Tragedy and Triumph
Helene Cooper ’ 10
spends a lot of time
aboard Air Force
One as a reporter
for The New York
Times covering the
White House and
President Barack
Obama. “As a journalist, I’ve been
really lucky in the
places, people and
events I’ve been
able to witness,”
she says.
When Helene Cooper
’ 10 checks in for a flight,
often it is to board the
world’s most famous plane,
Air Force One, as she follows President Barack Obama’s every move from
Milwaukee to Munich, Baghdad to Beijing.
Cooper covers the White House for The New York Times,
working out of the Washington bureau a few blocks from
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The journalist and author also is
a frequent guest on the news talk shows, including Meet the
Press and The Chris Matthews Show.
“I do have to pinch myself quite a lot, actually,” said
Cooper, a woman known for her straight talk. “As a journalist, I’ve been really lucky in the places, people and
Correspondent’s
life, job lead her
around the world
events I’ve been able to witness. Whether it’s standing
among a crowd of thousands in front of Prague Castle
[Czech Republic] waiting for Obama to speak, or finding
out — after the fact — that the Black Hawk helicopter
tour I’d just had over what the military called ‘future kinet-
ic areas’ south of Kandahar [Afghanistan] was actually a
tour of Taliban-held areas, there are so many times when I
can’t believe somebody is paying me to do this job.”
Cooper graduated from Dudley High School in
Greensboro, where in 11th grade she read All the President’s
Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s book about The
Washington Post breaking the story about the Watergate
scandal. By then, she wanted to be a reporter and was
hooked on Carolina basketball.
