He began in journalism in the 1920s, as editor of the Prairie Farmer; he also served as information officer of the Illinois Agricultural Association.
[2][3] Thiems's work contributed to the Chicago Daily News winning the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, which cited "determined and courageous public service in exposing a $2,500,000 fraud centering in the office of the State Auditor of Illinois, resulting in the indictment and conviction of the State Auditor and others.
[1] In 1962, Thiem's book The Hodge Scandal: a Pattern of American Political Corruption was published by St Martin's Press.
[7] Later as a resident of Evanston (Cook County) Thiem served a six-year term as a Trustee of the Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District (1967 to 1972).
He was the only Republican on the Democratic-dominated Board leading a more transparent oversight process of Cook County's expenditures and contracts within the Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District.