Helen Thomas, a Hearst Newspapers columnist, served for fifty-seven years as a correspondent for United Press International and, as White House bureau chief, covered every president since John F. Kennedy. She was the first woman officer of the National Press Club after it opened its doors to women members, the first woman member and president of the White House Correspondents Association and the first woman member of the Gridiron Club. In 1998 she received the International Women's Media Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored by President and Mrs. Clinton as the first recipient of the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award.