Here's the UPI story on Helen Thomas' resignation on May 16, 2000, from UPI:
---
Veteran UPI White House correspondent Helen Thomas resigns
WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, whose resignation from UPI was announced Tuesday, drew praise from President Clinton for her nearly four decades of covering eight presidents.
"I would just like to say a few words of appreciation and respect about Helen Thomas," Clinton said before opening a Rose Garden news conference.
"Presidents come and go, but Helen has been here for 40 years now covering eight presidents and doubtless showing the ropes to countless young reporters. And, I might add, more than a few press secretaries.
"I hope this change will bring new rewards and new fulfillment to her, whatever she decides to do," Clinton said. " I'll feel a little better about my country if I know she'll still be spending her time around here at the White House."
UPI Chief Executive Officer Arnaud de Borchgrave announced Thomas ' resignation on Tuesday. "It is with great regret and sadness that I announce Helen Thomas' resignation from UPI after 57 years of dedicated service," de Borchgrave said. "Helen is truly a legend in her own time, a brilliant reporter I have known and admired since I first met her in 1961.
"Helen has made a unique contribution to the annals of journalism with her White House reportage that spanned four decades," de Borchgrave said. "Her name is already indelibly engraved in the history of our profession.
"Helen is truly indefatigable in the pursuit of truth," de Borchgrave said. "She is the first reporter in at the White House as early as 5:30 a.m. and frequently the last to leave at night. She has outrun the best of them - because she is the best of them."
UPI was purchased Monday by News World Communications, which publishes the Washington Times newspaper, which was founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. However, De Borchgrave said while some top officials of News World Communications are members of the Unification Church, the church has no formal ties to News World Communications and that UPI would remain editorially independent.
In a statement released Tuesday, Helen Thomas said she was not going to continue working for UPI. "I do not intend to stay," she said. "United Press International is a great news agency. It has made a remarkable mark in the annals of American journalism and has left a superb legacy for future journalists. I wish the new owners all the best, great stories, and happy landings."
She said she planned to pursue other ventures. Thomas, 79, the dean of the Washington press corps, has been reporting on presidents since the Kennedy administration and has traveled the world with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Her second memoir, Front Row at the White House, was published in 1999. In April 1998, the White House Correspondents Association honored Thomas with a lifetime achievement award. The award, named in her honor, is to be presented annually to an outstanding journalist.
President Clinton called Thomas "a symbol of everything American journalism can and should be -- the embodiment of fearless integrity, fierce commitment to accuracy, the insistence of holding government accountable. All of that in the spirit of the First Amendment and the free press it protects."
Thomas in response quipped that, "You're only as good as your last story." Thomas joined United Press in 1943 as a radio writer and an editor for the old Washington City News wire. She began covering federal departments in downtown Washington in the 1950s.
In November 1960, Thomas began covering President-elect John F. Kennedy, following him to the White House in January 1961 as a member of the UPI team, which then was led by Merriman Smith.
It was during this first White House assignment that Thomas began closing presidential press conferences with: "Thank you, Mr. President," a custom that had begun with Smith.
She was the only female print journalist traveling with President Nixon to communist China during his breakthrough trip in 1972.
She has traveled around the world several times with Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush. In 1976 the World Almanac named Thomas one of the 25 most influential women in America. In 1993 she presided over the Gridiron Club, the first woman named president of the journalistic organization that was established in 1885. Thomas was the first woman to join the elite all-male club in 1975.
Thomas also has served as president of the Women's National Press Club, now merged with the National Press Club, and was the first woman president of the White House Correspondents Association. She also was the first woman officer of the National Press Club.
She has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame and the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame.