![]() The elder Helms asserted to Jesse that ambition was good and accomplishments and achievements would come his way through following a strict work ethic. Link described Helms's father as having a domineering influence on the child's development, describing the pair as being similar in having the traits of being extrovert, effusive, and enjoying the company of others while both favored constancy, loyalty, and respect for order. Helms recalled that his family rarely spoke about politics, reasoning that the political climate did not call for discussions as most of the people the family were acquainted with were members of the Democratic Party. He recalled initially being bothered by their chickens becoming their food, but abandoned this view to allow himself to concentrate on his mother's cooking. The family attended services each Sunday at First Baptist, Helms later saying he would never forget being served chickens raised in the family's backyard by his mother, following their weekly services. Helms acquired his first job sweeping floors at The Monroe Enquirer at age 9. Helms described Monroe as a community surrounded by farmland and with a population of about three thousand where "you knew just about everybody and just about everybody knew you." The Helms family was poor during the Great Depression, resulting in each of the children working from an early age. Helms was of English ancestry on both sides. Helms was born in 1921 in Monroe, North Carolina, where his father, nicknamed "Big Jesse", served as both fire chief and chief of police his mother, Ethel Mae Helms, was a homemaker. Helms Sr., to his son Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, North Carolina Helms was considered the most stridently conservative American politician of the post-1960s era, especially in opposition to federal intervention into what he considered state affairs (including legislating integration via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and enforcing suffrage through the Voting Rights Act of 1965).Ĭhildhood and education (1921–1940) Īdvice from Jesse A. ![]() The Helms-controlled National Congressional Club's state-of-the-art direct mail operation raised millions of dollars for Helms and other conservative candidates, allowing Helms to outspend his opponents in most of his campaigns. He advocated the movement of conservatives from the Democratic Party – which they deemed too liberal – to the Republican Party. He was widely credited with shifting the one-party state into a competitive two-party state. Helms was the longest-serving popularly elected Senator in North Carolina's history. His relations with the State Department were often acrimonious, and he blocked numerous presidential appointees. ![]() Īs chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he demanded an anti-communist foreign policy. The Almanac of American Politics once wrote that "no American politician is more controversial, beloved in some quarters and hated in others, than Jesse Helms". Helms brought an "aggressiveness" to his conservatism, as in his rhetoric against homosexuality. On domestic social issues, Helms opposed civil rights, disability rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, affirmative action, access to abortions, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the National Endowment for the Arts. 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. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001, he had a major voice in foreign policy. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. ![]() (Octo– July 4, 2008) was an American politician. ![]()
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