Bigger and better assignments would follow for Thomas, among them President Richard M. Nixon's breakthrough trip to China in 1972.
When the Watergate scandal began consuming Nixon's presidency, Martha Mitchell, the notoriously unguarded wife of the attorney general, would call Thomas late at night to unload her frustrations at what she saw as the betrayal of her husband John by the president's men.
It was also during the Nixon administration that the woman who scooped so many others was herself scooped—by the first lady.
Pat Nixon was the one who announced to the Washington press corps that Thomas was engaged to Douglas Cornell, chief White House correspondent for UPI's archrival, The Associated Press.
They were married in 1971. Cornell died 11 years later.
Thomas stayed with UPI for 57 years, until 2000, when the company was purchased by News World Communications, which was founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church.
At age 79, Thomas was soon hired as a Washington-based columnist for newspaper publisher Hearst Corp.
A self-described liberal, Thomas made no secret of her ill feelings for George W. Bush, a Republican. “He is the worst president in all of American history,” she told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California.
Thomas also was critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, asserting that the deaths of innocent people should hang heavily on Bush's conscience.
In March 2006, she confronted Bush with the proposition that “your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis” and every justification for the attack proved false.
“Why did you really want to go to war?” she demanded.
When Bush began explaining his rationale, she interjected: “They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.”
“Excuse me for a second,” Bush replied. “They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al-Qaida. That's where al-Qaida trained.”
“I'm talking about Iraq,” she said.
Thomas is survived by three sisters, and many nieces, nephews and cousins, according to her family.
