Jesse Helms

Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr.
United States Senator from North Carolina
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	B. Everett Jordan
Succeeded by	Elizabeth Dole
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Claiborne Pell
Succeeded by	Joe Biden
In office January 20, 2001 – June 6, 2001
Preceded by	Joe Biden
Succeeded by	Joe Biden
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1987
Preceded by	Herman Talmadge
Succeeded by	Patrick Leahy
Personal details
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Dorothy Helms

Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was a five-term United States Senator from North Carolina, and a member of the Republican Party. He also served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Family and education

Helms was born in Monroe, North Carolina, where his father, called "Big Jesse," served as chief of police. Jesse and Dot Helms were the parents of three children: Jane, Nancy of Raleigh, and Charles Helms of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They had seven grandchildren.

Helms attended Wingate Junior College (now Wingate University) and Wake Forest University but did not graduate. He held honorary degrees from some universities including Bob Jones University, Grove City College, Campbell University, and Wingate University.

Early Career

Helms' first full-time job after college was as a sports reporter with The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina. There he met Dorothy Coble, who was the newspaper's society reporter. They married in 1942. During World War II, Helms served stateside as a recruiter in the United States Navy. After the war, he pursued his twin interests, journalism and politics (at this time, within the Democratic Party). Helms became the city news editor of the Raleigh Times, and later moved to radio and television.

In 1950, Helms became an unofficial researcher for United States Senate candidate Willis Smith. Smith was a conservative Democratic lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association and ran as a supporter of racial segregation. After winning the election, Senator Smith hired Helms to be his administrative assistant in Washington, D.C. In 1952, Helms worked on the Democratic presidential campaign of Georgia Senator Richard Russell. When Smith suddenly died in 1953, Helms returned to Raleigh.

Work for Capital Broadcasting Company

From 1953 until 1960, Helms was executive director of the North Carolina Bankers Association. In 1960, he joined the Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting Company. He was the executive vice-president, vice chairman of the board, and assistant chief executive officer. Helms daily CBC editorials on WRAL-TV in Raleigh gave him fame as a conservative commentator. The editorials, given at the end of each night's local news broadcast, made Helms famous throughout eastern North Carolina. The editorials featured folksy anecdotes interwoven with vivid right-wing viewpoints. He referred to The News and Observer, his former employer, as the "Nuisance and Disturber" for its promotion of liberal views. Helms commented on the in 1963 Civil Rights protests, "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights." (WRAL-TV commentary, 1963) He also wrote, "Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are a fact of life which must be faced." (New York Times, 2/8/81) The University of North Carolina, which had a reputation as a bastion of liberalism in the state, was a frequent target of Helms' criticism: in one editorial he suggested a wall be erected around the campus to prevent the university's liberal views from "infecting" the rest of the state. Although his editorials created controversy, they also made him popular with conservative voters, and Helms won a seat on the Raleigh City Council in 1957. He served for four years. He was on CBC until he was elected to the Senate in 1972.

Helms worked on the unsuccessful 1960 Democratic primary gubernatorial campaign of I. Beverly Lake, Sr., who ran as a supporter of racial segregation. Lake was defeated by Terry Sanford, who ran as a racial moderate willing to implement the federal government's policy of school integration.

Senate Campaign of 1972

Helms announced his candidacy for a seat in the United States Senate in 1972. He won the Republican primary with 60.1 percent of the vote and eliminated two intraparty opponents. Meanwhile, Democrats retired the ailing Senator B. Everett Jordan, who lost his primary, 55.3 percent to 44.6 percent, to Congressman Nick Galifianakis of Durham. Helms played upon Galifianakis' ethnicity during the campaign, running under the slogan "Vote for Helms—He's One of Us!". Helms became the first Republican elected to the Senate from North Carolina in the 20th century. Helms polled 795,248 (54 percent) to Galifianakis' 677,293 (46 percent).

U.S. Senator First Term (1972-1978)

1976 Republican National Convention

Helms gave Ronald Reagan crucial support in 1976 in the pivotal North Carolina GOP primary that paved the way for Reagan's presidential election in 1980.

The support of Jesse Helms, alongside Raleigh-based campaign operative Tom Ellis, was instrumental in Ronald Reagan winning the 1976 North Carolina primary and later presenting a major challenge to President Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. According to author Craig Shirley, the two men, after Reagan and Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, deserve the most credit "for breathing life into the dying Reagan campaign."

Going into the North Carolina primary, Reagan lost all the opening primaries of the year, including in New Hampshire where he had been favored, and was two million dollars in debt with a growing chorus of Republican leaders calling for his exit. A massive grassroots effort formed by Ellis and backed by Senator Helms was able to deliver an upset victory in North Carolina, with Reagan taking 100,984 votes (53.4%) to President Ford's 88,249 (46.6%.) Despte the financial woes of the national Reagan campaign, the momentum generated in North Carolina carried Ronald Reagan to primary wins in Texas, his home state of California and other critical states, throwing Ford back on his heels and forcing undeclared delegates to choose the nominee at the 1976 convention.

Despite the loss for Reagan at the 1976 Republican National Convention, several contend that the intervention of Senator Helms and Tom Ellis arguably led to the most important conservative primary victory in the history of the Republican Party, and was the victory that enabled Ronald Reagan to contest the 1976 Republican Presidential nomination, and later to win the Presidential nomination at the 1980 Republican National Convention and then the Presidency of the United States. According to Craig Shirley,

Had Reagan lost North Carolina, despite his public pronouncements, his revolutionary challenge to Ford, along with his political career, would have ended unceremoniously. He would have made a gracious exit speech, cut a deal with the Ford forces to eliminate his campaign debt, made a minor speech at the Kansas City Convention later that year, and returned to his ranch in Santa Barbara. He would probably have only reemerged to make speeches and cut radio commercials to supplement his income.

And Reagan would have faded into political oblivion.

Senator Helms was later angered by the announcement that Ronald Reagan would ask the 1976 Republican National Convention to, if nominated, make moderate Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker his official running mate for the general election. According to Helms, after being told by Ronald Reagan of the decision, he noted the hour because, "I wanted to record for posterity the exact time I received the shock of my life." Nevertheless, Helms continued to back Ronald Reagan, and the two remained close friends and political allies through the duration of Reagan's political career.

1978 Reelection Campaign

Helms ran for reelection against state Insurance Commissioner John Ingram in 1978. Ingram carried the strong support of President Jimmy Carter. In a low-turnout, off-year election Helms received 619,151 votes (54.5 percent) to Ingram's 516,663 (45.5 percent). The election gave Helms his largest margin of victory in his five Senate campaigns.

Second Senatorial Term 1978-1984

Helms was an advocate of the tobacco industry since much of North Carolina's rural economy relies on tobacco. (Hubert Humphrey once said that, "I'll trade Jesse Helms his tobacco vote for my wheat support any day.") Tobacco companies such as R. J. Reynolds and Philip Morris have supported him, both directly and through donations to the Jesse Helms Center at Wingate University. Helms became chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee in the 1980s.

Helms opposed the Martin Luther King Day bill in 1983 on grounds that King had two associates with communist ties, Stanley Levison and Jack O'Dell. Helms led the Senatorial opposition to the bill and voiced disapproval of King's alleged philandering.

Though a chairman of a major Senate committee, he regularly eschewed invitations to go on Sunday interview programs, claiming his constituents did not watch them. He also advised a young press aide not to write a letter to the New York Times after one of its editorials condemned Helms: again, since most of the constituency did not subscribe to the paper, there was no need for him to engage the paper in a dispute.

Senator Helms was instrumental in obtaining the previously withheld black box to KAL 007 shot down by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983, by writing on Dec. 10, 1991 to Russian president Boris Yeltsin. In this letter, Helms had requested of Yeltsin information about the fate of the 269 passengers and crew, including Congressman Larry McDonald, and the handover of all military communications. He also condemned the forced labour camps established by the USSR.

Reelection Campaign 1984

In 1984, in the most expensive Senate campaign up to that time, Helms narrowly defeated powerful two-term Governor Jim Hunt, thanks in part to then-President Ronald Reagan's support and popularity in North Carolina. Helms polled 1,156,768 (51.7 percent) to Hunt's 1,070,488 (47.8 percent).

Third Senatorial Term

1990 Reelection Campaign

Helms ran for reelection in a nationally publicized campaign against the former mayor of Charlotte Harvey Gantt. Helms' aired a late-running television commercial which showed a white man's hands ripping up a rejection notice from a company that gave the job to a "less qualified minority."

The ad was criticized for perceived subliminal content; As the hands crumple the rejection notice up, for a fraction of a second the letter fades to a picture of Mr.Gant and the hands appear to be crushing his head.

The advert was produced by Alex Castellanos, who came under fire for making a Bush campaign advert criticizing Al Gore's healthcare policies and flashing the word 'RATS' over the top of it.

The ad was the brainchild of Dick Morris, who in the 1990s became a key political adviser to President Bill Clinton. Helms won the 1990 election by 1,087,331 votes (52.5 percent) to Gantt's 981,573 (47.4 percent). In his 1990 victory statement, Helms mocked the major North Carolina newspapers for their unhappiness over his victory, quoting a line from "Casey at the Bat": "There's no joy in Mudville tonight."

Fourth Senatorial Term

When Republicans regained control of Congress after the 1994 elections, Helms became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In that role, he pushed for reform of the United Nations and blocked payment of UN dues by the United States. As he gained seniority and clout, Helms became known as "Senator No" because he would obstruct a variety of Democratic bills and presidential appointments. Helms reportedly delighted in the nickname. But Helms passed few laws of his own in part because of his bridge-burning style. Hedrik Smith's The Power Game depicts several senators specifically blocking Helms' goals as result of his intransigence. Helms vehemently opposed granting MFN status to China, citing human rights concerns.

1996 Reelection Campaign

In 1996, Helms drew 1,345,833 (52.6 percent) to Gantt's 1,173,875 (45.9 percent). Helms supported his former Senate colleague Bob Dole for president, while Gantt endorsed Bill Clinton.

Although Helms is generally credited with being the most successful Republican politician in North Carolina history, his largest proportion of the vote in any of his five elections was 54.5 percent.

In North Carolina Helms was a polarizing figure, and he freely admitted that many people in the state strongly disliked him: "They (the Democrats) could nominate Mortimer Snerd and he'd automatically get 45 percent of the vote." Helms was particularly popular among older, conservative constituents and was considered one of the last "Old South" politicians to have served in the Senate. However, he also considered himself a voice of conservative youth, whom he hailed in the dedication of his autobiography. He is widely credited with helping to move North Carolina from a one-party state dominated by the Democratic Party into a competitive two-party state that usually votes Republican in presidential elections. Under Helms' banner, many conservative Democrats in eastern North Carolina switched parties and began to vote increasingly Republican.

Controversies

Helms' referred to the University of North Carolina (UNC) as the "University of Negroes and Communists." (Charleston Gazette, 9/15/95)

Helms once deeply offended a black colleague, Democratic Senator Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, by singing part of "Dixie" on a Capitol elevator.

Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery to Mosely-Braun (Gannett News Service, 9/2/93; Time, 8/16/93).

While working on the 1950 Democrat primary campaign of Willis Smith against Frank Porter Graham, Helms helped create an ad that read "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races." Another ad featured photographs Helms himself had doctored to illustrate the allegation that Graham's wife had danced with a black man. (FAIR 9/1/01, The News and Observer 8/26/01)

Helms had close ties to the rightist Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson and was considered a main sponsor of D'Aubuisson's political party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance. When confronted with evidence that D'Aubuisson ran death squads that systematically murdered civilians, he replied that "[a]ll I know, is that D'Aubuisson is a free enterprise man and deeply religious."

Helms was an ardent supporter of the late Chile dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Helms used race issues in many elections; for instance, in 1990, he ran the famous "Hands" television ad in a tough re-election race. The ad has become legendary in Southern political circles as the most direct appeal to white backlash in modern American politics. The ad played upon white voters' ideas that affirmative action might lead to a job going to a less-qualified candidate ("Gantt supports Ted Kennedy's racial quota law, that makes the color of your skin more important than your qualifications.") (watch the ad).

In 1994, Helms created a sensation when, on the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, he told broadcasters Rowland Evans, Jr., and Robert Novak that Clinton was "not up" to the tasks of being commander-in-chief and suggested that Clinton had "better not show up around here [Fort Bragg] without a bodyguard."

Helms once claimed that "The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."

Retirement

Because of recurring health problems, including bone disorders, prostate cancer and heart disease, Helms did not seek re-election in 2002. His Senate seat was won by Elizabeth Dole, wife of long-time colleague and former Senator Bob Dole. Helms remains to date the longest-serving popularly-elected U.S. senator in North Carolina history.

After retiring from the Senate in 2003, Helms remained in poor health. In September 2005, Random House published his memoir Here's Where I Stand. Helms had also been recruited by pop star Bono for charity work. In 2004, he spoke out for the election of Republican U.S. Representative Richard Burr, who, like Elizabeth Dole two years earlier, defeated the Democrat Erskine Bowles to win the other North Carolina Senate seat. Helms designated Wingate University as the repository of the official papers and historical items from his Senate career.

Jerry Falwell's Liberty University opened the Jesse Helms School of Government in 2005. Helms was present at the dedication ceremony.

In April 2006, news reports disclosed that Helms had multi-infarct dementia, which leads to failing memory and cognitive function, as well as a number of physical difficulties. He was later moved into a convalescent center near his home. His wife explained his condition as follows: "[H]e has his good days and his bad days. He still sees friends. Company is good for him. He is still signing books. But he is not able to conduct any business or make any speeches."

In February 2008, a scholarly biography entitled Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism was published by St. Martin's Press. The author is University of Florida history professor William A. Link (formerly of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro).

Death

Helms died of natural causes in the early morning hours of Independence Day, July 4, 2008, at the age of 86.

References in popular culture

• Musician Todd Rundgren wrote a song about Helms entitled "Jesse".
• Loudon Wainwright III wrote a song about Helms entitled "Jesse don't like it".
• Nerdcore hip-hop artist MC Hawking released a song in MP3 format called "Why Won't Jesse Helms Just Hurry Up and Die?"
• In 1993, Roy Zimmerman of the Foremen penned a song called "Jesse Helms" for the Folk Heroes album.
• In 1998, Monroe, North Carolina native Tim Kirkman wrote and directed Dear Jesse, a first-person documentary filmed "letter" to the senator from the openly gay filmmaker.
• Acoustic guitarist Don Ross named a song "Jesse Helms Night in Havana"
• Sonic Youth referenced Helms in their 1992 song "Chapel Hill".
• American punk rock band Dead Kennedys names Helms in their song "Moral Majority".

See also

• Jesse Helms on Wikiquote
• Korean Air Lines Flight 007

External links

• "Conservative icon Jesse Helms dead at 86". WRAL. 2008-07-04. — Obituary
• International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 Survivors
• Senator No: Jesse Helms UNC-TV biographical documentary by independent filmmaker John Wilson

Pro-Helms

• The Jesse Helms Center
• "Jesse Helms: To mold a nation" — article at the Raleigh News & Observer
• Liberty University's Helms School of Government
• Greatest Senator of our time — retirement tribute article by Terence Jeffrey in Human Events
• Why the World Is Better For Jesse Helms — retirement tribute article by Walter Russell Mead in The New York Times
• Senator Jesse Helms, A Man for All Seasons — article by Paul Weyrich

Anti-Helms

• "Jesse Helms: 16th century thinkin'" — article at Freepress.org
• "Jesse Helms, White Racist" — a 2001 article by David Broder of The Washington Post
• "Media Downplay Bigotry of Jesse Helms," FAIR, 2001.
• "A Career Based on Contempt for Democratic Rights" WSWS, 2001.
• Whitewash article by Barry Yeoman, Independent Weekly
• "Jesse Helms says: Hey! I'm the Biggest Bigot Here!" — a collection of his more politically incorrect quotes