Jesse Helms - True to His Convictions

Winston Churchill once remarked: “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.” Senator Jesse Helms, who passed away on July 4th, built a career on standing for principle against sometimes fierce personal opposition.

The personality trait uniting most politicians is a consuming desire to be liked. Over time, this trait leads many people to take the path of least resistance, or to take positions that are likely to please as many of one’s base as possible regardless of larger consequences. In politics, the “go along to get along” approach can win friendships and the approval of the media, but it doesn’t always serve the larger interests of one’s constituents and the nation.

Jesse Helms was guided by the North Star of what he viewed as right and true. He would as readily challenge Presidents of his own party as he would those of the opposition. One journalist in his home state of North Carolina aptly said of him: “He was not a consensus builder. He didn’t want everybody to vote for him. He just wanted enough.”

As the senator himself put it, “I didn’t come to Washington to be a yes man for any President, Democrat or Republican.” And through a thirty year career that included chairmanships of the Senate Agriculture Committee and later the Foreign Relations Committee, Jesse Helms became one of the most reviled politicians in America for defending his sincere principles. He relished the title of “Senator No,” given to him by his detractors, and kept a big rubber “NO” stamp on his Senate desk.

In 1975, Helms helped arrange a visit to the United States by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Both Secretary Kissinger and President Ford refused to meet with Solzhenitsyn for fear of offending the leaders of the Soviet Union. Kissinger even forbade State Department employees from attending a major speech Solzhenitsyn delivered in our nation’s capitol. Senator Helms skewered them both for “cowering timidly for fear of offending Communists.”

Over the years Senator Helms voted “no” on higher taxes and on bills designed to increase the size of government. With 60% growth in the size of the federal government during the past eight years, his lone and principled voice is sorely missed.

He voted “no” to seriously flawed international treaties that he felt would undermine American sovereignty and the rights of individual Americans. He voted “no” on foreign aid to third world thugs. He voted “no” on many objectionable nominations for government and diplomatic posts. He voted “no” on taxpayer funded abortions including those in military hospitals. He voted “no” when the National Endowment for the Arts was funding blasphemous, homo-erotic art.

He opposed efforts to limit the Constitutional right to bear arms. He opposed unfair quotas and set-asides. He mobilized hundreds of thousands of citizens in opposing compulsory unionism. And he did all that, and much more, while maintaining a reputation as one of the Senate’s most courtly and gentlemanly members. Madeleine Albright once described Helms as "the kindest, most infuriating, politest, most aggravating and nicest politician I had to deal with in the United States Senate.”

Jesse Helms knew that the greatest service he could render to his country was to be true to his convictions, regardless of how unpopular they may be, and to say “no” when the mob was surging in the wrong direction. For his faithfulness and courage, all Americans are indebted to Jesse Helms. He was a remarkable and unique public servant.