Background

Mr. Helms was born in Monroe, North Carolina, United States, on October 18, 1921. He was a son of Jesse Alexander and Ethel Mae Helms.

Education

Jesse Helms attended Wingate College (later Wingate University), and Wake Forest College (now Wake Forest University).

Career

After his graduation, he became a city editor of the Raleigh Times in 1941. The next year he entered the U.S. Navy, in which he served during World War II. After the war Mr. Helms became news and program director at WRAL- Radio in Raleigh, North Carolina. He stayed at WRAL until 1951, when he became an administrative assistant to Senator Willis Smith in Washington, D.C. Two years later, he held the same position for Senator Alton Lennon.

After returning to North Carolina in 1953, Jesse Helms assumed executive directorship of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He held that position until 1960, when he began twelve years of service as executive vice president of the Capital Broadcasting Company, owner of WRAL-Radio. At Capital, Mr. Helms developed a reputation as an outspoken critic of what he perceived as unfair coverage of the South, particularly with regard to civil-rights activities.

Mr. Helms contested for the senate in 1972 and won handily. Jesse Helms won election as a Republican, and once he assumed his seat in the Senate he established himself among the party’s more extreme conservatives. Over the course of his Senate career, which surpasses twenty years, Helms has failed to find widespread support, at least among Senate colleagues, for some of his conservative proposals.

Jesse Helms has articulated his conservative perspective in various books. In 1976, for example, he wrote Where Free Men Shall Stand: A Sobering Look at the Supertaxing, Superspending, Superbureaucracy in Washington, and in 1983 he contributed to the volume The Defense of America: From Assured Destruction to Assured Survival.

Achievements

• Jesse Helms helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, focusing on Ronald Reagan's quest for the White House as well as helping many local and regional candidates.
  
  Mr. Helms was the longest-serving popularly elected Senator in North Carolina's history. He was widely credited with shifting the one-party state into a competitive two-party state. He successfully advocated the movement of conservatives from the Democratic Party – which they deemed too liberal – to the Republican Party.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Empire for Liberty: The Foreign Policy Speeches and Writings of Jesse Helms

    (Jesse Helms, one of the most masterful conservative polit...)

  • Abortion: Yes or No?

    (Possibly the most widely read treatise on abortion in the...)

  • Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir

    (The highly-anticipated memoir by one of the giants of the...)

  • When Free Men Shall Stand

    (Book by Helms, Jesse.)

  • Lot of Human Beings Have Been Born Bums: Twenty Years of the Words of Senator Jesse Helms

Religion

"Every person was created for a purpose, and God has a plan and will for every individual."

Politics

Jesse Helms believed that candidates for political office should endorse the Judeo-Christian beliefs, convictions, and values upon which society should rest.

Views

Quotations: "Church decisions should be made as openly as possible, giving opportunities for all to contribute. It is important for all views to be heard and taken seriously, especially where Christians disagree."

Membership

• Masonic Order , United States

• Rotary Club , United States

• Raleigh Executives , United States

Interests

• Reading, community service, fishing.

Connections

Jesse Helms married Dorothy Jane Coble on October 31, 1942. The had two children: Jane, Nancy. He adopted a nine-year-old orphan with cerebral palsy named Charles after reading in a newspaper that Charles wanted a mother and father for Christmas. The couple had seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. One of his grandchildren, Jennifer Knox, later became a judge in Wake County, North Carolina.

Father:

Jesse Alexander Helms

Mother:

Ethel Mae Helms

Daughter:

Jane Helms

Daughter:

Nancy Helms

Son:

Charles Helms

Wife:

Dorothy Jane Coble

Grandson:

Jennifer Knox

References

• Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism In Righteous Warrior, William A. Link provides a magisterial portrait of Senator Jesse Helms, one of the most commanding American politicians of the late twentieth century, and of the conservative movement he forged. Born in Monroe, North Carolina, in his early years Helms worked as a newspaperman, a radio commentator and a magazine editor.  Early on, he realized the power of television, and, on tiny black and white screens across North Carolina in the 1960s, he battled the civil rights movement, campus radicalism, and the sexual revolution.  Race was a central issue for Helms, and he used it at every turn to solidify his base and, in some cases, to mobilize political support. But also important was sexuality, and his discomfort with what he believed was a rising tide of immorality. In 1973, he was elected to the Senate, where he remained until 2003.  As Senator, Helms became a national conservative leader and spokesman for the revitalized American Right, playing a prominent role in the Reagan Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s and the rising tide of Republicanism of the 1990s.  His political organization, the Congressional Club, became remarkably successful at raising millions of dollars and in operating a highly sophisticated, media-driven political machine.  The Congressional Club also provided a source of national standing and power for Helms.  In working so relentlessly for his cause, Helms literally became a nexus of the burgeoning movement, pushing conservative causes, linking conservative politicians up with wealthy donors and amassing more power than many Senators within memory.  In Righteous Warrior, William Link tells the story of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century and the conservative mark he left on the American political landscape. In Righteous Warrior, William A. Link provides a magisterial portrait of Senator Jesse Helms, one of the most commanding American politicians of the late twentieth century, and of the conservative movement he forged. Born in Monroe, North Carolina, in his early years Helms worked as a newspaperman, a radio commentator and a magazine editor.  Early on, he realized the power of television, and, on tiny black and white screens across North Carolina in the 1960s, he battled the civil rights movement, campus radicalism, and the sexual revolution.  Race was a central issue for Helms, and he used it at every turn to solidify his base and, in some cases, to mobilize political support. But also important was sexuality, and his discomfort with what he believed was a rising tide of immorality. In 1973, he was elected to the Senate, where he remained until 2003.  As Senator, Helms became a national conservative leader and spokesman for the revitalized American Right, playing a prominent role in the Reagan Revolution of the 1970s and 1980s and the rising tide of Republicanism of the 1990s.  His political organization, the Congressional Club, became remarkably successful at raising millions of dollars and in operating a highly sophisticated, media-driven political machine.  The Congressional Club also provided a source of national standing and power for Helms.  In working so relentlessly for his cause, Helms literally became a nexus of the burgeoning movement, pushing conservative causes, linking conservative politicians up with wealthy donors and amassing more power than many Senators within memory.  In Righteous Warrior, William Link tells the story of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century and the conservative mark he left on the American political landscape.
• Conservative Bias: How Jesse Helms Pioneered the Rise of Right-Wing Media and Realigned the Republican Party (Sunbelt Studies) “Conservative Bias examines one of the most notorious figures of modern American politics: Jesse Helms. Thrift shows that Helms was not merely a right-wing demagogue but rather a brilliant media mastermind who built a national movement from a little television soundstage in Raleigh.”?Neil J. Young, Princeton University   “In this careful, thoughtful, and thoroughly researched study, Bryan Hardin Thrift provides the first comprehensive study of Jesse Helms’s long career as a conservative journalist and television ideologue prior to his long tenure as a U.S. senator from North Carolina.”—William A. Link, author of Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism   “Traces a little-known, but pivotal, phase of Helms’s pre-senatorial career and explains how the future New Right leader used the power of local television broadcasts in the 1960s to forge a new ideology that moved the nation to the right.”—Daniel K. Williams, author of God’s Own Party   Before Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck, there was Jesse Helms. From in front of a camera at WRAL-TV, Helms forged a new brand of southern conservatism long before he was a senator from North Carolina. As executive vice president of the station, Helms delivered commentaries on the evening news and directed the news and entertainment programming. He pioneered the attack on the liberal media, and his editorials were some of the first shots fired in the culture wars, criticizing the influence of “immoral entertainment.” Through the emerging power of the household television Helms established a blueprint and laid the foundation for the modern conservative movement.             Bryan Thrift mines over 2,700 WRAL-TV “Viewpoint” editorials broadcast between 1960 and 1972 to offer not only a portrait of a skilled rhetorician and wordsmith but also a lens on the way the various, and at times competing, elements of modern American conservatism cohered into an ideology couched in the language of anti-elitism and “traditional values.” Decades prior to the invention of the blog, Helms corresponded with his viewers to select, refine, and sharpen his political message until he had reworked southern traditionalism into a national conservative movement. The realignment of southern Democrats into the Republican Party was not easy or inevitable, and by examining Helms’s oft-forgotten journalism career, Thrift shows how delicately and deliberately this transition had to be cultivated.   “Conservative Bias examines one of the most notorious figures of modern American politics: Jesse Helms. Thrift shows that Helms was not merely a right-wing demagogue but rather a brilliant media mastermind who built a national movement from a little television soundstage in Raleigh.”?Neil J. Young, Princeton University   “In this careful, thoughtful, and thoroughly researched study, Bryan Hardin Thrift provides the first comprehensive study of Jesse Helms’s long career as a conservative journalist and television ideologue prior to his long tenure as a U.S. senator from North Carolina.”—William A. Link, author of Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism   “Traces a little-known, but pivotal, phase of Helms’s pre-senatorial career and explains how the future New Right leader used the power of local television broadcasts in the 1960s to forge a new ideology that moved the nation to the right.”—Daniel K. Williams, author of God’s Own Party   Before Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck, there was Jesse Helms. From in front of a camera at WRAL-TV, Helms forged a new brand of southern conservatism long before he was a senator from North Carolina. As executive vice president of the station, Helms delivered commentaries on the evening news and directed the news and entertainment programming. He pioneered the attack on the liberal media, and his editorials were some of the first shots fired in the culture wars, criticizing the influence of “immoral entertainment.” Through the emerging power of the household television Helms established a blueprint and laid the foundation for the modern conservative movement.             Bryan Thrift mines over 2,700 WRAL-TV “Viewpoint” editorials broadcast between 1960 and 1972 to offer not only a portrait of a skilled rhetorician and wordsmith but also a lens on the way the various, and at times competing, elements of modern American conservatism cohered into an ideology couched in the language of anti-elitism and “traditional values.” Decades prior to the invention of the blog, Helms corresponded with his viewers to select, refine, and sharpen his political message until he had reworked southern traditionalism into a national conservative movement. The realignment of southern Democrats into the Republican Party was not easy or inevitable, and by examining Helms’s oft-forgotten journalism career, Thrift shows how delicately and deliberately this transition had to be cultivated.  
• Hard Right: The Rise of Jesse Helms Traces the life and political career of Senator Jesse Helms, examines his role in the conservative political movement, and discusses his influence on the development of American foreign policy
• Keep Singing: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Jesse Helms "Keep Singing is about as moving a document as I have ever read, a real testament to the human spirit. Full of suspense and pathos, the book reads like an engaging novel. I found myself in tears one minute, then furious five minutes later."-Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace and Fair and Tender Ladies On June 5, 1994, Patsy Clarke sat down and wrote a long letter to her friend Jesse Helms. In it she recounted the last night of her son Mark's life. She had hoped to touch the heart of the notoriously homophobic senator, to ask him to soften his antigay stance, and to end his opposition to AIDS research funding. She failed. His callous and self-serving reply, in which he said, "I wish Mark had not played Russian roulette in his sexual activity," first broke Patsy's heart-and then it made her furious. Together with her friend Eloise Clark who had also lost a son-also named Mark-to AIDS, they formed Mothers Against Jesse in Congress (MAJIC) to drive him from office. Keep Singing is the inspiring true story of two women, driven by the desire that even in death their children would be given the simple human respect that is due everyone, and who gave a new face to the fight against bigotry and hatred. Patsy Clarke is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a degree in Drama and Literature. She remains active in theater in her home of Raleigh, NC. Eloise Vaughn graduated from the University of North Carolina, and was a junior high-school teacher for 15 years. She now lives in Blowing Rock, N.C., and remains active in AIDS causes. An Excerpt: How I Learned to Love Liberals Harry Clarke had our kitchen table custom-made so that it would be large enough to accommodate our whole family on a regular and comfortable basis. He wanted it to be the place where he and I, our four children, and my mother and father could gather to be nurtured both physically and intellectually, a place where we feasted on Boston cream pie and the news of the day with equal relish. This round oak table became the hub of our lives, around which so many of our family's notable events occurred. Thomas "Speedy" Rice asked for Judy's