By Ryan Waye, WRGW News
White House press corps stalwart Helen Thomas drew on her nearly 70-year career to talk presidents and politics with GW students at 1957 E Street in a Nov. 17 event hosted by WRGW News, GW Television and the School of Media Public Affairs.
Ms. Thomas was introduced by both School of Media and Public Affairs Director Frank Sesno and Michael Freedman, director of the Global Media Institute and professor of media and public affairs, who spoke highly of her career and accomplishments. Mr. Sesno described Ms. Thomas as “a beacon of light” in Washington, and as someone who “made her career being utterly fearless.” Mr. Freedman noted that Ms. Thomas began covering the White House during the Kennedy administration, and had been “a pain in the butt to every president ever since.”
Ms. Thomas quickly showed that even at age 89 she was still capable of making waves. Ms. Thomas advised President Obama to exit the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, noting that “Saddam Hussein was ruthless, but women had jobs, children went to schools, people had electricity and clean water.”
She also called for the creation of a single-payer health care system, accusing congressional opponents of health care reform of hypocrisy for denying the general public the same quality of care the taxpayers support for them.
The speech then moved into a brief overview of her opinions on every president she had covered. She said John F. Kennedy was her favorite because he “inspired, grew in office, and learned from his mistakes.”
According to Ms. Thomas, President Lyndon B. Johnson supported sound domestic policy but his effectiveness was weakened by the Vietnam War. President Ronald Reagan, she said, helped to end the Cold War while ignoring social issues.
Her harshest criticism was reserved for George W. Bush, who “wanted to be a war president and he was, and his dreams were fulfilled much to our horror.”
Of particular concern to Ms. Thomas was were alleged human rights abuses, such as torture, committed under the Bush administration.
Thomas offered a mixed review of the current administration. President Obama’s “heart was in the right place,” she said, “but he lacks courage.” She advised the president to stand up to his opponents on issues like health care, even if it means facing a filibuster.
Ms. Thomas shared several stories from her years in the White House, most of them humorous, and called for citizens to seek greater transparency in government. Quoting a Holocaust survivor she said, “The only sin is silence.”
A question and answer session followed the lecture.
When an audience member asked Ms. Thomas for her opinion of the recent criticism of Fox News by the Obama administration, Ms. Thomas responded that the president must “rise above the fray,” noting that “the press always gets the last word.”
In response to a question about her prescriptions for the ailing economy, she harkened back to the days of the New Deal, calling for a recreation of the Works Progress Administration to provide jobs to the unemployed and expressed displeasure at the federal bailout of banks.
The program was filmed by GWTV and will air on campus cable Channel 6.
Ms. Thomas’ new book, Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do, is co-authored by Craig Crawford and available in bookstores now.