Customer Reviews

Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As the first (and perhaps last) woman to "beat up" no fewer than eight US presidents in succession - figuratively speaking, of course -Helen Thomas certainly could not be accused of pulling any punches. Her book gives us a fascinating insight into the relationship between the elite White House press corps and the President, which comes across as rather like that between prison guard and prisoner: a certain affection develops, but at the end of the day it's still very much adversarial. Helen Thomas comes across as someone with very strong values of truth, honesty and public service, who has not shied away from asking the awkward questions of errant Presidents over many years. Indeed, you might even get the impression she enjoys being perceived as unrelenting and at times blunt in her attempts to present the truth to the public. Her book is a little disjointed in the early chapters, but soon settles into a (perhaps better-edited) chronological pattern, giving excellent insight into the Presidents, their wives, and the various White House staffers whose job it is to manage the news, but who rarely - if ever - manage to control people like Helen Thomas. This book is an excellent read, not too self-centred, but creating a strong impression of a dedicated reporter with a determination to get to the heart of the truth.

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.

The book began very slowly and I found the author repeating herself. I was hoping with each new chapter that somehow she would begin to discuss each president one at a time and not constantly jump between them from one paragraph to another. When Ms. Thomas finally did start recounting each First Lady from the past to the present and then continued in the next chapter recounting her stories of each President I was unable to put the book down. At that point I began to enjoy her writing and to gain a new insight through her most exciting career working for the press and spending so much time at the White House.In the end I found it to be a wonderful book well worth reading.

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 -- justifiably -- under attack, it would serve the entire industry well to read Thomas' book and to study her career more closely. If there were more reporters practicing their calling with the level of integrity which Thomas has consistently demonstrated, the American people would have far more faith in the the news media. I hope Helen Thomas carries on, and that her colleagues and the Presidents she reports on, learn a few more lessons from her. An outstanding read!
James J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota USA

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.

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.

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!!

I never noticed Thomas much until I saw her bit on Steven Colbert's famous slap in Bush's face at the White House Pres Corps dinner. I started reading more about her and listened to her on many different shows. I respect her a great deal, so was very interested in this book.

Much of it is about her. Too much really. There is also way too much name dropping as well as anecdotes about her and her cronnies that were frankly rather boring. She aslo is rather contradictory. She prides herself on her journalistic integrity but doesn't understand why someone like Lady Bird would have been furious over her leaks about her daughters. She makes a big deal of her front row seat and on the many compliments and accolades that the various presidents bestowed on her. Such things got in the way of what really was an excellent look at the administrations that she worked with.

However, it was in her chapters on Marha Mitchell, and the first ladies, that really make this book a gem. The former esp - we were always told by the administration that she was insane. She wasn't - she was speaking the truth about watergate, and no one wanted to listen. And for the most part does a good job outlining each administration's successes and faults.

However, She was also far from being unbiased. Kennedy was the only democratic president who she had good things to say about. To hear her talk, Clinton's lies were much worse than Watergate or Contragate. She pretty much gave Nixon and Reagan a free pass, but spent pages ranting about Clinton. I don't expect someone working so long to not have opinions but for heavens sake try to put things into perspective.

Since this book was written just at the end of Clinton's term, and since I know that her opinion of Bush Jr is less than stellar, I'd be interested in reading her more current book which talks about his administration. I wonder if she now sees Clinton with perhaps less myopic eyes?

As I read this book I felt that Ms. Thomas was sitting in an easy chair across the room from me telling me an interesting story of her life covering the White House. The book gives an indepth, behind the scenes, view of covering the the White House, presidents, first ladies and families. Ms. Thomas explains many of the feelings and emotions that were not necessarily the stories but went along with the events. This is a very enjoyable book to read. I felt as though Ms. Thomas made me part of those exciting times.

It's one thing to be a history buff and read about events of our country and the world. It's another to live it. Thomas has been an active part of almost every major historical event our country has seen for decades. It's a life the rest of us could only dream about. I thank her for giving me the opportunity to read about the behind the scenes events that have made up our history. The writing is very newspaper-like ie short and to the point. It's perfect for the busy adult who wants to pick it up for short spans.