R. I. P. Helen Thomas

Back in 2002 I visited the White House Press Room with my actor friend Chad Allen at the invitation of his fan Donna Barnhill. We actually got to tour the West Wing too. However, while visiting the Press Room I did sit in Helen Thomas's Chair. The photo to the right is me at the podium where the Press Secretary or sometimes the President speaks.  More photos from my visit.

Helen Thomas, who doggedly pursued accountability from 10 U.S. presidents as United Press International White House correspondent, died Saturday. She was 92.

President Obama said in a written statement that Thomas "never failed to keep presidents – myself included – on their toes."

"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," said Obama, the last president in a string dating back to the 1960s to field questions from Thomas.

Thomas was known to legions of Washington reporters simply as "Helen." She was the doyenne -- and, unofficially, the dean -- of the White House press corps since the Kennedy administration, but never succumbed to the allure of power, prestige and glitz surrounding the capital.

"There is something about the White House that seems to encourage secrecy," Thomas once said. "Our role is really to try to make presidents accountable. The media, is the only institution in our society that has the privilege of questioning a president on a regular basis and making him accountable."

Politico said word of Thomas' death was spread in an email from the Gridiron Club, a venerable association for Washington journalists.

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