Thompson, known as the "Blue-Eyed Tornado," was a force to be reckoned with. Time magazine named her and Eleanor Roosevelt the two most influential women in America in 1939. She was known for being blunt, outspoken, and an aggressive news hound.
After she graduated from college with honors, Thompson worked for the women's suffrage movement, then moved to New York City and worked in social service for several years. Then, although she was young and poor, she travelled across Europe doing odd jobs and writing freelance articles. Because she used cheap transportation and stayed in cheap hotels, she got to meet a lot of average everyday people, which gave her insight into different countries. Remarkably, she always seemed to be on the scene for major events, such as union street riots, and managed to get the last interview with an Irish independence leader before he died in jail. She became the Vienna correspondent for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and was later sent to Berlin to be their Central European Bureau Chief. She and Sigrid Schultz, who also worked in Berlin, were the only female foreign correspondents to head major bureaus at that time.
Thompson and Schultz were sometimes rivals, and they both interviewed Hitler, the head of the Nazi party in Germany. However, Schultz correctly found him a very dangerous man, while Thompson believed he was insignificant and no one to worry about. She regretted her misjudgement, and later wrote many warnings about him. For 21 years, she wrote a column for the New York Herald Tribune, which she viewed as her way to change the world. She believed that if she argued her views well enough and often enough, the public would follow. Her column was carried by almost 200 newspapers at the height of her popularity.
Thompson got her start by talking to everyday citizens. Think about the people who surround you, such as janitors, your next-door neighbor, a cook at your favorite restaurant, or your own relatives. Try interviewing them and finding out about their lives. What was her or his childhood like? Was it like yours? What makes that person special? What are his or her talents and skills? What's her or his favorite thing to do? Many times journalists get caught up interviewing famous people, and forget about ordinary people. But everyone has an interesting story to tell if you take the time to listen to them.