White House reporter Helen Thomas became the public face of UPI , as she was seen at televised press conferences beginning in the early 1960s . UPI famously scooped the AP in reporting the assassination of US President John Kennedy on Friday , November 22 , 1963 . UPI White House reporter Merriman Smith was an eyewitness , and he commandeered the press car 's only phone to dictate the story to UPI as AP reporter Jack Bell tried — without success — to wrest the phone away so he could call his office . Smith and UPI won a Pulitzer Prize for this reporting
assassination of US President John Kennedy
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
United Press International