Profiles

Helen Thomas was one of the most prolific and revered members of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA). Throughout her 70-year career, Thomas garnered a reputation that earned her the title of “Sitting Buddha” and “First Lady of The Press” among her peers in the WHCA.  Getting her start in the District with Washington Daily News, Thomas quickly moved on to United Press International (UPI) and began covering John F. Kennedy during his 1960 presidential campaign. Thomas became a White House Correspondent following Kennedy’s election, making her the first female reporter to…

Robert Thompson was a political journalist covering the White House during every administration from Harry S. Truman to George W. Bush. Thompson was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he lived until the United States entered WWII. He enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served until the war's end before attending Indiana University and receiving a B.A. in journalism. After graduating college in 1949, Thompson worked for two years at the Fort Wayne Gazette. He then joined International News Service (INS) as a reporter covering the Department of Agriculture…

Connie Lawn, a freelance broadcast journalist and 40-year member of the White House press corps, died April 2, 2018, at her home in Falls Church, Va. She was 73. The cause was a rare form of Parkinson’s disease, said her husband, Dr. Charles Sneiderman. Ms. Lawn founded her own one-woman news bureau, Audio Visual News, which had radio clients around the world, including networks in Britain, Canada, Australia, Israel and South Africa. Ms. Lawn said she had created her own company in order to maintain her independence and pursue stories that interested her. She was especially popular in New…