Helen Thomas -30-

Longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas -- seen above at an event on the South Lawn in 1989 that I also attended -- has retired effective immediately. 

The Hill reports: 

George Condon, White House correspondent for Congress Daily and president of the WHCA for 1993-94, praised Thomas for a career of breaking barriers and asking hard questions of presidents. 

"For 60 years, Helen Thomas fought for the right of the press to ask tough questions of government and for the right of women to be among those asking the questions," Condon said. "It is sad that Helen now is forced off the stage by an answer that she gave to someone else’s question. But even in this controversy, no one can take from her solid legacy of fighting the good fight to keep government accountable." 

Thomas, who turns 90 in August, has covered the White House for decades, and served as the first female president of the White House Correspondents' Association.