".
Career and retirement
Ms Thomas's career began as a copy girl on the Washington Daily News and she joined what was then known as United Press in 1943.
She was assigned to the White House in 1961 in part because of the great interest in first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
She became UPI White House bureau chief in 1974, the first woman to head a wire service bureau there.
Ms Thomas first came to public notice during the Watergate era when she started receiving late-night phone calls from Martha Mitchell, the wife of attorney-general John Mitchell, discussing the scandal.
She stayed in that position until 2000 when she joined Hearst.
Ms Thomas worked as a columnist for Hearst during the last 10 years of her career, allowing her opinions to surface more than in her previous roles as a hard-news reporter.
In May 2010, she made comments about Israel and the Palestinians that were captured on videotape and spread on the internet.
The impromptu comments, including that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine", marked her undoing.
She also said Jews should "go home to Poland and Germany, America and everywhere else".
Shortly after, in June 2010, Ms Thomas announced her immediate retirement and issued a statement.
"I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians," it said.
"They do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognise the need for mutual respect and tolerance.
"May that day come soon."
Ms Thomas believed the Washington media had grown soft and was reluctant to challenge government.
She was especially tough on former president George W Bush, who in 2003 she described as the "worst president ever".
She also felt the media had abetted the Iraq war by not challenging Bush strongly enough on it.
Ms Thomas was often combative in dealing with the White House, particularly when she felt she was being denied access.
Reuters White House reporter Steve Holland recalled that early one morning during Bill Clinton's presidency, she was spotted kicking the locked door to the White House press office, demanding to speak to the staff.
Ms Thomas grew up in Detroit, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, and will be buried in that city.
She married a professional rival, Douglas Cornell of the Associated Press in 1971.
He died in 1982.
Firsts for women
Helen Thomas was the first woman officer in the White House Correspondents Association in its 50-year history, becoming its first woman president.
In 1975, she broke the 90-year all-male barrier at the Gridiron Club, an organisation of leading Washington journalists, and became its first female president in 1993.
She also supported scores of women starting out in the news business.
ABC/Reuters
