The “first lady of the press,” former White House correspondent Helen Thomas, fondly recalled her days covering every presidency since that of John F. Kennedy and encouraged Georgetown students to advance the cause of world peace during a speech Monday in ICC Auditorium.

“The only way for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing,” Thomas said. “Let’s give peace a chance, and let it begin with us.”

Thomas, a former White House Bureau Chief for United Press International and now a syndicated columnist for Hearst Newspapers, shared not only her many journalistic and presidential memories, but also her opinions about the current state of journalism and the current presidential administration.

She began the lecture by criticizing the actions of professional journalists in the weeks preceding the invasion in Iraq. Thomas said that it is the job of professional journalists to keep the public informed and aware of what is going on both inside and outside the political arena.

“There can be no democracy without an informed people,” Thomas said.

Thomas wondered why journalists had not sought to uncover more of the reasons why the United States went to war with Iraq. She also asked why the public was not more outraged at the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the overall state of security in Iraq.

Thomas also touched on domestic politics, saying she opposed the privatization of Social Security. She encouraged Georgetown students, as well as the American public, to “wake up” to national and international affairs.

Thomas then began a trip down memory lane by recalling her career of over four decades covering the White House. Although she first came to Washington in 1943 as a writer for the Washington Daily News, Thomas began covering the White House with the Kennedy administration. It was while she was covering President Kennedy that Thomas began closing each press conference with the now famous line, “Thank you, Mr. President.” Thomas said she considers President Kennedy to be her favorite president because he was the “most inspired leader.”

Thomas called President Lyndon B. Johnson a “can-do man” because of his dedication to domestic issues, like civil rights, federal housing and national parks. She also commended President Jimmy Carter for his commitment to human rights, and said that he richly deserved the Nobel Prize. As for President Richard . Nixon, Thomas said he always had two choices.

“Richard Nixon had two roads to go, and he always took the wrong one,” Thomas said with a laugh.

Regardless of her personal opinion of President Nixon’s presidency, however, Thomas said she considers his administration to hold some of her favorite memories, including the president’s historic 1972 visit to China. She was the only female journalist to accompany the president on that trip.

“None of us wanted to sleep [on the China trip],” Thomas said. “Everything was a story.”

As for current President George W. Bush, Thomas commented on the lack of news conferences he holds, and the few questions he answers.

“He doesn’t call on me,” she said. “I don’t blame him.”

Thomas drew her speech to a close with a call for the press to continue to “comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comforted.” She asked, however, for reporters to persist in using what she said is their strongest weapon, skepticism, to hold public officials accountable and continue to write on the basis of truth and accuracy. Thomas concluded her speech by repeating her appeal for more pacifism in today’s world.

“The future, the 21st century belongs to you,” Thomas said. “Don’t blow it.”