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Entry: Jesse Helms (1921-2008) Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/jesse_helms_1921_2008#31910 Post contents: Nice tribute to a valiant and honest political leader. I first met Senator Helms in 1965 (he helped sponsor me as an exchange student). My mother and aunt graduated with his wife, Miss Dot, in Raleigh. Through the years and several political campaigns we maintained contact and a rich correspondence. Suffering from some mild dementia, he spent the last couple of years at Mayview Convalescent Center in Raleigh, a stone's throw from Whitaker Glen Retirement Center, where his wife has an apartment. Despite failing health, he was always delighted to receive visitors, especially if they came bearing "Snoopy's" hotdogs, which he loved. By calculation his office and he, personally, responded to well over half a million requests from constituents for assistance, whether to clear up a problem with the VA, to secure Social Security, or break some other bureaucratic logjam. He was recognized at having the best constituent services office of any senator. And, what's more, during much of his tenure, he would respond personally to as many as one third of the letters he got, often with handwritten notes added to typed responses. And it never made any difference which party the person belonged to.... We Tar Heels loved the fact that when Jesse said or promised something, you could count on it, take it to the bank, so to speak. We might not always agree with everything he said, but we loved him just the same. We knew he was incorruptible, and that 95 out of 100 times, he was right (we could forgive the other 5 times). He started out as an informed critic of our Middle East/Israeli policies, but via Chick Hecht, he more or less was "converted" to a strong pro-Israel viewpoint. I disagreed with him on that, but at least he was up front and open about it. And on the MLK hoopla, well, I think subsequent history has proven his courageous opposition to the holiday and the mania surrounding it, to be right (it was, after all, the late Sam Francis who prepared him for that famous "debate.") In 1976, with the Jesse Helms Congressional Club (here in NC) and such great political strategists as Carter Wrenn and Tom Ellis, Helms practically saved Ronald Reagan (in the N.C. GOP presidential primary), and Reagan always acknowledged that his unexpected victory in North Carolina was the reason he survived and later became the GOP leader after Ford's defeat at the hands of Jimmy Carter. It was Jesse who demanded (and got, at least partially) a reform of the United Nations. It was Jesse who, as Foreign Relations Committee chairman, worked to help finally dismantle the Soviet empire. He won the admiration of Lady Thatcher, the Dalai Lama, and Vaclav Havel, to mention but a few world leaders. From the beginning Jesse worked tirelessly to undo the Roe v. Wade decision, and indeed he received votes from many not-so-conservative citizens because of that commitment. Although eschewing press conferences and the glitzy Sunday morning news programs, he was always approachable for the everyday, hard-working North Carolina citizen. Most of all, he was a genuine Southern gentleman, who liked people, who did what he said, and believed firmly in God, family, and the constitutional American Republic (as well as being proud of his Confederate heritage!). They don't make'em like him anymore. Jesse helped pioneer the modern age of televised ads and distance campaigning, but while he was always himself, most others want to present a packaged persona via TV and the Net. Jesse was, well, always Jesse. We loved him for it, and we admired him for really understanding what the word "represent" actually meant. Requiescat in pace. Sent at: 2008 12 05