Jesse Helms was an American politician and leader of the conservative movement. He served as a senator under the Republican Party since 1972 in North Carolina and got re-elected five times. For this reason, he was the longest-serving senator in this state. He contributed a lot when it came to foreign policies, as he was the chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee. He is remembered for advocating for the conservatives in the Democratic Party to shift to the Republican Party for the former was too liberal for them. In matters pertaining federal intervention in state affairs, Helms was the most conservative politician to have existed in the American senatorial politics in the post-1960s era.
According to most scholars, the North Carolina senator is still relevant today for he was a political giant. He moved the Republican Party to his confrontational conservatism and hard-shelled personality. He placed his state in the political landscape of the twentieth century. Helms would at times compromise his policies, but he never at one time compromised his principles. It is because of this reason that he gained the name “Senator No” as his conservative beliefs were always consistent due to his strong faith. Most of his words easily turned into facts, as he was a political figure of great interest to the media. He was always in the spotlight, and everything about him was closely scrutinized.
Most of the conservative liberals use some of the campaign techniques that Helms applied. In simple terms, he was the conservative politicians the liberals would love to hate. He was the perfect representative of ideologies to do with anti-communism, social conservatism and foreign policies that were assertive and limits on union power. Most of his views were validated at the end of the day despite him having extreme views on matters that dealt with homosexuality and racial issues.
In his memoir, the senator came out as a person who was full of fervor, frank, and fascinating. However, he was trouble to most of the presidents he served under due to these qualities. He told about his humble beginnings where his father was a chief police officer in both the police department and the fire department while his mother was a homemaker. He further went on to describe his early life in school and later his role as a newspaperman, radio host, and a navy recruiter. For thirty years, Helms championed the core conservative causes such as anti-communism, low taxes, and school prayers. He also crusaded against abortion and claimed of his strong believes in the Christian religion.
Jesse Helms told an inspiring story of his father and the hard working nature of his family, which probably defined Helms into the hardworking man. He later met his wife Dot, whose father’s conservative views defined the senator’s conservative nature of politics. Helms later worked as a journalist and then as a newscaster until in 1972 when he ran for the senator’s seat with the Democratic ticket party. According to him, a spiritual rebirth was required in America alongside derailing the freight train of liberalism. When it came to issues concerning the Panama Canal, racism or Iran-Contra, Helms was a great lightning shaker, mover, and shaker for the Republican Party. In here where’s I stand, Helms described most of the events that shaped America in the recent past. The memoir revealed the engaging journey of a spirited American politician.
William A. Link in Righteous Warrior, A Biography for Jesse Helms, described “Senator No” as a trendsetter. Though he was not the first conservative Democrat to shift to the Republican Party, he was in the Vanguard where he monitored the conquest between the Republicans and the Democrats. He was responsible for forming the conservative demonization associated with the American liberal media. Link also displayed the senator as a key contributor to the development of the GOP and the conservative movement. Antirealist, politics and cultural war were the three major areas on which Helms model of conservatism was based. Racial politics and religious-based cultural politics were undoubtedly connected by Helms. He invented the politics of mobilizing the conservative and sexuality. The fact that he was opposed to homosexuality made him campaign to overturn the Miami gay rights ordinance.
In Jesse’s biography, Link described Helms tactics in the Senate. He used procedures that aided him in winning nominations and legislations against the majority of the other members. He succeeded in forming test votes, which placed members to either support or neglect amendments that limited abortion rights. Helm would do anything to ensure that the foreign policy was not undermined. In 1976, he waged war on the détente policies by Henry Kissinger in 1976, a move that almost unraveled the nomination of Gerald Ford. The biography describes him as a supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa, Pinochet in Chile and as someone that undermined the Chamorro government for lacking ruthlessness when dealing with the Sandinistas. In the Senate, Helms spent his time championing a guns-and-ideology to handle foreign policy in handling career diplomats in the state department.
Although Helms was ranked, as one of the most hated US senators, he still was backed up in his state. However, according to some critics, Helms was neither a racist nor a rebel. In his memoir, the senator mentioned that his father had taught him never to use the Negro word, which demeaned the black people. He believed that people were to be judged by what was in their hearts and not by their color. To substantiate the claim, he commended Harvey Gantt, a Democratic opponent who was a Black American.
He also distanced himself from accusations that he is not chauvinistic by stating in his memoir that he had a good working relationship with women in the state Department and the Senate. He also played a significant role in encouraging women who ran for any public office. From all the appointments to his role as a senator, Helms put the foreign relations as a top priority. He was unapologetic of his views and in most cases; he failed to offer an apology for his conservative ideologies. In the end, he was characterized as a charming self-defender who was patriotic, descent, yet old-fashioned.
In conclusion, Helms averted the style of politics that characterized the success and various leaders from Reagan to George Bush. Although he was viewed as an extremist in matters to do with racism and sexuality, his legacy, bitter and unforgiving, still lives on due to his talks on the religion of secularism and hardening the regimes of some presidents. He is however recommended for his consistency, his devotion to friends and family and an unassuming way of life.
Bibliography
Helms., Jesse. Here's where I stand : a memoir. New York: Random House, 2005.
Kilgore, Ed. Tar Heel Pioneer. March 2008. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0801.kilgore.html (accessed March 22, 2016).
Link, William A. Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008.
The Jesse Helms Center Foundation. Fictional vs. Factual: The Truth Behind the Rumors about Jesse Helms. n.d. http://www.jessehelmscenter.org/senator-jesse-helms/key-issues/ (accessed March 22, 2016)
