Jesse Helms Dead.

[stephendare]

Couldnt have happened to a nicer guy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/04/conservative-icon-senator_n_110867.html

RALEIGH, N.C. â€" Former Sen. Jesse Helms, who built a career along the fault lines of racial politics and battled liberals, Communists and the occasional fellow Republican during 30 conservative years in Congress, died on the Fourth of July. He was 86.

Helms died at 1:15 a.m., said the Jesse Helms Center at Wingate University in North Carolina. The center's president, John Dodd, said in a statement that funeral arrangements were pending.

"He was very comfortable," said former chief of staff Jimmy Broughton, who added Helms died of natural causes in Raleigh.

Helms, who first became known to North Carolina voters as a newspaper and television commentator, won election to the Senate in 1972 and decided not to run for a sixth term in 2002.

"Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?" Helms wrote in a 1959 editorial that foretold his political style.

As he aged, Helms was slowed by a variety of illnesses, including a bone disorder, prostate cancer and heart problems, and he made his way through the Capitol on a motorized scooter as his career neared an end. In April 2006, his family announced that he had been moved into a convalescent center after being diagnosed with vascular dementia, in which repeated minor strokes damage the brain.

Helms' public appearances had dwindled as his health deteriorated. When his memoirs were published in August 2005, he appeared at a Raleigh book store to sign copies but did not make a speech.

In an e-mail interview with The Associated Press at that time, Helms said he hoped what future generations learn about him "will be based on the truth and not the deliberate inaccuracies those who disagreed with me took such delight in repeating."

"My legacy will be up to others to describe," he added.

Helms served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee and Foreign Relations Committees over the years at times when the GOP held the Senate majority, using his posts to protect his state's tobacco growers and other farmers and place his stamp on foreign policy.

His opposition to Communism defined his foreign policy views. He took a dim view of many arms control treaties, opposed Fidel Castro at every turn, and supported the contras in Nicaragua as well as the right-wing government of El Salvador. He opposed the Panama Canal treaties that President Jimmy Carter pushed through a reluctant Senate in 1977.

Early on, his habit of blocking nominations and legislation won him a nickname of "Senator No." He delighted in forcing roll call votes that required Democrats to take politically difficult votes on federal funding for art he deemed pornographic, school busing, flag-burning and other cultural issues.

In 1993, when then-President Clinton sought confirmation for an openly homosexual assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Helms registered his disgust. "I'm not going to put a lesbian in a position like that," he said in a newspaper interview at the time. "If you want to call me a bigot, fine."

After Democrats killed the appointment of U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, a former Helms aide, to a federal appeals court post in 1991, Helms blocked all of Clinton's judicial nominations from North Carolina for eight years.

Helms occasionally opted for compromise in later years in the Senate, working with Democrats on legislation to restructure the foreign policy bureaucracy and pay back debts to the United Nations, an organization be disdained for most of his career.

And he softened his views on AIDS after years of clashes with gay activists, advocating greater federal funding to fight the disease in Africa and elsewhere overseas.

But in his memoirs, Helms made clear that his opinions on other issues had hardly moderated since he left office. He compared abortion to both the Holocaust and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I will never be silent about the death of those who cannot speak for themselves," the former senator wrote in "Here's Where I Stand."

Helms never lost a race for the Senate, but he never won one by much, either, a reflection of his divisive political profile in his native state.

He knew it, too. "Well, there is no joy in Mudville tonight. The mighty ultraliberal establishment, and the liberal politicians and editors and commentators and columnists have struck out again," he said in 1990, after winning his fourth term.

He won the 1972 election after switching parties, and defeated then-Gov. Jim Hunt in an epic battle in 1984 in what was then the costliest Senate race on record.

He defeated former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt in 1990 and 1996 in racially tinged campaigns. In the first race, a Helms commercial showed a white fist crumbling up a job application, these words underneath: "You needed that job ... but they had to give it to a minority."

"The tension that he creates, the fear he creates in people, is how he's won campaigns," Gantt said several years later.

Helms also played a role in national GOP politics _ supporting Ronald Reagan in 1976 in a presidential primary challenge to then-President Gerald R. Ford. Reagan's candidacy was near collapse when it came time for the North Carolina primary. Helms was in charge of the effort, and Reagan won a startling upset that resurrected his challenge.

During the 1990s, Helms clashed frequently with President Clinton, whom he deemed unqualified to be commander in chief. Even some Republicans cringed when Helms said Clinton was so unpopular he would need a bodyguard on North Carolina military bases. Helms said he hadn't meant it as a threat.

Asked to gauge Clinton's performance overall, Helms said in 1995: "He's a nice guy. He's very pleasant. But ... (as) Ronald Reagan used to say about another politician, `Deep down, he's shallow.'"

Helms went out of his way to establish good relations with Madeleine Albright, Clinton's second secretary of state. But that didn't stop him from single-handedly blocking Clinton's appointment of William Weld _ a Republican _ as ambassador to Mexico.

Helms clashed with other Republicans over the years, including fellow Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana in 1987, after Democrats had won a Senate majority. Helms had promised in his 1984 campaign not to take the chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee, but he invoked seniority over Lugar to claim the seat as the panel's ranking Republican.

He was unafraid of inconveniencing his fellow senators _ sometimes all of them at once. "I did not come to Washington to win a popularity contest," he once said while holding the Senate in session with a filibuster that delayed the beginning of a Christmas break. And he once objected to a request by phoning in his dissent from home, where he was watching Senate proceedings on television.

Helms was born in Monroe, N.C., on Oct. 18, 1921. He attended Wake Forest College in 1941 but never graduated and was in the Navy during World War II.

In many ways, Helms' values were forged in the small town where his father was police chief.

"I shall always remember the shady streets, the quiet Sundays, the cotton wagons, the Fourth of July parades, the New Year's Eve firecrackers. I shall never forget the stream of school kids marching uptown to place flowers on the Courthouse Square monument on Confederate Memorial Day," Helms wrote in a newspaper column in 1956.

He took an active role in North Carolina politics early on, working to elect a segregationist candidate, Willis Smith, to the Senate in 1950. He worked as Smith's top staff aide for a time, then returned to Raleigh as executive director of the state bankers association.

Helms became a member of the Raleigh city council in 1957 and got his first public platform for espousing his conservative views when he became a television editorialist for WRAL in Raleigh in 1960. He also wrote a column that at one time was carried in 200 newspapers. Helms also was city editor at The Raleigh Times.

[RiversideGator]

Couldnt have happened to a nicer guy.

Typically classless remark.

[vicupstate]

I just wish he could have lived another seven months, so that he could see a black man sworn in as President. 

[BridgeTroll]

Such bitterness is really unbecoming... he grew up in an era neither of you could understand.  I most assuradly did not agree with many of his stances but he served the country and was a backbone of the anti communism movement... which was a threat back then.  I hope we have not sunk to the point where we wish our opponents to die... cmon guys...

[RiversideGator]

I do not agree with everything Helms did or said during his lifetime.  However, as opposed to many leftists today, I do not wish death upon my political opponents or dance on their graves.  That is simply wrong.

[RiversideGator]

Such bitterness is really unbecoming... he grew up in an era neither of you could understand.  I most assuradly did not agree with many of his stances but he served the country and was a backbone of the anti communism movement... which was a threat back then.  I hope we have not sunk to the point where we wish our opponents to die... cmon guys...

You should have seen the cartwheels some people were doing when Falwell died.  Very low rent.

[chipwich]

Let's just leave this matter alone knowing that this guy was never going to up for the Noble Peace Prize.  For better or worse, he is gone now and our country will never be subject to his influence again.

Where he goes from here is between him and his maker.  It is not our place to "dance on his grave".

Society should look back at those who helped and contributed to mankind.  So just move on.  Don't look back.  It just isn't worth it.   There are more important things and people to think about.

[RiversideGator]

I recall a lot of mourning when Reagan passed away.   

[Driven1]

Didn't george carlin go to hell last week?

[vicupstate]

Such bitterness is really unbecoming... he grew up in an era neither of you could understand.  I most assuradly did not agree with many of his stances but he served the country and was a backbone of the anti communism movement... which was a threat back then.  I hope we have not sunk to the point where we wish our opponents to die... cmon guys...

I am 45 next month ( and a lifelong deep southerner), and therefore old enough to 'understand' his era.   My comment (in which I expressed a desired that he would still be among us) refers to his race-baiting politics.  Maybe if he lived to see  the end of that 'era', that may have given him some reflection in his sunset days.   

Perhaps he asked for forgivenness of that before he passed.  I hope so.  I make no judgement of where his soul is now.     

[RiversideGator]

Didn't george carlin go to hell last week?

not likely.

His life, which embraced the Truth and an unmistakeable love for Creation would make him welcome in any heaven one might choose, but George was an Athiest.

Imagine.  A moral compass without believing in all that.

Very different from Helms.  Who professed to believe in the Creator, and yet preached and practiced hatred.

There will be a very full spot in hell for Mr. Helms.

Hopefully it will be with necrophiles.

I think you are sadly mistaken if you feel qualified to judge Helms' soul.

Matthew 7:1-5

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

   2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

   3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

   4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

   5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults2.php?passage1=Matthew+7&book_id=47&version1=9&tp=28&c=7

[RiversideGator]

Such bitterness is really unbecoming... he grew up in an era neither of you could understand.  I most assuradly did not agree with many of his stances but he served the country and was a backbone of the anti communism movement... which was a threat back then.  I hope we have not sunk to the point where we wish our opponents to die... cmon guys...

I am 45 next month ( and a lifelong deep southerner), and therefore old enough to 'understand' his era.   My comment (in which I expressed a desired that he would still be among us) refers to his race-baiting politics.  Maybe if he lived to see  the end of that 'era', that may have given him some reflection in his sunset days.   

Perhaps he asked for forgivenness of that before he passed.  I hope so.  I make no judgement of where his soul is now.     

Helms was 86 years old having been born in 1921.  This is significantly older than 45 years old.  In any event, here is a good interview of him by Stephen's beloved National Review:

Yes to Senator No
Still Jesse.

By Jay Nordlinger

Interviewer’s Note: Jesse Helms was born in 1921, and was elected to the Senate in 1972. He served there five terms, or 30 years. He is now in retirement on his North Carolina soil. This week, Random House released his memoir, Here’s Where I Stand. Earlier in August, Helms answered questions by e-mail, from his office in Raleigh. A version of the below Q&A appears in the current print issue of National Review. Only one question did he decline to answer: concerning the handicapped son he and his wife adopted in the 1960s. It is said that Helms won’t be giving interviews anymore. If so, a rare and memorable voice will be silenced.

Did you ever think you’d live to see the end of the Cold War?

I surely hoped and prayed that I would. After all, the Cold War was a comparatively recent aberration in the sweep of history, and I was convinced that the desire to be free would be more powerful than the grip of Communism.

Why did the Soviet Union collapse? Reagan? Gorbachev? Some combination of factors?

The Soviet Union collapsed because Ronald Reagan exposed its true weakness, the lack of support the Soviet government had from the people they claimed to rule. Reagan’s firmness in refusing to back down to the blustering of Gorbachev and supposed Soviet power gave all those citizens who wanted to be free of their tyranny the courage to stand up and demand their freedom. Gorbachev could see which way the tree was falling and was smart enough to jump out of its way before he got taken down, too.

Did you think the West would be tough enough to face down the Soviets?

This was exactly why we needed a Ronald Reagan and not a Jimmy Carter in the White House. Of course the West was and is tough enough to face down any form of tyranny or terror. But we must have leaders who have the same kind of backbone their freedom-loving citizens have. Appeasement and negotiation have never worked in overcoming evil. We can face down any threat with strength and steadfastness.

What should we do about Castro, if anything?

Castro is a chronic problem, contained on his rusting-out island and constantly afraid of his own people and their hunger for freedom. Just last month he rounded up a group who dared to hold a public meeting to mark their traditional Independence Day. It is a tragedy that he would rather have his people suffer than accept the help of his neighbors to deal with the aftermath of the hurricanes that have swept Cuba in the last year. But, his days are short and one way or the other true freedom will soon return to Cuba.

In some quarters, you are considered anti-black. What do you say?

Of course I am not anti-black, and any number of African-American friends and Capitol Hill staffers who have known me over the years would be happy to set that record straight. I have always been opposed to violence from any quarter; to unconstitutional quotas; and to politicians who try to rob people of their ability to dream their own dreams and reach their own goals through their own efforts by selling them the lie that they can’t succeed without the government running their lives. I have always believed that the American Dream is the birthright of every American and that the free-enterprise system is the route to secure that dream.

Any regret over the “crumpled paper” ad, which caused so much hollering? [In his 1990 reelection campaign, Helms ran a TV spot that showed a man crumpling a letter informing him that he had been denied a job, because of race preferences.]

What a tempest in a teapot. This very short-run ad was about quotas and my opponent’s support for a bill that was later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The outcry was just one more attempt to change the subject from the issues to race. I chose to run on the issues.

The American South today: Is it fully part of America, completely reconciled? Is the Civil War over, mentally, culturally?

Let’s seeâ€"the fastest-growing spectator sport in America is NASCAR. Country-music stars pack stadiums everywhere they perform. The last two presidents of the United States have been from Arkansas and Texas. And two of the biggest banks in the country are headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’d say the South has pretty well recovered from a dispute that took place over a hundred years ago. Of course, if Hollywood keeps serving up stereotypes of country bumpkins with bad accents, we may have to retaliate.

What do you think of George W. Bush? Does he remind you a little of yourself?

I think George W. Bush is a principled man and has proven his determination to do what he thinks is best for the country without worrying about his popularity. In person he is both warm and personable and I have been happy to support him when I could.

What did you think of Reagan?

Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of my lifetime. It was my privilege to count him as my good friend.

Who were the most interesting people you met in your political career?

This question would require a second book! It is simply impossible to single out the most interesting. Maybe it was my early training as a journalist, but I’ve found every person I ever met has some quality that makes him or her interesting and unique as a person. Sometimes you have to dig a little harder, but everyone has a story of interest.

Did you have favorite colleagues? Unfavorite colleagues?

Certainly Ron Reagan and Margaret Thatcher rank among my favorites, but among fellow senators I’d include Hubert Humphrey and Jim Allen and Joe Biden and Orrin Hatch and Pat Moynihan and so many others retired or currently serving, or sadly no longer with us. [James Browning Allen was a senator from Alabama, who died in 1978, while in his second term.] Senators do indeed form solid friendships built on our mutual commitment to serve our Country.

The less favorite colleagues provided challenges of their own. Sometimes, like in the case of Paul Wellstone, who came to Congress determined to dislike me, we became personal friends even if we still disagreed on the issues. Other times, we didn’t, but we could still respect the fact that we were there because the people of our home state elected us and we could respect their choice by our civility to one another.

What do you regard as your greatest senatorial achievement?

This is not a question I can answer. History will handle it. I can tell you that my wife thinks that one of the most important changes we helped bring about was to make roll-call votes a routine. When senators had a voting record that the voters back home could examine, they could no longer talk one way during the campaign and vote another in Washington. Those voting records helped send a lot of liberals into early retirement.

You were known as “Senator No”â€"what did you think of that nickname?

I was tempted to send a thank-you note to the newspaper that first called me by that name. I enjoyed being known as Senator No because it summed up my purpose in helping to stop a lot of bad government policies and proposed laws.

Do you feel the War on Terror is as tough a challenge as the Cold War?

The War on Terror is every bit as tough a challenge as the Cold War, probably more so because those who oppose us are ideologues who are not interested in our defeat so much as they are our demise. But, as I said earlier, that does not mean this war is any the less winnable. We will win if we do not give in to those who would try to appease the enemy.

You were the only one who stood up for that Ukrainian sailor, Medved, who jumped off that ship. The Reagan administration dragged him back. You were accustomed to taking lonely stands, weren’t you? Did you ever embolden others? Or did they all hang back?

I was not the “Lone Ranger.” Our opponents often tried to paint that picture, but the fact of the matter was that there were always others who were willing to stand for what was right. Different individuals came forward to join in different fights and there was always strong support from the people who mattered, the citizens of the United States. They let me know by the thousands that they were standing with me on those tough issues. By the way, that Ukrainian sailor is a Christian minister now and we had the opportunity to meet when he came to America to visit the Capitol as a free man.

Some people knocked you for not traveling around. Do you feel this hampered your understanding of the world?

The people who made these comments didn’t know the facts. I’ve traveled extensively to Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Europe throughout my life and my Senate career. In 2001 I took the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to Mexico for its first meeting on foreign soil. What I did not do is make these trips at government expense or to make a big publicity show, so it was assumed by people who didn’t bother about knowing the truth that I did not have firsthand knowledge of world issues.

In addition I had trusted staff members who served as my eyes and ears around the world and close friendships with world leaders and foreign nationals who made sure I had the best information available about the issues in their countries.

Far from being hampered, my approach to fact-gathering made sure I wasn’t getting the spin version of those issues that is too often a part of those well-known political junkets.

The abuse directed your way seemed to roll off your back. Did you ever feel it? Did your critics ever get to you?

Harry Truman said it well: “If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” Some of the biggest laughs I ever got were from political cartoons that were intended to ridicule me.

Of course I don’t like to be lied about. But I know the truth and the truth always wins out.

What has your marriage meant to you?

Meeting and marrying Dorothy Coble was and to this day remains the best part of my life. She is my best friend and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. We have been blessed in every way with three loving children and wonderful grandchildren who make us proud of their every accomplishment.

Did you enjoy participating in politicsâ€"campaigning, speaking, sparring, all of it?

I did not enjoy the campaign trail and I never considered myself an eloquent speaker or debater, but I was always happy to set out conservative ideas in a way folks could understand and appreciate.

Who are your favorite political writers, if any?

I’m partial to the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Favorite figures from American history?

My favorite figure from American history is Thomas Jefferson.

What do you wish the American people could know about you, or about themselves?

I suppose what I would like people to know about me is what I would like them to know about themselves. We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the history of the world. We live in a nation founded on the belief that all of us are created equal, that all of us have God-given gifts and all of us have the opportunity to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That opportunity often comes disguised as hard work, but that hard work has rewards that are worth far more than money in building character and setting priorities.

I grew up during the Great Depression. I needed three jobs to support myself in college. I had no inheritance beyond the example of faith, hard work, and honesty. But I lived in the United States of America, and my fatherâ€"who served as both chief of police and fire chief in a small southern townâ€"lived long enough to see his youngest son sworn in as a United States senator.

In America my story can be anybody’s story, and that is the most important lesson we can teach ourselves and all of our children. We have no limits if we partner our dreams with our willingness to work for them.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YTg4ODE4NmUxZDBiNmIxYWUwMTVmNGYzZTAzN2ZiNmM

[RiversideGator]

BTW, not agreeing with the gay agenda is not a sin.  Homosexuality is the sin.  Not caving into this agenda is the chief reason for much of the vitriol against Helms.

[Driven1]

His life, which embraced the Truth and an unmistakeable love for Creation would make him welcome in any heaven one might choose, but George was an Athiest.

just curious... what is "the Truth"?

and - we get to choose our heavens?  that's neat.  tell me more.  is that like choosing the features you want on your bank account at Compass Bank?

his love for "Creation"?  that's interesting as well.  what is this "Creation" (with a capital "C") that you write of?  and how did Carlin show his "love" for this "Creation"?  and why would showing love for "Creation" get one into a multiple choice heaven? 

where do these beliefs come from?  to me they sound like a bunch of made up individual-opinion mumbo jumbo, but i'm interested to see how I could be wrong. 

[vicupstate]

Helms was elected to the Senate in 1972, which is within my lifetime.  Needless to say, I was surrounded by, and raised by people of his EXACT generation.  Therefore, his attitudes are not foreign to me in the least.  

Fortunately, I evolved beyond the attitudes he espoused.  I praise Jesus for that.  

As for "judge not, lest ye be judged', that is VERY relevant to Mr. Helms life.  In fact, I can think of nothing  I would have rather said to him, had I had the chance.  The same goes for others that condemen homosexuals based on the their belief that it is a sin.