August 18, 2008
When Rory Kennedy was asked by HBO to do a documentary about longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas, she mentioned it to their mother, Ethel Kennedy. "She said, 'Are you sure you want to do that? You know, she's really asked some tough questions and was very difficult with Jack.' And I said, 'Yeah, I know, but I want to explore it a little bit more.'
"As it turns out, most of the interviews Kennedy conducted with Thomas for "Thank You, Mr. President: Helen Thomas at the White House" (HBO, 9 p.m.) were done at her mother's house, and the two women got along famously, despite any toughness Thomas had shown Ethel's brother-in-law, JFK.
It was during the Kennedy administration that Thomas began the tradition of ending a press conference with the phrase "Thank you, Mr. President." Soon, she began another tradition, asking the first question — until the current Bush administration, which considered her questions rude.
"One of the great things about Helen," Rory Kennedy told reporters at the TV critics press tour last month, "is that she asks the hard question no matter what, no matter who is president, no matter if they're from the left or the right, Republican or Democrat. She relentlessly, consistently and singularly asks the tough questions."
The film is a brisk overview of the past 50 years in Washington, and the part Thomas played in covering nine presidents from the front row of the White House press room.
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