Jesse Helms

File:Jesse Helms, Sr., quotation, Wingate, NC IMG 4260.JPG in Wingate, North Carolina]]

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 was of English ancestry on both sides.Link (2008) ch 1 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."{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=3–5|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}} The Helms family was poor during the Great Depression, resulting in each of the children working from an early age. Helms acquired his first job sweeping floors at The Monroe Enquirer at age nine. 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. 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. 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.{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|page=9|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}

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.Link, p. 23. The elder Helms asserted to his son that ambition was good, and accomplishments and achievements would come his way through following a strict work ethic.Link, p. 20. Years later, Helms retained fond memories of his father's involvement with his youth: "I shall forever have wonderful memories of a caring, loving father who took the time to listen and to explain things to his wide-eyed son."{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|page=10|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}} In high school, Helms was voted "Most Obnoxious" in his senior yearbook.{{sfn|Link|2008|p=25}}

Helms briefly attended Wingate Junior College, now Wingate University, near Monroe, before leaving for Wake Forest College. He left Wingate after a year to begin a career as a journalist, working for the next eleven years as a newspaper and radio reporter, first as a sportswriter and news reporter for Raleigh's The News & Observer, and also as assistant city editor for The Raleigh Times. Helms retained a positive view of Wingate into his later years, saying the school was filled with individuals that treated him with kindness and that he had made it an objective to repay the institution for what it had done for him.{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|page=18|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}} While attending Wake Forest, Helms left work early and ran a few blocks to catch a train every morning to ensure he was on time to his classes.{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=15–16|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}} Helms stated that his goal in attending was never to get a diploma but instead form the skills needed for forms of employment he was seeking at a time when he aspired to become a journalist.{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|page=17|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}

Helms met Dorothy "Dot" Coble, editor of the society page at The News & Observer, and they married in 1942. Helms's first interest in politics came from conversations with his conservative father-in-law. In 1945, his and Dot's first child Jane was born.

Helms's first full-time job after college was as a sports reporter with the Raleigh Times.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/00helms.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp|title=Jesse Helms, Conservative Force in the Senate, Dies at 86|last=Holmes|first=Steven A. |date=July 4, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 4, 2008}} During World War II, Helms served stateside as a recruiter in the United States Navy.

After the war, he pursued his twin interests of journalism and Democratic Party politics. Helms became the city news editor of the Raleigh Times. He later became a radio and television newscaster and commentator for WRAL-TV, where he hired Armistead Maupin as a reporter.{{cite book|last1=Maupin|first1=Armistead|title=Logical Family: A Memoir|date=2017|publisher=Penguin|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780857523518|pages=76–82|title-link=Logical Family: A Memoir}}

File:Richard Russell quotation at Helms Center in Wingate, NC IMG 4263.JPG Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia told Helms in 1952 that he hoped Helms would one day become a senator; Helms achieved this 20 years later, but Russell did not live to see it.]]

In 1950, Helms played a critical role as campaign publicity director for Willis Smith in the U.S. Senate campaign against a prominent liberal, Frank Porter Graham.{{cite book | last = Borstelmann | first =Thomas | title=The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2003 | pages =65–66 | isbn =0-674-01238-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWqjxBEPPlEC&pg=PA65 | access-date=July 14, 2008}} Smith (a conservative Democratic lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association) portrayed Graham, who supported school desegregation, as a "dupe of communists" and a proponent of the "mingling of the races". Smith's fliers said, "Wake Up, White People", in the campaign for the virtually all-white primaries. Blacks were still mostly disfranchised in the state, because its 1900 constitutional amendment had been passed by white Democrats with restrictive voter registration and electoral provisions that effectively and severely reduced their role in electoral politics.{{cite web|title=Article VI. Suffrage and Eligibility to Office – Qualifications of an Elector.|url=http://core.ecu.edu/umc/Wilmington/scans/ticketThree/articleSix.pdf|publisher=East Carolina University|access-date=November 19, 2016}}

Smith won and hired Helms as his administrative assistant in Washington. In 1952, Helms worked on the presidential campaign of Georgia Senator Richard Russell Jr. After Russell dropped out of the presidential race, Helms returned to working for Smith. When Smith died in 1953, Helms returned to Raleigh.

From 1953 to 1960, Helms was executive director of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He and his wife set up their home on Caswell Street in the Hayes Barton Historic District, where he lived the rest of his life.{{cite web |last=Christensen |first=Rob |title=Jesse Helms dead at 86 |work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |date=July 4, 2008 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/v-print/story/1130628.html |access-date=December 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712233014/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/v-print/story/1130628.html |archive-date=July 12, 2008 |url-status=dead }}

In 1957, Helms as a Democrat won his first election for a Raleigh City Council seat. He served two terms and earned a reputation as a conservative gadfly who "fought against everything from putting a median strip on Downtown Boulevard to an urban renewal project". Helms disliked his tenure on the council, feeling all the other members acted as a private club and that Mayor William G. Enloe was a "steamroller".{{sfn|Link|2008|p=60}} In 1960, Helms worked on the unsuccessful primary gubernatorial campaign of I. Beverly Lake Sr., who ran on a platform of racial segregation.{{cite book | last = Drescher | first =John |author2=David Espo | title=Triumph of Good Will: How Terry Sanford Beat a Champion of Segregation and Reshaped the South | publisher=University Press of Mississippi | year=2000 | isbn =1-57806-310-8 }} - [https://books.google.com/books?id=LpMukF2ifkEC Link to book profile], accessed on July 14, 2008 on Google Books. Lake lost to future Senator Terry Sanford, who ran as a racial moderate willing to implement the federal policy of school integration. Helms felt forced busing and forced racial integration caused animosity on both sides and "proved to be unwise".

In 1960, Helms joined the Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting Company (CBC) as the executive vice-president, vice chairman of the board, and assistant chief executive officer. His daily CBC editorials on WRAL-TV, given at the end of each night's local news broadcast in Raleigh, made Helms famous as a conservative commentator throughout eastern North Carolina.

Helms's editorials featured folksy anecdotes interwoven with conservative views against "the civil rights movement, the liberal news media, and anti-war churches", among many targets. He referred to The News and Observer, his former employer, as the "Nuisance and Disturber" for its promotion of liberal views and support for African-American civil rights activities.{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/291092.html |title=Helms' long-held views on race muted in book |first=Rob |last=Christiansen |work=News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |date=June 10, 2005 |page=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606051301/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/291092.html |archive-date=June 6, 2009 }} The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which had a reputation for liberalism, was also a frequent target of Helms's criticism. He is said to have referred to the university as "The University of Negroes and Communists" despite a lack of evidence,{{cite news| url=http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesse-helms-and-university-of-negroes.html| work=The Charlotte Observer| date=December 6, 2012| title=Jesse Helms and the 'University of Negroes and Communists'| first=Taylor| last=Batten| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104045457/http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesse-helms-and-university-of-negroes.html| archive-date=January 4, 2014| url-status=dead| access-date=December 22, 2020}} and suggested a wall be erected around the campus to prevent the university's liberal views from "infecting" the rest of the state. Helms said the civil rights movement was infested by Communists and "moral degenerates". He described the federal program of Medicaid as a "step over into the swampy field of socialized medicine".

Commenting on the 1963 protests and March on Washington during the Civil Rights Movement, Helms stated, "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A0CE6DB1031F935A1575BC0A9679C8B63&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|title= Ideas & Trends; The Quotations of Chairman Helms: Race, God, AIDS and More|last=Kevin|first=Sack|date=August 26, 2001|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 29, 2008}} He later wrote, "Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are facts of life which must be faced."{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B14FB385F0C7B8CDDAB0894D9484D81|title=Thunder from the Right|last=Range|first=Peter Ross|date=February 8, 1981|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 13, 2008}}

He was at Capitol Broadcasting Company until he filed for the Senate race in 1972.

{{Main|1972 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

Helms announced his candidacy for a seat in the United States Senate in 1972. His Republican primary campaign was managed by Thomas F. Ellis, who would later be instrumental in Ronald Reagan's 1976 campaign and also become the chair of the National Congressional Club. Helms took the Republican primary, winning 92,496 votes, or 60.1%, in a three-candidate field.{{cite web|title=North Carolina DataNet #46 |url=http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927181120/http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |date=April 2008 |publisher=University of North Carolina |access-date=June 12, 2009 }} Meanwhile, Democrats retired the ailing Senator B. Everett Jordan, who lost his primary to Congressman Nick Galifianakis. The latter represented the "new politics" of voters who included the young, African Americans voting since federal legislation removed discriminatory restrictions, and anti-establishment activists, who were based in and around the urban Research Triangle and Piedmont Triad. Although Galifianakis was a "liberal" by North Carolina standards, he opposed busing to achieve integration in schools.{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Defeat of Jordan by Rep. Galifianakis In Carolina is Linked to 'New Politics{{'-}} |work=The New York Times |date=June 5, 1972 |page=26 }}

Polls put Galifianakis well ahead until late in the campaign, but Helms, facing all but certain defeat, hired a professional campaign manager, F. Clifton White, giving him dictatorial control over campaign strategy. While Galifianakis avoided mention of his party's presidential candidate, the liberal George McGovern,{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Major Races in North Carolina Seem Close |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 1972 |page=14 }} Helms employed the slogans "McGovernGalifianakis – one and the same", "Vote for Jesse. Nixon Needs Him" and "Jesse: He's One of Us", an implicit play suggesting his opponent's Greek heritage made him somehow less "American". Helms won the support of numerous Democrats, especially in the conservative eastern part of the state. Galifianakis tried to woo Republicans by noting that Helms had earlier criticized Nixon as being too left-wing.{{cite news |first=Warren |last=Weaver |title=Democrats Gain 2 Seats and have 57–43 Majority |work=The New York Times |date=November 9, 1972 |page=25 }}

In a taste of things to come, money poured into the race. Helms spent a record $654,000,{{cite news |title=North Carolina; It'll be a yes for Senator No |newspaper=The Economist |date=February 11, 1978 |page=42 }} much of it going toward carefully crafted television commercials portraying him as a soft-spoken mainstream conservative. In the final six weeks of the campaign, Helms outspent Galifianakis three-to-one. Though the year was marked by Democratic gains in the Senate, Helms won 54 percent of the vote to Galifianakis's 46 percent. He was elected as the first Republican senator from the state since 1903, before senators were directly elected, and when the Republican Party stood for a different tradition.{{cite news |first=Linda |last=Charlton |title=Conservative Republican Victor in North Carolina Senate Race |work=The New York Times |date=November 8, 1972 |page=5 }} Helms was helped by Richard Nixon's gigantic landslide victory in that year's presidential election;{{cite news|first=John |last=Gizzi |title=Jesse Helms: Pundit to Pol |url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |work=Human Events |date=July 5, 2008 |access-date=July 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108083837/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |archive-date=January 8, 2009 }} Nixon carried North Carolina by 40 points.

{{quote|In a world where give-and-take is the key to success, Helms refused to play the game of compromise. Rather than get together with opponents to work out their differences, Helms preferred to stand his ground in defeat.|Journalist Rob Christensen|The News & Observer (2008)}}

File:Jesse Helms.jpg

Helms quickly became a "star" of the conservative movement,{{cite news |title=Conservatives; Third Men |newspaper=The Economist |page=58 |date=February 22, 1975 }} and was particularly vociferous on the issue of abortion. In 1974, in the wake of the US Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, Helms introduced a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited abortion in all circumstances,{{cite news |first=Linda |last=Charlton |title=Forces Against Abortion Assemble, With Optimism |work=The New York Times |date=June 2, 1974 |page=C13 }} by conferring due process rights upon every fetus.{{cite news |title=Anti-Abortion Drive Suffers a Setback |work=The New York Times |date=October 9, 1974 |page=22 }} However, the Senate hearing into the proposed amendments heard that neither Helms', nor James L. Buckley's similar amendment, would achieve their stated goal, and shelved them for the session. Both Helms and Buckley proposed amendments again in 1975, with Helms's amendment allowing states leeway in their implementation of an enshrined constitutional "right to life" from the "moment of fertilization".{{cite news |title=Constitutional Ban on Abortion Urged |work=The New York Times |date=March 11, 1975 |page=10 }}

Helms was also a prominent advocate of free enterprise and favored cutting the budget.{{cite news |title=The big black book of David Stockman |newspaper=The Economist |page=19 |date=February 14, 1981 }} He was a strong advocate of a global return to the gold standard,{{cite news |first=Frank |last=Vogl |title=Republican support for a new gold standard |work=The Times |page=15 |date=January 5, 1981 }} which he would push at numerous points throughout his Senate career; in October 1977, Helms proposed a successful amendment that allowed United States citizens to sign contracts linked to gold, overturning a 44-year ban on gold-indexed contracts,{{cite news |title=Gold (2); America gets the bug |newspaper=The Economist |date=October 22, 1977 |page=116 }} reflecting fears of inflation.{{cite news |first=Frank |last=Vogl |title=US permits contracts denominated in gold |work=The Times |page=20 |date=October 19, 1977 }} Helms supported the tobacco industry,{{cite news |first=Mark I. |last=Pinsky |title=Helms Exhorts Tobacco Bloc to Fight Budget Cuts |work=The New York Times |date=March 21, 1981 |page=1 }} which contributed more than 6% of the state's GSP until the 1990s (the highest in the country);{{cite book |title=Measuring the Impact of Tobacco on State Economies |last=Liang |first=Lan |author2=Chaloupka, Frank J. |author3=Ierulli, Kathryn |year=2004 |publisher=National Cancer Institute |page=178 |chapter=Evaluating ASSIST }} he argued that federal price support programs should be maintained, as they did not constitute a subsidy but insurance. Helms offered an amendment that would have denied food stamps to strikers when the Senate approved increasing federal contributions to food stamp and school lunch programs in May 1974.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/22/archives/senate-votes-rises-in-school-lunch-aid.html|title=Senate Votes Rises in School Lunch Aid |date=May 22, 1974|newspaper=The New York Times}}

In 1973, the United States Congress passed the Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act.{{cite web|url=http://kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-u-s-government-and-international-family-planning-reproductive-health-statutory-requirements-and-policies/|title=The U.S. Government and International Family Planning & Reproductive Health: Statutory Requirements and Policies|language=en-US|access-date=August 8, 2016}} It states that, "no foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions."{{cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/family-planning/usaids-family-planning-guiding-principles-and-us|title=USAID's Family Planning Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements|website=USAID|access-date=August 8, 2016|archive-date=August 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812191547/https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/family-planning/usaids-family-planning-guiding-principles-and-us|url-status=dead}}

In January 1973, along with Democrats James Abourezk and Floyd Haskell, Helms was one of three senators to vote against the confirmation of Peter J. Brennan as United States Secretary of Labor.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/02/01/archives/senate-confirms-brennan-and-lynn-for-cabinet-posts.html|title=Senate Confirms Brennan and Lynn For Cabinet Posts|date=February 1, 1973|newspaper=The New York Times}}

In May 1974, when the Senate approved the establishment of no‐fault automobile insurance plans in every state, it rejected an amendment by Helms exempting states that were opposed to no‐fault insurance.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/02/archives/senate-53-to-42-supports-nofault-auto-insurance-advantages-cited.html|title=Senate, 53 to 42, Supports No-Fault Auto Insurance|date=May 2, 1974|newspaper=The New York Times}}

From the start, Helms identified as a prominent anti-communist. He proposed an act in 1974 that authorized the President to grant honorary citizenship to Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.{{cite news |title=Honorary Citizenship Voted for Solzhenitsyn |work=The New York Times |date=October 5, 1974 |page=19 }} He remained close to Solzhenitsyn's cause, and linked his fight to that of freedom throughout the world.{{cite news |first=Fred M. |last=Hechinger |title=Suspension of Reality |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 1976 |page=29 }} In 1975, as North Vietnamese forces approached Saigon, Helms was foremost among those urging the US to evacuate all Vietnamese demanding this, which he believed could be "two million or more within seven days".{{cite news |title=Seventh Fleet should rescue all who wish to leave, senator says |work=The Times |page=1 |date=April 4, 1975 }} When the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to suppress a report critical of the US's strategic position in the arms race, Helms read the entire report out, requiring it to be published in full in the Congressional Record.{{cite news |first=Patrick |last=Cosgrave |title=The arms report Congress tried to suppress |work=The Times |page=16 |date=June 21, 1978 }}

Helms was not at first a strong supporter of Israel; for instance, in 1973 he proposed a resolution demanding Israel return the West Bank to Jordan, and, in 1975, demanding that the Palestinian Arabs receive a "just settlement of their grievances".Link (2007), p. 318 In 1977, Helms was the sole senator to vote against prohibiting American companies from joining the Arab League boycott of Israel,{{cite news |title=US Senate votes for anti-boycott Bill |work=The Times |page=4 |date=May 7, 1977 }} but that was primarily because the bill also relaxed discrimination against Communist countries.{{cite news |title=Arab boycott; Morality with a loophole |newspaper=The Economist |page=47 |date=May 14, 1977 }} In 1982, Helms called for the US to break diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1982 Lebanon War.{{cite news |title=It gets less easy to support Israel |newspaper=The Economist |page=35 |date=August 14, 1982 }} He favored prohibiting foreign aid to countries that had recently detonated nuclear weapons: this was aimed squarely at India, but it also affected Israel should it conduct a nuclear test.{{cite news |title=Foreign aid; little largess |newspaper=The Economist |page=70 |date=November 15, 1975 }} He worked to support the supply of arms to the United States' Arab allies under presidents Carter and Reagan, until his views on Israel shifted significantly in 1984.

Helms and Bob Dole offered an amendment in 1973 that would have delayed cutting off funding for bombing in Cambodia if the President informed Congress that North Vietnam was not making an accounting "to the best of its ability" of US servicemen missing in Southeast Asia. The amendment was defeated by a vote of 56 to 25.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/01/archives/house-must-act-its-version-is-milderdelay-in-sending-bill-to-nixon.html|title=House Must Act |first=Richard L.|last=Madden|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 1973 }}

Helms delivered a Senate speech blaming liberal media for distorting Watergate and questioned if President Nixon had a constitutional right to be considered innocent until proven guilty following the April 1973 revelation of details relating to the scandal and Nixon administration aides resigning. He advocated against illegal activities being condoned with concurrent "half-truth and allegations" being reported by the media. Helms had four separate meetings with President Nixon in April and May 1973 where he attempted to cheer up the president and called for the White House to challenge its critics even as fellow Republicans from North Carolina criticized Nixon. Helms opposed the creation of the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Campaign Practices in the summer of 1973, even as it was chaired by fellow North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin, arguing that it was a ploy by Democrats to discredit and oust Nixon.Link (2008), pp. 137–138

In August 1974, Newsweek published a list by the White House including Helms as one of 36 senators that the administration believed would support President Nixon in the event of his impeachment and being brought to trial by the Senate. The article stated that some supporters were not fully convinced and this would further peril the administration as 34 were needed to prevent conviction.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/05/archives/36-senators-seen-as-nixon-backers-magazine-says-7-democrats-may.html|title=36 SENATORS SEEN AS NIXON BACKERS|date=August 5, 1974|newspaper=The New York Times}} Nixon resigned days later and kept contact with Helms during his post-presidency, calling Helms to either chat or offer advice.

{{Main|1976 United States presidential election}}

Helms supported Ronald Reagan for the presidential nomination in 1976, even before Reagan had announced his candidacy.Shirley (2005), p. 23 His contribution was crucial in the North Carolina primary victory that paved the way for Reagan's presidential election in 1980. The support of Helms, alongside Raleigh-based campaign operative Thomas F. Ellis, was instrumental in Reagan's winning the North Carolina primary and later presenting a major challenge to incumbent President Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. According to author Craig Shirley, the two men deserve credit "for breathing life into the dying Reagan campaign".Shirley (2005), p. 160 Going into the primary, Reagan had lost all the primaries, including in New Hampshire, where he had been favored, and was two million dollars in debt, with a growing number of Republican leaders calling for his exit.Shirley (2005), p. 176 The Ford campaign was predicting a victory in North Carolina, but assessed Reagan's strength in the state simply: Helms's support.Shirley (2005), p. 61 While Ford had the backing of Governor James Holshouser,{{cite news |first=Fred |last=Emery |title=Do-or-die for the two main challengers in fickle North Carolina |work=The Times |page=8 |date=March 14, 1976 }} the grassroots movement formed in North Carolina by Ellis and backed by Helms delivered an upset victory by 53% to 47%.Shirley (2005), p. 175 The momentum generated in North Carolina carried Ronald Reagan to landslide primary wins in Texas, California, and other critical states, evening the contest between Reagan and Ford, and forcing undeclared delegates to choose at the 1976 convention.

Later, Helms was not pleased by the announcement that Reagan, if nominated, would ask the 1976 Republican National Convention to make moderate Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker his running mate for the general election,{{cite news |first=Fred |last=Emery |title=Choice of liberal outrages some of Mr Reagan's supporters |work=The Times |page=6 |date=July 28, 1976 }} but kept his objections to himself at the time.Shirley (2005), p. 275 According to Helms, after Reagan told him of the decision, Helms noted the hour because, "I wanted to record for posterity the exact time I received the shock of my life." Helms and Strom Thurmond tried to make Reagan drop Schweiker for a conservative, perhaps either James Buckley{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Wicker |author-link=Tom Wicker |title=The Paradox in Kansas City |work=The New York Times |date=August 13, 1976 |page=18 }} or his brother William F. Buckley Jr., and rumors surfaced that Helms might run for vice president himself,Shirley (2005), p. 311 but Schweiker was kept. In the end, Reagan lost narrowly to Ford at the convention, while Helms received only token support for the vice presidential nomination, albeit enough to place him second, far behind Ford's choice of Bob Dole. The Convention adopted a broadly conservative platform, and the conservative faction came out acting like the winners, except Jesse Helms.{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=Lewis |author-link=Anthony Lewis |title=Aground on a Rock |work=The New York Times |date=August 19, 1976 |page=35 }}

Helms vowed to campaign actively for Ford across the South, regarding the conservative platform adopted at the convention to be a "mandate" on which Ford was pledging to run. However, he targeted Henry Kissinger after the latter issued a statement calling Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn a "threat to world peace", and Helms demanded that Kissinger embrace the platform or resign immediately.{{cite news |title=Helms Calls for Kissinger to Back Platform or Quit |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1976/09/09/118457728.pdf |work=The New York Times |date=September 9, 1976 |page=32 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} Helms continued to back Reagan, and the two remained close friends and political allies throughout Reagan's political career, although sometimes critical of each other.{{cite news | last = Holmes | first =Steven A. | title=Jesse Helms Dies at 86; Conservative Force in the Senate | work=The New York Times | date=July 5, 2008 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/00helms.html | access-date=July 12, 2008}} Despite Reagan's defeat at the convention, the intervention of Helms and Ellis arguably led to the most important conservative primary victory in the history of the Republican Party. This victory enabled Reagan to contest the 1976 Republican presidential nomination, and to win the next nomination at the 1980 Republican National Convention and ultimately the presidency of the United States.

According to Craig Shirley,

Had Reagan lost North Carolina, despite his public pronouncements, his revolutionary challenge to Ford, along with his political career, would have ended unceremoniously. He would have made a gracious exit speech, cut a deal with the Ford forces to eliminate his campaign debt, made a minor speech at the Kansas City Convention later that year, and returned to his ranch in Santa Barbara. He would probably have only reemerged to make speeches and cut radio commercials to supplement his income. And Reagan would have faded into political oblivion.

{{Main|Torrijos–Carter Treaties}}

Helms was a long-time opponent of transferring possession of the Panama Canal to Panama, calling its construction an "historic American achievement".Link (2008), p. 188 He warned that it would fall into the hands of Omar Torrijos's "communist friends". The issue of transfer of the canal was debated in the 1976 presidential race, wherein then-President Ford suspended negotiations over the transfer of sovereignty to assuage conservative opposition. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter reopened negotiations, appointing Sol Linowitz as co-negotiator without Senate confirmation, and Helms and Strom Thurmond led the opposition to the transfer.{{cite news |first=James |last=Reston |author-link=James Reston |title=Carter, Panama, and China |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 1977 |page=19 }} Helms claimed that Linowitz's involvement with Marine Midland constituted a conflict of interests, arguing that it constituted a bailout of American banking interests.{{cite journal|last=Hastedt |first=Glenn P. |author2=Eksterowicz, Anthony J. |year=2001 |title=Perils of Presidential Transition |journal=Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations |volume=II |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |url=http://diplomacy.shu.edu/academics/journal/resources/journal_dip_pdfs/journal_of_diplomacy_vol2_no1/eksterowick.pdf |access-date=July 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908070635/http://diplomacy.shu.edu/academics/journal/resources/journal_dip_pdfs/journal_of_diplomacy_vol2_no1/eksterowick.pdf |archive-date=September 8, 2008 }} He filed two federal suits, demanding prior congressional approval of any treaty and then consent by both houses of Congress. Helms also rallied Reagan, telling him that negotiation over Panama would be a "second Schweiker" as far as his conservative base was concerned.

When Carter announced, on August 10, 1977, the conclusion of the treaties, Helms declared it a constitutional crisis, cited the need for the support of United States' allies in Latin America, accused the U.S. of submitting to Panamanian blackmail, and complained that the decision threatened national security in the event of war in Europe. Helms threatened to obstruct Senate business, proposing 200 amendments to the revision of the United States criminal code, knowing that most Americans opposed the treaties and would punish congressmen who voted for them if the ratification vote came in the run-up to the election. Helms announced the results of an opinion poll showing 78% public opposition.{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=White House Opens Drive to Win Senate Approval of Canal Accord |work=The New York Times |date=August 12, 1977 |page=1 }} However, Helms's and Thurmond's leadership of the opposition made it politically easier for Carter, causing them to be replaced by the soft-spoken Paul Laxalt.{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Clymer |title=Moderation is the Message for New Right Campaigners |work=The New York Times |date=November 26, 1978 |page=E4 }}

{{Main|1978 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

Helms began campaigning for re-election in February 1977, giving himself 15 months by the time of the primaries. While he faced no primary opponent, the Democrats nominated Commissioner of Insurance John Ingram,{{cite news |first=Wayne |last=King |title=Hodges in Party Runoff to Decide Rival for Helms in North Carolina |work=The New York Times |date=May 4, 1978 |page=18 }} who came from behind in the first round of the primary to win in the run-off. Ingram was known as an eccentric populist and used low-budget campaigning,{{cite news |title=Ingram Makes It a Fivesome |author=Maralee Schwartz |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 8, 1990 }}{{cite news |first=Howell |last=Raines |author-link=Howell Raines |title=Carter's Coattails Aren't Enough to Uproot Republicans in South |work=The New York Times |date=November 9, 1978 |page=24 }} just as he had in winning the primary.{{cite news |first=Wayne |last=King |title=Close Senate Races Ending in Two States |work=The New York Times |date=May 29, 1978 |page=9 }} He campaigned almost exclusively on the issue of insurance rates and against "fat cats and special interests", in which he included Helms.{{cite news |first=Wayne |last=King |title=N. Carolina Democrats Seek Rival to Helms Today |work=The New York Times |date=May 2, 1978 |page=23 }} Helms was one of three senators given a 100% rating by the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action for 1977,{{cite news |title=3 Republican Senators Rated As Perfect by Conservative Unit |work=The New York Times |date=March 12, 1978 |page=47 }} and was ranked fourth-most conservative by others. The Democratic National Committee targeted Helms, as did President Carter, who visited North Carolina twice on Ingram's behalf.

In June 1978, along with Strom Thurmond, Helms was one of two senators named by an environmental group as part of a congressional "Dirty Dozen" that the group believed should be defeated in their re-election efforts due to their stances on environmental issues; membership on the list was based "primarily on 14 Senate and 19 House votes, including amendments to air and water pollution control laws, strip‐mining controls, auto emissions and water projects".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/05/archives/environmentalists-urge-defeat-of-12-in-congress.html|title=Environmentalists Urge Defeat of 12 in Congress |date=June 5, 1978|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Over the long campaign, Helms raised $7.5 million, more than twice as much as the second most-expensive nationwide (John Tower's in Texas),{{cite news |first=Warren |last=Weaver |title=Special Interests Spend $60m |work=The New York Times |date=November 7, 1978 |page=27 }} thanks to Richard Viguerie's and Alex Castellanos's pioneering direct mail strategies.Link (2007), p. 193–4 It was estimated that at least $3 million of Helms's contributions were spent on fund-raising.{{cite news |first=Adam |last=Clymer |author-link=Adam Clymer |title=G.O.P. May Gain Nationally |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1978 |page=1 }} Helms easily outspent Ingram several times over, as the latter spent $150,000.Link (2007), p. 196 Due to a punctured lumbar disc, Helms was forced to suspend campaigning for six weeks in September and October.Link (2007), p. 199 In a low-turnout election, Helms received 619,151 votes (54.5 percent) to Ingram's 516,663 (45.5 percent). Celebrating his victory, Helms told his supporters that it was a "victory for the conservative and the free enterprise cause throughout America", adding, "I'm Senator No and I'm glad to be here!"

On January 3, 1979, the first day of the new Congress, Helms introduced a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion,{{cite news |first=Karen |last=De Witt |title=Abortion Foes March in Capital on Anniversary of Legalization |work=The New York Times |date=January 23, 1979 |page=C10 }} on which he led the conservative senators.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Robert |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title='New Right' Causes Pressed in Senate |work=The New York Times |date=May 1, 1979 |page=B12 }} Senator Helms was one of several Republican senators who in 1981 called into the White House to express his discontent over the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the US Supreme Court; their opposition hinged over the issue of O'Connor's presumed unwillingness to overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling.Greenburg, Jan Crawford. Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court. 2007. Penguin Books. Page 222. Helms was also the Senate conservatives' leader on school prayer. An amendment proposed by Helms allowing voluntary prayer was passed by the Senate,{{cite news |first=Seth S. |last=King |title=Senate Again Approves Prayer Bill But Ties It to a Different Measure |work=The New York Times |date=April 10, 1979 |page=14 }} but died in the House committee.{{cite news |first=Stuart Jr. |last=Taylor |title=The Congress Vs. the Courts |work=The New York Times |date=March 16, 1981 |page=16 }} To that act, Helms also proposed an amendment banning sex education without written parental consent.{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Education Department is Backed by Senate in a Victory for Carter |work=The New York Times |date=May 1, 1979 |page=B12 }} In 1979, Helms and Democrat Patrick Leahy supported a federal Taxpayer Bill of Rights.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Democratic Senators Showing Fear on '80 |work=The New York Times |date=April 22, 1979 |page=26 }}

He joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, being one of four men critical of Carter who were new to the committee.{{cite news |first=James |last=Reston |author-link=James Reston |title=A Strange Arms Debate |work=The New York Times |date=January 21, 1979 |page=E21 }} Leader of the pro-Taiwan congressional lobby,{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Haig ready to discuss arms sales on Peking visit |work=The Times |page=9 |date=June 12, 1981 }} Helms demanded that the People's Republic of China reject the use of force against the Republic of China,{{cite news |first=Bernard |last=Gwertzman|title=Teng, on Capitol Hill, Says Peking Must Keep Taiwan Options Open |work=The New York Times |date=January 31, 1979 |page=1 }} but, much to his shock, the Carter administration did not ask them to rule it out.{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Carter's Leadership: Questions in Congress |work=The New York Times |date=February 17, 1979 |page=3 }}

Helms also criticized the government over Zimbabwe Rhodesia, leading support for the Internal Settlement government{{cite news |title=Carter policy at stake in two Senate votes |work=The Times |page=7 |date=July 25, 1978 }} under Abel Muzorewa, and campaigned along with Samuel Hayakawa for the immediate lifting of sanctions on Muzorewa's government.{{cite news |first=John F. |last=Burns |author-link=John F. Burns |title=New Battle in Rhodesia is for the Votes of the Blacks |work=The New York Times |date=February 21, 1979 |page=2 }} Helms complained that it was inconsistent to lift sanctions on Uganda immediately after Idi Amin's departure, but not Zimbabwe Rhodesia after Ian Smith's.{{cite news |title=Senate, Acting on Amin Ouster, Votes to Resume Uganda Trade |work=The New York Times |date=May 8, 1979 |page=6 }} Helms hosted Muzorewa when he visited Washington and met with Carter in July 1979.{{cite news |title=Carter Tells Muzorewa That U.S. Will Not Lift Rhodesian Sanctions |work=The New York Times |date=July 12, 1979 |page=8 }} He sent two aides to the Lancaster House Conference because he did not "trust the State Department on this issue",{{cite news |first=James |last=Reston |author-link=James Reston |title=The Chaos in Foreign Affairs |work=The New York Times |date=September 21, 1979 |page=27 }} thereby provoking British diplomatic complaints.{{cite news |first=R. W. Jr. |last=Apple |title=British Accuse Senate Aide on Rhodesia |work=The New York Times |date=September 20, 1979 |page=3 }} His aide John Carbaugh was accused of encouraging Smith to "hang on" and take a harder line, implying that there was enough support in the US Senate to lift sanctions without a settlement. Helms introduced legislation that demanded immediate lifting of the sanctions;{{cite news |first=Graham |last=Hovey |title=Carter Promises to Stop Sanctions After Rhodesia Political Settlement |work=The New York Times |date=December 4, 1979 |page=20 }} as negotiations progressed, Helms complied more with the administration's line, although Senator Ted Kennedy accused Carter of conceding the construction of a new aircraft carrier in return for Helms's acquiescence on Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which both parties denied.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Kennedy Sees 'Deal' in Carter Reversal |work=The New York Times |date=December 15, 1979 |page=11 }} Helms's support for lifting sanctions on Zimbabwe Rhodesia may have been grounded in North Carolina's tobacco traders, who would have been the main group benefiting from unilaterally lifting sanctions on tobacco-exporting Zimbabwe Rhodesia.{{cite news |first=Ann |last=Crittenden |title=Sanction End Held Affecting U.S. Little |work=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1979 |page=36 }}

In 1979, Helms was touted as a potential contender for the Republican nomination for the 1980 presidential election,{{cite news |title=Only 6 of 18 G.O.P. Contenders are Recognised by Half of Voters |work=The New York Times |date=September 23, 1979 |page=27 }} but had poor voter recognition, and he lagged far behind the front-runners.{{cite news |title=Reagan and Ford hold G.O.P. Lead, Poll Says |work=The New York Times |date=July 29, 1979 |page=14 }} He was the only candidate to file for the New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary.{{cite news |title=5 Democrats and 7 Republicans to be on New Hampshire Ballot |work=The New York Times |date=December 28, 1979 |page=19 }} Going into 1980, he was suggested as a potential running mate for Reagan, and said he'd accept if he could "be his own man".{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Wicker |author-link=Tom Wicker |title=A Stand-In for Ron? |work=The New York Times |date=April 1, 1980 |page=19 }} He was one of three conservative candidates running for the nomination.{{cite news |first=Patrick |last=Brogan |title=Will Mr Reagan compromise on his choice of running mate? |work=The Times |page=7 |date=April 11, 1980 }} However, his ideological agreement with Reagan risked losing moderates' votes, particularly due to the independent candidacy of Rep. John B. Anderson,{{cite news |first=William |last=Safire |author-link=William Safire |title=Handful of Hopefuls |work=The New York Times |date=May 26, 1980 |page=15 }} and the Reagan camp was split:{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Reagan Aims at Northeast and Midwest in Fall Race |work=The New York Times |date=May 12, 1979 |page=D14 }} eventually designating George H. W. Bush as his preferred candidate. At the convention, Helms toyed with the idea of running for vice-president despite Reagan's choice, but let it go in exchange for Bush's endorsing the party platform and allowing Helms to address the convention.{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Tolchin |title=Conservatives First Recoil, Then Line Up Behind Bush |work=The New York Times |date=July 18, 1980 |page=9 }}{{cite news |title=Franklin Delano Reagan |work=The New York Times |date=July 20, 1980 |page=E20 }} As expected,{{cite news |title=Mr Ford sets conditions to be Reagan running mate |work=The Times |page=1 |date=July 17, 1980 }} Helms was drafted by conservatives anyway, and won 54 votes, coming second. Helms was the "spiritual leader of the conservative convention", and led the movement that successfully reversed the Republican Party's 36-year platform support for an Equal Rights Amendment.{{cite news |first=Warren |last=Weaver |title=Equal Rights Plan Splits Republicans Drafting Platform |work=The New York Times |date=July 8, 1980 |page=1 }}{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=Lewis |author-link=Anthony Lewis |title=How He Could Lose |work=The New York Times |date=July 14, 1980 |page=19 }}{{cite book | title=How We Got Here: The '70s | url=https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum | url-access=registration |last=Frum |first=David |author-link=David Frum |year=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-465-04196-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwegothere70sd00frum/page/245 245] }}

In the fall of 1980, Helms proposed another bill denying the Supreme Court jurisdiction over school prayer, but this found little support in committee. It was strongly opposed by mainline Protestant churches,{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=The Churches are at Odds Over Yet Another School Prayer Bill |work=The New York Times |date=August 3, 1980 |page=1 }}{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=New Strategies Sharpen Old Fight on Civil Rights |work=The New York Times |date=November 23, 1980 |page=E2 }} and its counterpart was defeated in the House.{{cite news |first=Dorothy J. |last=Samuels |author-link=Dorothy Samuels |title=A Coming Threat to Constitutional Values |work=The New York Times |date=November 23, 1980 |page=E21 }} Senators Helms and James A. McClure blocked Ted Kennedy's comprehensive criminal code that did not relax federal firearms restrictions, inserted capital punishment procedures, and reinstated current statutory law on pornography, prostitution, and drug possession.{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Pear |title=Crime Bill Challenged by Conservative Republicans |work=The New York Times |date=September 15, 1980 |page=17 }} Following from his success at reintroducing gold-indexed contracts in 1977, in October 1980, Helms proposed a return to the gold standard,{{cite news |first=Frank |last=Vogl |title=United States seeks stronger role for SDR in monetary system |work=The Times |page=19 |date=October 2, 1980 }} and successfully passed an amendment setting up a commission to look into gold-backed currency.{{cite news |first=Leonard |last=Silk |title=Clash Over Gold Standard |work=The New York Times |page=D2 |date=April 29, 1981 }} After the presidential election, Helms and Strom Thurmond sponsored a Senate amendment to a Department of Justice appropriations bill denying the Department the power to participate in busing, due to objections over federal involvement, but, although passed by Congress, was vetoed by a lame duck Carter.{{cite news |first=B. Drummond Jr. |last=Ayres |title=Civil Rights Groups Fear a Slowdown In Busing for Desegregation of Schools |work=The New York Times |date=December 21, 1980 |page=28 }}{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Wicker |author-link=Tom Wicker |title=Why Not The Best? |work=The New York Times |date=November 16, 1980 |page=E21 }} Helms pledged to introduce an even stronger anti-busing bill as soon as Reagan took office.{{cite news |title=Senate Drops Antibusing Rider from Major Appropriations Bill |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=December 11, 1980 }}

In the 1980 Senate election, the Republicans unexpectedly won a majority,{{cite news |first=Nicolas |last=Ashford |title=Democrats aim to regain lost ground |work=The Times |page=10 |date=February 10, 1984 }} their first in twenty-six years, including John Porter East, a social conservative and a Helms protégé soon dubbed "Helms on Wheels",{{cite news |first=Lynn |last=Rosellini |title=North Carolina Republican, Mark II |work=The New York Times |page=16 |date=February 16, 1982 }} winning the other North Carolina seat. Howard Baker was set to become Majority Leader, but conservatives, angered by Baker's support for the Panama treaty, SALT II, and the Equal Rights Amendment, had sought to replace him with Helms until Reagan gave Baker his backing.{{cite news |first=Patrick |last=Brogan |title=Busy programme for President and 'lame duck' Congress |work=The Times |page=5 |date=November 8, 1980 }} Although, it was thought they'd put Helms in charge of the Foreign Relations Committee instead of the liberal Charles H. Percy, he instead became chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee in the new Congress.

The first six months of 1981 were consumed by numerous Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearings, which were held up by Helms, who believed many of the appointees too liberal or too tainted by association with Kissinger,{{cite news |title=Critics delay Reagan nominations |work=The Times |page=5 |date=April 24, 1981 }}{{cite news |first=David |last=Cross |title=Senate snub forces Reagan man to withdraw |work=The Times |page=7 |date=April 18, 1981 }} and not dedicated enough to his definition of the "Reagan program": support for South Africa, Taiwan, and Latin American right-wing regimes (as opposed to Black Africa and "Red" China).{{cite news |first=Juan |last=de Onis |title=3 Appointees, Opposed by Helms, Confirmed by Senate Committee |work=The New York Times |page=10 |date=April 29, 1981 }} These nominations included Alexander Haig,{{cite news |first=Patrick |last=Brogan |title=Reagan appointments bring trouble on far right |work=The Times |page=8 |date=February 13, 1981 }} Chester Crocker, John J. Louis Jr., and Lawrence Eagleburger,{{cite news |first=Patrick |last=Brogan |title=Reagan team prepares economic package to cut public spending |work=The Times |page=4 |date=January 24, 1982 }} all of whom were confirmed regardless,{{cite news |first=David |last=Cross |title=Stalling by Helms is ignored |work=The Times |page=8 |date=April 30, 1981 }} while all of Helms's candidates were rejected.{{cite news |first=David |last=Cross |title=Senate snub forces Reagan man to withdraw |work=The Times |page=1 |date=June 6, 1981 }} Helms also, unsuccessfully, opposed the nominations of Caspar Weinberger, Donald Regan, and Frank Carlucci. However, he did score a notable coup two years later when he led a small group of conservatives to block the nomination of Robert T. Grey for nine months,{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=US diehards endanger arms talks |work=The Times |page=6 |date=January 6, 1983 }} thus causing the firing of Eugene V. Rostow.{{cite news |first=Mohsin |last=Ali |title=Why Rostow lost his job |work=The Times |page=6 |date=January 14, 1983 }}

An opponent of the Food Stamp Program, Helms had already voted to reduce its scope,{{cite news |title=Senate Approves Agriculture Funds |work=The New York Times |date=November 27, 1980 |page=18 }} and was determined to follow this through as Agriculture Committee chairman.{{cite news |first=Peter Ross |last=Range |title=Thunder from the Right |work=The New York Times |date=February 8, 1981 |page=SM6 }} At one point, he proposed a 40% cut in their funding.{{cite news |first=Jean |last=Mayer |author-link=Jean Mayer |author2=Schlossberg, Kenneth |title=Tighten Food Stamps, But Don't Deprive the Needy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/07/opinion/tighten-food-stamps-but-don-t-deprive-the-needy.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 7, 1981 |page=21 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} Instead, Helms supported the replacement of food stamps with workfare.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Robert |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Testing 'Workfare' in South Carolina: Food Stamp Users Find Mixed Results |work=The New York Times |date=April 20, 1981 |page=16 }}

Helms supported the gold standard through his role as the Agriculture Committee chairman, which exercises wide powers over commodity markets. During the budget crisis of 1981, he restored $200 million for school lunches by instead cutting foreign aid,{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Tolchin |title=$200 Million to Pay for School Lunches Restored by Senate |work=The New York Times |date=March 28, 1981 |page=1 }} and against increases in grain and milk price support,{{cite news |first=Seth S. |last=King |title=Senate Panel, Rebuffing Reagan, Approves Costlier Grain Support Plan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/01/us/senate-panel-rebuffing-reagan-approves-costlier-grain-support-plan.html |work=The New York Times |date=May 1, 1981 |page=18 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}{{cite news |first=Seth S. |last=King |title=Milk Output Rises Despite a Price Support Freeze |work=The New York Times |date=November 27, 1981 |page=B19 }} despite the importance of the dairy industry to North Carolina. He warned repeatedly against costly farm subsidies as chairman.{{cite news |title=Senate Farm Panel Votes More Subsidies |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 1, 1981 }} However, in 1983, he used his position to lobby to use the country's strategic dairy and wheat stocks to subsidize food exports as part of a trade war with the European Union.{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Senators to step up trade war |work=Financial Times |page=33 |date=February 18, 1983 }}{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Senators to step up trade war |work=The Times |page=7 |date=April 25, 1983 }} Helms heavily opposed cutting food aid to Poland after martial law was declared,{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Further U.S. Help Is in Abeyance Until Polish Situation is Clarified |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/15/world/further-us-help-is-an-abeyance-until-polish-situation-is-clarified.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 15, 1981 |page=1 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} and called for the end of grain exports to (and arms limitation talks with) the Soviet Union instead.{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Reagan's Sanctions |work=The New York Times |date=December 25, 1981 |page=3 }}

In 1982, Helms authored a bill to introduce a federal flat tax of 10% with a personal allowance of $2,000.{{cite news |first=William |last=Safire |author-link=William Safire |title=The Flat Tax |work=The New York Times |date=April 30, 1982 |page=31 }} He voted against the 1983 budget, the only conservative senator to have done so,{{cite news |first=Martin |last=Tolchin |title=54–45 Senate Vote Passes the Budget |work=The New York Times |date=June 24, 1982 |page=1 }} and was a leading voice for a balanced budget amendment.{{cite news |title=Amendment Drive Now in high Gear |work=The New York Times |date=July 13, 1982 |page=17 }} With Charlie Rose, he proposed a bill that would limit tobacco price supports, but would allow the transfer of subsidy credits from non-farmers to farmers.{{cite news |title=Tobacco Allotment Program Under Fire in Congress |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=June 15, 1982 }} He co-sponsored the bi-partisan move in 1982 to extend drug patent duration.{{cite news |title=Patent Bill Splits the Drug Industry |work=The New York Times |date=August 15, 1982 |page=NJ4 }} Helms continued to pose obstacles to Reagan's budget plans. At the end of the 97th Congress, Helms led a filibuster against Reagan's increase of the federal gasoline tax by 5-cents per gallon:{{cite news |title=Helms: From Reagan Ally to Foe in One Filibuster |work=The New York Times |date=December 23, 1982 |page=1 }} mirroring his opposition to Governor Jim Hunt's 3-cent increase in the North Carolina gasoline tax, but alienating the White House from Helms.

Although Helms recognized budget concerns and nominations as predominant, he rejected calls by Baker to move debate on social issues to 1982,{{cite news |title=Helms Says Senate May Consider Some Social Measures This Year |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/28/us/helms-says-senate-may-consider-some-social-measures-this-year.html |work=The New York Times |date=March 28, 1981 |page=9 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} with conservatives seeking to discuss abortion, school prayer, the minimum wage, and the "fair housing" policy.{{cite news |first=Hedrick |last=Smith |author-link=Hedrick Smith |title=Senate Republicans Decide to Postpone 'Emotional' Debates |work=The New York Times |date=March 27, 1981 |page=1 }} With the new Congress, Helms and Robert K. Dornan again proposed an amendment banning abortion in all circumstances,{{cite news |title=Abortion Foes Meet With Reagan After March in Capital |work=The New York Times |date=January 23, 1981 |page=14 }} and also proposed a bill defining fetuses as human beings, thereby taking it out of the hands of the federal courts,{{cite news |title=Courts in the dock |newspaper=The Economist |date=June 19, 1982 |page=65 }} along with Illinois Republican Henry Hyde and Kentucky Democrat Romano Mazzoli.{{cite news |first=Nadine |last=Brozan |title=Opposing Sides Step Up Efforts on Abortion Measure |work=The New York Times |date=February 15, 1981 |page=14 }} More successfully, Helms passed an amendment banning federal funds from being used for abortion unless the woman's life is in danger.{{cite news |first=Francis X. |last=Cline |title=Senate Passes New Abortion Aid Curb |work=The New York Times |date=May 22, 1981 |page=16 }}{{cite news |first=Anthony |last=Lewis |author-link=Anthony Lewis |title=Cotton Mather Policies |work=The New York Times |date=May 24, 1981 |page=E19 }} His support was key to the nomination of C. Everett Koop as Surgeon General, by proposing lifting the age limit that would otherwise have ruled out Koop.{{cite news |title=House May Drop Objections on Surgeon General Appointment |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 21, 1981 }} He proposed an amendment taking school prayer out of the remit of the Supreme Court, which was criticized for being unconstitutional; despite Reagan's endorsement, the bill was eventually rejected, after twenty months of dispute and numerous filibusters, in September 1982, by 51–48.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=School Prayer Measure Dies in 51–48 Senate Vote |work=The New York Times |date=September 24, 1982 |page=19 }} Helms and Strom Thurmond sponsored another amendment to prevent the Department of Justice filing suits in defence of federal busing, which he contended wasted taxpayer money without improving education;{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=America to end busing |work=The Times |page=4 |date=June 22, 1981 }} this was filibustered by Lowell Weicker for eight months, but passed in March 1982.{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Antibusing Move Passed by Senate After Long Fight |work=The New York Times |page=1 |date=March 3, 1982 }} However, Democratic Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill blocked the measure from being considered by the House of Representatives.{{cite news|last=Roberts|first=Steven|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/03/us/antibusing-moves-passed-by-senate-after-long-fight.html|title=Antibusing Moves Passed by Senate after Long Fight|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 3, 1982|access-date=May 9, 2015}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/04/us/house-speaker-says-he-won-t-act-on-senate-school-busing-measure.html |title=House Speaker Says He Won'T Act On Senate School Busing Measure |website=The New York Times |date=March 4, 1982 |access-date=March 5, 2016}}

In 1981, Helms started secret negotiations to end an 11-year impasse and pave the way for desegregation of historically white and historically black colleges in North Carolina.{{cite news |title=Carolina Settles Integration Suit on Universities |work=The New York Times |date=June 21, 1981 |page=22 }} In response to a rival anti-discrimination bill in 1982, he proposed a bill outlawing granting tax-free status to schools that discriminated racially, but allowing schools that discriminate on the grounds of religion to avoid taxes.{{cite news |title=Furor Grows Over Bill to Curb Tax Break for Biased Schools |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=February 1, 1982 }} When the Voting Rights Act came up for amendment in 1982, Helms and Thurmond criticized it for bias against the South, arguing that it made Carolinians "second-class citizens" by treating their states differently,Link (2007), p. 260 and proposed an amendment that extended its terms to the whole country, which they knew would bury it.{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Reagan backs extension to black voting Act |work=The Times |page=4 |date=August 6, 1981 }}{{cite news |first=Howard |last=Ball |title=Voting Rights |work=The New York Times |date=July 2, 1981 |page=10 }} However, it was extended anyway, despite Helms's filibuster, which he promised to lead "until the cows come home".{{cite news |first=Steven V. |last=Roberts |author-link=Steven V. Roberts |title=Senators Debate Voting Rights Act |work=The New York Times |date=June 10, 1982 |page=27 }} In 1983, Helms hired Claude Allen, an African American, as his press secretary. Despite his publicly aired belief that he was one of the best-liked senators amongst black staff in Congress, it was pointed out that he did not have any African-American staff of his own, prompting the hiring of the twenty-two-year-old,Link (2007), p. 259 who had switched parties when he was press secretary to Bill Cobey in the previous year's campaign.{{cite news |first=Ian |last=Urbina |author2=Kirkpatrick, David D. |title=For Bush's Ex-Aide, Quick Fall After Long Climb |work=The New York Times |date=March 14, 2006 }}

In 1983, Helms led the 16-day filibuster in the Senate opposing the proposed establishment of Martin Luther King Day as a federal holiday. Helms and others claimed, "another federal holiday would be costly for the economy." Although the Congressional Budget Office cited a cost of $18 million, Helms claimed it would cost $12 billion a year.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/04/mlk-filibuster/|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en-US|url-status=live|title=What Martin Luther King Jr. said about the filibuster: 'A minority of misguided senators'|author=Brockell, Gillian|date=January 4, 2022|access-date=May 4, 2023|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20220105120525/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/01/04/mlk-filibuster/}}{{cite news |title=Martin Luther King; Honoured, but still controversial |newspaper=The Economist |date=October 22, 1983|page=39}} Helms "distributed a 300-page packet claiming that the civil rights leader was a political radical who adopted "action-oriented Marxism" and detailing Dr. King's supposed treachery"{{citation|author=Jason Sokol |url=https://nyti.ms/2iCnQCk|title=Which Martin Luther King Are We Celebrating Today? |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 16, 2017 |access-date=January 16, 2017}} in which he accused King of "appear[ing] to have welcomed collaboration with Communists", Stanley Levison and Jack O'Dell.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/articles/helms_stalls_kings_day.html |title=Helms Stalls King's Day In Senate |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 4, 1983 |first=Helen |last=Dewar}} Helms ended the filibuster in exchange for a new tobacco bill. President Reagan signed the bill on October 19, 1983. Helms then demanded that FBI surveillance tapes allegedly detailing philandering on King's part be released, although Reagan and the courts refused. The conservatives attempted to rename the day "National Equality Day" or "National Civil Rights Day", but failed, and the bill was passed. Writing in The Washington Post several years later, David Broder attributed Helms' opposition to the MLK holiday to racism on Helms's part.[http://www.racematters.org/jessehelmswhiteracist.htm Race Matters – Jesse Helms, WhiteRacist, by David Broder]

Upon the Republican takeover of the Senate, Helms became chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, promising to "review all our policies on Latin America", of which he had been severely critical under Carter.{{cite news |title=Senators Meet on Salvadoran Aid |work=The New York Times |date=January 6, 1981 |page=3 }} He immediately focused on escalating aid to the Salvadoran government in its civil war, and particularly preventing Nicaraguan and Cuban support for guerrillas in El Salvador.{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Congress liberals fear new Vietnam |work=The Times |page=6 |date=February 4, 1982 }} Within hours, the subcommittee approved military aid to El Salvador, and later led the push to cut aid to Nicaragua.{{cite news |first=Juan |last=de Onis |title=Administration is Said to Approve Increase in Military Aid to Salvador |work=The New York Times |date=February 28, 1981 |page=1 }} Helms was assisted in pursuing the foreign policy realignment by John Carbaugh, whose influence The New York Times reported "[rivalled] many of [the Senate's] more visible elected members".{{cite news |first=Judith |last=Miller |author-link=Judith Miller (journalist) |title=Behind Senator Helms, a Cherubic Assistant Reigns |work=The New York Times |date=April 22, 1981 |page=2 }}{{cite news |first=Bernard |last=Weinraub |title=Departing, Senate Aide Leaves Trail of Questions |work=The New York Times |date=July 1, 1982 |page=16 }}

In El Salvador, Helms had close ties with the right-wing Salvadoran Nationalist Republican Alliance and its leader and death squad founder Roberto D'Aubuisson.{{cite news | last = Bronstein | first =Phil | title=Jesse Helms and his arms-trading staff | work=San Francisco Chronicle | date=July 8, 2008 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/bronstein/detail?&entry_id=27938 | access-date=July 8, 2008}}{{cite news | last = Melissa McEwan | first =Melissa McEwan | title=Republican dinosaur: Although he fought every progressive cause, Jesse Helms aimed special enmity towards black people | work=The Guardian | date=July 7, 2008 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/07/usa | access-date=July 8, 2008 | location=London}}{{cite news|work=National Catholic Reporter |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n41_v30/ai_15802111 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622192750/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_n41_v30/ai_15802111 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 22, 2008 |date=September 23, 1994 |author=Arthur Jones |title=El Salvador revisited: a look a declassified State Department documents – some of what U.S. government knew – and when it knew it }} Helms opposed the appointment of Thomas R. Pickering as Ambassador to El Salvador.Link (2007), p. 248 Helms alleged that the CIA had interfered in the Salvadoran election March and May 1984, in favor of the incumbent centre-left José Napoleón Duarte instead of D'Aubuisson,{{cite news |first=Reginald |last=Dale |title=CIA role in El Salvador election criticised |work=Financial Times |date=May 10, 1984 }} claiming that Pickering had "used the cloak of diplomacy to strangle freedom in the night". A CIA operative testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee was alleged by Helms to have admitted rigging the election, but senators that attended have stated that, whilst the CIA operative admitted involvement, they did not make such an admission. Helms disclosed details of CIA financial support for Duarte, earning a rebuke from Barry Goldwater, but Helms replied that his information came from sources in El Salvador, not the Senate committee.Link (2007), p. 249

In 1982, Helms was the only senator who opposed a Senate resolution endorsing a pro-British policy during the Falklands War,{{cite magazine |first=Walter |last=Isaacson |author2=McGeary, Johanna |author3= Nelan, Bruce W. |title=Stormy Times for the U.S. |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921205,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051117082211/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921205,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 17, 2005 |magazine=Time |date=May 17, 1982 |access-date=July 8, 2009}} citing the Monroe Doctrine,{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Pro-British mood grows on Capitol Hill |work=The Times |page=8 |date=April 23, 1982 }} although he did manage to weaken the resolution's language.{{cite news |first=Bernard |last=Gwertzman |title=U.S. Says Haig Effort Seems to Fail And Falklands Fighting is Likely |work=The New York Times |date=April 30, 1982 |page=1 }} Nonetheless, Helms was a supporter of the Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet,{{cite news |work=Indy Week |title=Deadly Alliance: New evidence shows how far Jesse Helms went to support Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet |date=May 23, 2001 |first=Jon |last=Elliston |url=http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=15917}} who supported the United Kingdom in the Falklands conflict. Helms was steadfastly opposed to the Castro regime in Cuba, and spent much of his time campaigning against the lifting of sanctions. In 1980, he opposed a treaty with Cuba on sea boundary delimitation unless it included withdrawal of the Soviet brigade stationed on the island. The following year, he proposed legislation establishing Radio Free Cuba,{{cite news |title='Radio Free Cuba' Wins Backing of U.S. Senate |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/18/world/radio-free-cuba-wins-backing-of-us-senate.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 1981 |page=10 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} which would later become known as Radio Martí.

{{Main|1984 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

Halfway through Reagan's term, Helms was talked about as a prospective presidential candidate in 1984 in case Reagan chose to stand down after his first term.{{cite news |first=James |last=Reston |author-link=James Reston |title=Will Reagan Run in '84? |work=The New York Times |date=September 19, 1982 |page=202 }}{{cite news |first=Howell |last=Raines |author-link=Howell Raines |title=In the Wings, if Reagan Doesn't Run |work=The New York Times |date=December 20, 1982 |page=B12 }} There was also speculation that Helms would run for the Governorship, being vacated by Jim Hunt.{{cite news |title=North Carolina; Huntsmen against Helsmen |newspaper=The Economist |date=March 19, 1983 |page=50 }} However, the President stood for re-election, and Helms ran once more for his Senate seat—facing Governor Hunt—and becoming the top target among the incumbent Senate Republicans.

Unlike in 1978, Helms faced an opponent in the primary, George Wimbish, but won with 90.6% of the vote, while Hunt received 77% in his. During the general election campaign, Hunt accused Helms of having the most "anti-Israel record of any member of the U.S. Senate". Helms pledged during the campaign that he would retain his chairmanship of the Agriculture committee.{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Cross-voting foils coat-tails effect for Reagan |work=The Times |page=6 |date=November 8, 1984 }}

In the most expensive Senate campaign up to that time, Helms narrowly defeated Hunt, taking 1,156,768 (51.7%) to Hunt's 1,070,488 (47.8%).

In 1989, Helms hired James Meredith, most famous as the first African American ever admitted to the University of Mississippi, as a domestic policy adviser to his Senate office staff.{{cite book | last=Gates | first=Henry Louis | author2=Anthony Appiah | title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience | work=The Washington Times | year=1999 | isbn=0-465-00071-1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1290 1290] | url=https://archive.org/details/africanaencyclop00appi/page/1290 | access-date=July 14, 2008 }} Meredith noted that Helms was the only member of the Senate to respond to his offer.{{cite web | last =Hallow | first =Ralph Z. | title=Limiting government fueled Helms' political life | work=The Washington Times | date=July 6, 2008 | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/06/limiting-government-fueled-helms-political-life/ | access-date=July 14, 2008}}

In 1989, Helms successfully lobbied for an amendment to the Americans with Disabilities Act, legislation protecting disability rights that exempted pedophilia, schizophrenia, and kleptomania from the conditions against which discrimination was barred. Additionally, Helms proposed an amendment to exempt transvestism, which the Senate adopted.{{USCongRec|1989|S10832|date=September 7, 1989}} Even though the Helms amendments were kept in the final ADA bill that passed Congress in 1990, Helms twice voted against the bill.{{cite news | last = Rasky | first =Susan | title=Senate Adopts Sweeping Measure To Protect Rights of the Disabled | work=The New York Times | page=A-1 | date=September 8, 1989 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/08/us/senate-adopts-sweeping-measure-to-protect-rights-of-the-disabled.html | access-date=November 20, 2009}}{{cite news | last = Holmes | first =Steven A. | title=Rights Bill for Disabled Is Sent to Bush | work=The New York Times | page=6 | date=July 14, 1990 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/14/us/rights-bill-for-disabled-is-sent-to-bush.html | access-date=November 20, 2009}}

Although Helms was returned to office, and became the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana became its chair,{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Dole wins top job in Senate |work=The Times |page=1 |date=November 29, 1984 }} after Helms and Lugar cut a deal to keep liberals out of top committee posts.{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Ashford |title=Senate plots a moderate course |work=The Times |page=8 |date=November 30, 1984 }} Despite pressure to claim the Foreign Relations chair, Helms kept the Agriculture chair, as he had pledged in his campaign.

A "purge" of the State Department by George P. Shultz in early 1985, replacing conservatives with moderates,{{cite news |first=Christopher |last=Thomas |title=Christmas massacre by ruthless Shultz |work=The Times |page=6 |date=December 31, 1984 }} was heavily opposed by the Helms-led conservatives. They unsuccessfully attempted to block the appointment of Rozanne L. Ridgway, Richard Burt, and Edwin G. Corr as ambassadors, arguing that Shultz was appointing diplomats who were not loyal to President Reagan's philosophy,{{cite news |first=Mohsin |last=Ali |title=Senate hawks give way as Burt gets Bonn post |work=The Times |page=7 |date=July 17, 1985 }} particularly in Latin America. In August 1985, Helms threatened to lead a filibuster against a bill imposing sanctions on South Africa, delaying it until after summer recess.{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Binyon |title=Big House majority for sanctions, but Helms holds up the Senate |work=The Times |page=5 |date=August 2, 1985 }}

In early 1986, Panamanian dissident Winston Spadafora visited Helms and requested that the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs hold hearings on Panama. Ignoring Elliott Abrams' request for a softer line towards Panama, Helms—a long-time critic of Noriega—agreed, and the hearings uncovered the large degree of leeway that the U.S. government, and particularly the Central Intelligence Agency, had been giving to Noriega.Kinzer (2006), p. 246–7 After the Drug Enforcement Administration encountered opposition from Oliver North in investigating Noriega's role in drug trafficking, Helms teamed up with John Kerry to introduce an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act demanding that the CIA investigate the Panama Defense Forces' potential involvement.Kinzer (2006), p. 247 In 1988, after Noriega was indicted on charges including drug trafficking,{{cite news |first=Elaine |last=Sciolino |title=Consul Asserts C.I.A. Aided in Panama Cover-Up |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/10/world/consul-asserts-cia-aided-in-panama-cover-up.html |work=The New York Times |date=February 10, 1988 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} a former Panamanian consul general and chief of political intelligence testified to the subcommittee, detailing Panama's compiling of evidence on its political opponents in the United States, including Senators Helms and Ted Kennedy, with the assistance of the CIA and National Security Council.{{cite news |first=Pichirallo |last=Joe |title=Noriega Got CIA Data, Panel Told; Reports Are Said To Include Details On Kennedy, Helms |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 10, 1988 }} Helms proposed that the government suspend the Carter-Torrijos treaties unless Noriega were extradited within thirty days.{{cite book |title=In the Shadow of the United States |last=Soler Torrijos |first=Giancarlo |year=2008 |publisher=Brown Walker Press |location=Boca Raton, Florida |isbn=978-1-59942-439-2 |page=153 }}

In July 1986, after Rodrigo Rojas DeNegri was burned alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/09/world/chile-burn-case-anguish-and-anger.html|first=Shirley|last=Christian|title=Chile Burn Case: Anguish and Anger |date=July 9, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/07/07/Week-in-commemoration-to-victim-of-Chilean-army-attack/4394552628800/print|title=Week in commemoration to victim of Chilean army attack|first=Paul|last=Walsh|date=July 7, 1986|publisher=UPI}} Helms said that DeNegri and his companion Carmen Quintana Arancibia were "Communist terrorists" who had earlier been sighted setting fire to a barricade.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/26/world/around-the-world-explosion-wounds-24-near-chilean-palace.html?pagewanted=print|title=Around the World; Explosion Wounds 24 Near Chilean Palace |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1986}} Helms also criticized United States Ambassador to Chile Harry G. Barnes Jr. for attending DeNegri's funeral, saying Barnes "planted the American flag in the midst of a Communist activity" and President Reagan would have sent him home were he there.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/14/world/helms-in-chile-denounces-us-envoy.html|title=Helms, in Chile, Denounces U.S. Envoy |first=Shirley|last=Christian|date=July 14, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}} The following month, the Justice Department disclosed information to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that linked Helms and a sensitive intelligence matter of the Chile government.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/05/us/helms-declares-officials-harass-him.html|title=HELMS DECLARES OFFICIALS HARASS HIM|date=August 5, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}} Helms responded to the disclosure by telling reporters that the Justice Department "want to intimidate me and harass me, and it's not going to work" and said that both the Justice Department and himself were aware he had "violated no rules of classification". In a letter to Attorney General Edwin Meese, Helms made a request of the Justice Department to investigate if he or members of his staff had been spied on during the Chile visit and called the charges against him "frivolous and false indictment".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/08/12/us/helms-says-intelligence-agencies-may-have-spied-on-him-in-chile.html|title=Helms Says Intelligence Agencies May Have Spied on Him in Chile |date=August 12, 1986|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Helms became interested in the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, and in October 1990 his committee staff chief and longest-serving aide, James P. Lucier, prepared a report stating that it was probable there were live American prisoners still being held in Vietnam and that the George H. W. Bush administration was complicit in hiding the facts.Link (2008) pp. 397–398 The report also alleged that the Soviet Union had held American prisoners after the end of World War II, and more may have been transferred there during the Korean War and during the Vietnam War. (Lucier also believed that survivors of the 1983 shoot-down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 were being held prisoner by the Soviets.) Helms stated that the "deeper story" was a possible "deliberate effort by certain people in the government to disregard all information or reports about living MIA-POWs". This was followed up in May 1991 by a minority report of the Foreign Relations Committee, released by Helms and titled An Examination of US Policy Toward POW/MIAs, which made similar claims and concluded that "any evidence that suggested an MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected ..."{{cite news | newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch | title=Report Rips U.S. Efforts For MIAs | agency=Associated Press | date=May 24, 1991 | page= 14A}} The issuing of the report caused other Republicans on the committee to become angry, and charges were made that the report contained errors, innuendo, and unsubstantiated rumors. This and other personnel matters led to Helms firing Lucier and eight other staff members in January 1992.{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10616F63E590C7B8CDDA80894DA494D81 | title=Panel's Top G.O.P. Staff Is Dismissed by Helms | newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 8, 1992}}Link (2008) pp. 400–401{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nTAaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5725,4193942&dq=helms+letter+yeltsin&hl=en | title=Helms aides react to reports of POWs in former Soviet Union | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=Times-News | date=June 20, 1992 | page=8A }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Helms subsequently distanced himself from the POW/MIA issue. (The aides claimed vindication later in 1992 when Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that the Soviet Union had kept some U.S. prisoners in the early 1950s.)

{{Main|Helms AIDS Amendments}}

In 1987, Helms added an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act, which directed the president to use executive authority to add HIV infection to the list of excludable diseases that prevent both travel and immigration to the United States.{{cite book |title= AIDS and the Law: A Basic Guide for the Nonlawyer |last= Teri |first= Allan H. |year= 1992 |publisher= Taylor & Francis |isbn= 1-56032-218-7 |page= [https://archive.org/details/aidslawbasicguid0000terl/page/78 78] |url= https://archive.org/details/aidslawbasicguid0000terl/page/78 }} The action was opposed by the U.S. Public Health Service. Congress restored the executive authority to remove HIV from the list of excludable conditions in the 1990 Immigration Reform Act, and in January 1991, Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis Sullivan announced he would delete HIV from the list of excludable conditions. A letter-writing campaign headed by Helms ultimately convinced President Bush not to lift the ban, and left the United States the only industrialized nation in the world to prohibit travel based on HIV status.{{cite book |title= Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life |last= Blumenfeld |first= Warren J.|author2=Diane Christine Raymond |year= 1993 |publisher= Beacon Press |isbn= 0-8070-7923-5 |pages= 335–6}} The travel ban was also responsible for the cancellation of the 1992 International AIDS Conference in Boston. On January 5, 2010, the 22-year-old ban was lifted after having been signed by President Barack Obama on October 30, 2009.{{cite news| url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/04/us.hiv.visa/index.html|publisher=CNN| title=U.S. lifts restriction on visas to HIV-positive foreigners|access-date=May 6, 2010|date=January 5, 2010}}{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/30/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5462425.shtml|work=CBS News|title=Obama Lifts Travel Ban for HIV-Positive|first=Brian|last=Montopoli|date=October 30, 2009|archive-date=January 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122061606/https://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/30/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5462425.shtml}}

Helms was "bitterly opposed" to federal financing for research and treatment of AIDS,{{cite news |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/00helms.html?hp |title= Jesse Helms Dies at 86; Conservative Force in the Senate |date=July 5, 2000 |first=Steven A. |last=Holmes}} which he believed was God's punishment for homosexuals.{{Cite news|last=Noden|first=Rondi|date=2007|title=Is AIDS God's Judgment Against Homosexuality?: An Argument from Natural Law|work=Cedarville University Center for Bioethics|url=https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=cedar_ethics_online|access-date=October 15, 2021}} He introduced an amendment to a 1987 spending bill that prohibited the use of federal tax dollars for any AIDS educational materials that would "promote or encourage, directly or indirectly, homosexual activities".{{cite book |last1=Rimmerman |first1=Craig A. |title=From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States |date=2002 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-56639-905-0 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0BexugIsxsC&pg=PA94 |access-date=September 10, 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Helms |first1=Jesse |title=S.Amdt.963 to H.R.3058 – 100th Congress (1987–1988) |url=https://www.congress.gov/amendment/100th-congress/senate-amendment/963 |website=www.congress.gov |access-date=September 10, 2021 |date=October 14, 1987}}

Opposing the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS bill in 1988, Helms incorrectly stated, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy".Quoting the States News Service (May 17, 1988) in {{cite news|title=Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86|first=JOHANNA |last=NEUMAN|date=

July 5, 2008|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-helms5-2008jul05-story.html}} When Ryan White, who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion he received at age 13, died in 1990, his mother went to Congress to speak to politicians on behalf of people with AIDS. She spoke to 23 representatives; Helms refused to speak to Jeanne White, even when she was alone with him in an elevator.{{cite news |work=POZ |url= http://www.poz.com/articles/236_12435.shtml |title= Life After Ryan |date=January 1997 |first= Phil Geoffrey |last= Bond}} Despite opposition by Helms, the Ryan White Care Act passed in 1990.

In 1988, Helms convinced congress to implement a ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs, arguing that spending federal money on such programs was tantamount to "federal endorsement of drug abuse".{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/us/surge-in-cases-of-hiv-tests-us-policy-on-needle-exchanges.html | title=Surge in Cases of H.I.V. Tests U.S. Policy on Needle Exchanges | work=The New York Times | date=May 16, 2015 | access-date=November 26, 2015 | author=Hulse, Carl}}

As late as 2002, Helms continued to claim that the "homosexual lifestyle" was the cause of the spread of AIDS in the United States, and he remained opposed to spending money on AIDS research.{{cite web |last1=Clymer |first1=Adam |title=Helms Reverses Opposition to Help on AIDS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/26/us/helms-reverses-opposition-to-help-on-aids.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=6 June 2022 |date=26 March 2002}}

{{Main|1990 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

In the 1990 Republican primary, Helms had two opponents, George Wimbish (as in 1984) and L.C. Nixon; Helms won with 84.3% of the vote. The general election was nationally publicized and rancorous. Helms ran against former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt in his "bid to become the nation's only black senator" and "the first black elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction".{{cite web|last=Lee |first=Deron |title=Ad Spotlight Classic: Jesse Helms, 1990 |work=National Journal |date=July 8, 2008 |url=http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |access-date=July 8, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003125841/http://adspotlight.nationaljournal.com/2008/07/jesse_helms.php |archive-date=October 3, 2008 }}

The North Carolina GOP and others mailed over 125,000 notices (almost exclusively to black voters) telling them that they were not eligible to vote and warned that if they went to the polls they could be prosecuted for voter fraud.[https://www.apnews.com] | February 27, 1992 | Helms' Campaign Denies It Tried to Intimidate Black Voters |

AP | [https://www.apnews.com/52589f9f339ea20d62e3c217fdecae1e] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410193217/https://www.apnews.com/52589f9f339ea20d62e3c217fdecae1e|date=April 10, 2019}} At the behest of several civil rights groups and the Democratic National Party, the US Department of Justice sued the Helms campaign, the NC GOP, four lobbying firms and two individual lobbyists.[https://apps.washingtonpost.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114130145/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/|date=November 14, 2018}} | The Department of Justice makes case against 1990 Helms campaign and North Carolina GOP | washingtonpost.com © 1996–2019 The Washington Post | [https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/the-department-of-justice-makes-case-against-1990-helms-campaign-and-north-carolina-gop/3323/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228210707/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/politics/the-department-of-justice-makes-case-against-1990-helms-campaign-and-north-carolina-gop/3323/|date=December 28, 2018}}[https://www.nytimes.com] | November 2, 1990 | THE 1990 CAMPAIGN; Democrats Accuse G.O.P. of Voter Intimidation in Two States | AP | [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/02/us/the-1990-campaign-democrats-accuse-gop-of-voter-intimidation-in-two-states.html] Thomas Farr, campaign manager for Helms, disavowed any knowledge of the dirty tricks, which was shown to be false when his hand written notes were discovered. The affected parties acknowledged and agreed to the Justice Departments' ruling and were forced to desist from any other such activities.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/06/us/the-1990-campaign-judge-assails-gop-mailing-in-carolina.html |title = The 1990 Campaign; Judge Assails G.O.P. Mailing in Carolina|newspaper = The New York Times|date = November 6, 1990|last1 = Ayres|first1 = B. Drummond Jr.}}

Helms aired a late-running television commercial titled "Hands",Helms's 'Hands' anti-affirmative action campaign ad on YouTube, item KIyewCdXMzk also known as 'White Hands,' that showed a white man's hands crumpling up an employment rejection notice while a voiceover said, "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is."{{cite book | last=Reichert | first=Tom | author2=Jacqueline Lambiase | title=Sex in Advertising: Perspectives on the Erotic Appeal | publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates | year=2002 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZivAGEvtpDcC | access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn=978-0-8058-4118-3 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite book | last = Pratkanis | first =Anthony |author2=Elliot Aronson | title=Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion | publisher=Macmillan| year=2001 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LsuMoEtSV4C| access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8050-7403-1}}{{cite news | last = Cornwell | first =Rupert | title=Jesse Helms: Powerful Republican senator who championed right-wing causes during three decades in Congress | work=The Independent | date=July 7, 2008 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jesse-helms-powerful-republican-senator-who-championed-rightwing-causes-during-three-decades-in-congress-861290.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jesse-helms-powerful-republican-senator-who-championed-rightwing-causes-during-three-decades-in-congress-861290.html |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live| access-date=July 8, 2008 | location=London}}{{cite book | last=Peskowitz | first=Miriam | title=The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides what Makes a Good Mother? | publisher=Seal Press | year=2005 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBsKhHpjl5oC | access-date=July 8, 2008 | isbn=978-1-58005-129-3 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The advertisement was produced by Alex Castellanos, whom Helms would employ until his company was dropped in April 1996 after running an unusually hard-hitting ad.{{cite news |first=Robert Marshall |last=Wells |title=Bounced by Helms, Consultant Rebounds |url=http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/NC/CQ.news.shtml |publisher=CNN |date=April 30, 1996 |access-date=July 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223212311/http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/NC/CQ.news.shtml |archive-date=February 23, 2010 }} Another Helms television commercial accused Gantt of running a "secret campaign" in homosexual communities and of being committed to "mandatory gay rights laws" including "requiring local schools to hire gay teachers".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/31/us/an-underdog-forces-helms-into-a-surprisingly-tight-race.html |title=An Underdog Forces Helms Into a Surprisingly Tight Race |location=Moscow (Ussr); Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics (Ussr) |website=The New York Times |date=October 31, 1990 |access-date=March 5, 2016}}

Helms won the election with 1,087,331 votes (52.5 percent) to Gantt's 981,573 (47.4 percent). In his victory statement, Helms noted the unhappiness of some media outlets over his victory, paraphrasing a line from Casey at the Bat: "There's no joy in Mudville tonight. The mighty ultra-liberal establishment, and the liberal politicians and editors and commentators and columnists have struck out."{{cite news | last = Applebome | first =Peter | title= The 1990 Elections: Congress – North Carolina; Helms, Basking in Victory, Taunts 'Ultra-Liberal' Foes | work=The New York Times | date=November 7, 1990 | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD81139F934A35752C1A966958260| access-date=July 8, 2008}}

File:Senator Jesse Helms holding a watermelon.jpg

In the early 1990s, Helms was a vocal opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).Reno, Robert (September 14, 1993) [https://www.baltimoresun.com/1993/09/14/a-nation-of-ninnies/ A Nation of Ninnies], The Baltimore Sun

In August 1991, Helms became one of six Republicans on the Select Senate Committee on POW-MIA Affairs that would investigate the number of Americans still missing in the aftermath of the Vietnam War following renewed interest.{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/08/02/Senate-creates-POW-MIA-panel/7728681105600/|title=Senate creates POW-MIA panel|date=August 2, 1991|publisher=UPI}}

During this term, Helms was one of three senators to vote against the confirmation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 103rd Congress – 1st Session |url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=103&session=1&vote=00232 |access-date=March 24, 2021 |website=www.senate.gov}}

On August 5, 1991, Helms made public a special counsel report calling for California Senator Alan Cranston to be censured by the Senate on charges of reprehensible conduct.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/05/us/cranston-censure-urged-by-counsel.html|title=CRANSTON CENSURE URGED BY COUNSEL|first=Richard L.|last=Burke|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 5, 1991 }} The document had been delivered to members of the Senate Ethics Committee the previous month. Helms stated that his move came from the belief that the release would cause the panel to act faster, additionally citing the panel members with being at odds on how much of the report should be released as a reason for not closing an inquiry into Charles H. Keating Jr. and his role in the savings and loan scandal of the late 1980s.

The Senate Ethics Committee subsequently voted to investigate Helms for releasing the confidential document.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/07/us/helms-defends-disclosure-of-ethics-panel-report.html|title=Helms Defends Disclosure of Ethics Panel Report|first=Richard L.|last=Berke|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 7, 1991 }} Helms issued a statement saying in part that it was "a fascinating suggestion that I may have somehow violated some unspecified 'rule' when I released, over the weekend, my own signed report regarding the Keating Five investigation". Helms welcomed the investigation into himself, along with one into the handling of the Keating Five case (five senators who received financial contributions from Keating Jr.) by the Senate Ethics Committee, calling the panel's investigation "long, arduous and expensive" and noting a potential public investigation "may disclose that the committee labored and brought forth a mouse".

In 1989, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded grants for a retrospective of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs, some of which containing homosexual themes, in addition to a museum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, supporting an exhibition that featured an image by Andres Serrano of a crucifix suspended in urine. These images caused an uproar and marked the National Endowment for the Arts becoming "a favorite target for Mr. Helms and other conservative senators who have objected to the work of some of the artists who have received Government grants."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/20/arts/senate-votes-to-limit-arts-grants.html|title=Senate Votes to Limit Arts Grants|date=September 20, 1991|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-18-ca-2388-story.html|title='NEA Four' Grant Denial Questioned : Arts: ACLU claims transcripts indicate grants were denied on political, not artistic, grounds.|first=Dennis|last=McDougal|date=September 18, 1991}} In September 1989, Helms met with John E. Frohnmayer, President Bush's appointee for Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. While neither spoke publicly about the meeting, Helms reportedly made it clear that he considered his opposition to certain N.E.A. grants to be an election issue, and his opposition would continue after the next election.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-22-ca-775-story.html|title=Government and the Arts : The Man Who Would Be Arts King|first=Allan|last=Parachini|date=September 22, 1989|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}

In September 1991, Helms charged the National Endowment for the Arts with financing art that would turn "the stomach of any normal person" while proposing an amendment to an appropriations bill forbidding the usage of the grants for the N.E.A. in promoting material that would be deemed as depicting "sexual or excretory activities or organs" in an "offensive way".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/opinion/corn-porn-and-the-nea.html|title=Corn, Porn and the N.E.A.|date=October 27, 1991|newspaper=The New York Times}} On September 20, the Senate voted 68 to 28 in favor of the amendment. The same night, Helms withdrew another amendment that changed the financing formula of the N.E.A. to funneling over half of its grant money through states as opposed to the Washington headquarters and would see a reduction in the New York fiscal year appropriation from its 26 million to just over 7 million.

In a widely publicized incident on July 22, 1993, Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman in the Senate and the only black senator at the time, reported that Helms deliberately sought to offend her by whistling the song "Dixie" as the two shared an elevator.{{cite news |title=Is Jesse Helms Whistling 'Dixie' Over Nomination? |author=Jessica Reaves |newspaper=Time |date=October 27, 1999 |url=https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,33306,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080710072730/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,33306,00.html |url-status=live|archive-date=July 10, 2008 }}{{cite web |publisher=FAIR |title=End of Racism? |url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1346 |date=March 1, 1996}}{{cite web|title=The End of Racism?: Somebody tell Marge Schott|work=Winston-Salem Journal |date=July 5, 2008|url=https://fair.org/extra/the-end-of-racism/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20081006183516/http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2008/jul/05/jesse-helms-oct-18-1921-july-4-2008/|url-status=live|archive-date=October 6, 2008|access-date=July 8, 2008 }} After Moseley Braun persuaded the Senate to vote against Helms's amendment to extend the patent of the United Daughters of the Confederacy insignia, which included the Confederate flag, Moseley Braun claims that Helms ran into her in an elevator. Helms allegedly turned to Senator Orrin Hatch and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries."Chicago Sun-Times, August 5, 1993 He then allegedly proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery to Moseley Braun.{{cite news|url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html |title=Helms subtly carried torch of white supremacy |work=USA Today |author=Wickham, DeWayne |date=July 8, 2008 |access-date=August 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802025535/http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html |archive-date=August 2, 2008 }}{{cite journal | first = John | last = Nichols | title= Jesse Helms, John McCain and the Mark of the White Hands | journal=The Nation | date=July 5, 2008 | url=https://www.thenation.com/article/jesse-helms-john-mccain-and-mark-white-hands/ | access-date=August 29, 2008}} In 1999, Helms unsuccessfully attempted to block Moseley Braun's nomination to be United States Ambassador to New Zealand.

In 1994, Helms created a sensation when he told broadcasters Rowland Evans and Robert Novak that Clinton was "not up" to the tasks of being commander-in-chief, and suggested two days later, on the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, "Mr. Clinton better watch out if he comes down here. He'd better have a bodyguard." Helms said Clinton was unpopular and that he had not meant it as a threat.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/23/us/helms-takes-new-swipe-at-clinton-then-calls-it-mistake.html |title = Helms Takes New Swipe at Clinton, then Calls It Mistake|newspaper = The New York Times|date = November 23, 1994|last1 = Greenhouse|first1 = Steven}} Clinton addressed the comments when asked about them by a reporter at a press conference the following day: "I think the remarks were unwise and inappropriate. The President oversees the foreign policy of the United States. And the Republicans will decide in whom they will repose their trust and confidence; that's a decision for them to make, not for me."{{cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1994-book2/html/PPP-1994-book2-doc-pg2113.htm|title=The President's News Conference With President Kuchma of Ukraine|date=November 22, 1994|first=Bill|last=Clinton|author-link=Bill Clinton|publisher=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States}}

Republicans regained control of Congress after the 1994 elections and Helms finally became the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the first North Carolinian to chair the committee since Nathaniel Macon. In that role, Helms pushed for reform of the UN and blocked payment of the United States' dues. Helms secured sufficient reforms that a colleague, future President Joe Biden of Delaware said that "As only Nixon could go to China, only Helms could fix the U.N."Poster at Jesse Helms Center, Wingate, North Carolina

Helms passed few laws of his own in part because of this bridge-burning style. Hedrick Smith's The Power Game portrays Helms as a "devastatingly effective power broker".{{cite news |first=Alan |last=Brinkley |author-link=Alan Brinkley |title=Where the Big Wheels Spin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/27/books/where-the-big-wheels-spin.html |series=New York Times Book Review |work=The New York Times |date=March 27, 1988 |access-date=July 8, 2009}}

Helms tried to block the refunding of the Ryan White Care Act in 1995, saying that those with AIDS were responsible for the disease, because they had contracted it because of their "deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct", and that the reason AIDS existed in the first place was because it was "God's punishment for homosexuals".{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for quote that he believed AIDS was "God's punishment for homosexuals"|date=April 2020}} Helms also claimed that more federal dollars were spent on AIDS than heart disease or cancer, despite this not being borne out by the Public Health Service statistics.{{cite news |work=The New York Times |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE4DA1230F936A35754C0A963958260 |title= Helms Puts the Brakes to a Bill Financing AIDS Treatment |date=July 5, 1995 |first=Katharine Q|last=Seelye}}

{{Main|Helms–Burton Act}}

Soon after becoming the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in February 1995, Helms announced that he wished to strengthen the spirit of the 1992 Torricelli Act with new legislation.Roy (2000), p. 29 Its companion sponsored through the House by Dan Burton of Indiana, it would strengthen the embargo against Cuba: further codifying the embargo, instructing United States diplomats to vote in favor of sanctions on Cuba, stripping the President of the option of ending the embargo by executive order until Fidel and Raúl Castro leave power and a prescribed course of transition is followed.{{cite journal |last=Lowenfeld |first=Andreas F. |date=July 1996 |title=Congress and Cuba: the Helms-Burton Act |journal=American Journal of International Law |volume=90 |issue=3 |pages=419–34 |doi=10.2307/2204066 |publisher=American Society of International Law |jstor=2204066 |s2cid=146904252 }} The bill also, controversially explicitly overruling the Act of State Doctrine, allowed foreign companies to be sued in American courts if, in dealings with the regime of Fidel Castro, they acquired assets formerly owned by Americans.

Passing the House comfortably, the Senate was far more cautious, under pressure from the Clinton administration. The debate was filibustered, with a motion of cloture falling four votes short. Helms reintroduced the bill without Titles III and IV, which detailed the penalties on investors, and it passed by 74 to 24 on October 19, 1995.Roy (2000), p. 30 A conference committee was scheduled to convene, but did not until February 28, 1996, by which time external events had taken over. On February 24, Cuba shot down two small Brothers to the Rescue planes piloted by anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. When the conference committee met, the tougher House version, with all four titles, won out on most substantive points. It was passed by the Senate 74–22 and the House 336–86, and President Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act into law on March 12, 1996.Roy (2000), p. 31 For years after its passing, Helms criticized the corporate interests that sought to lift the sanctions on Cuba, writing an article in 1999 for Foreign Affairs, at whose publisher, the Council on Foreign Relations, also drew Helms's ire for its softer approach to Cuba.Roy (2000), p. 192

{{Main|1996 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

In 1996, Helms drew 1,345,833 (52.6 percent) to Gantt's 1,173,875 (45.9 percent). Helms supported his former Senate colleague Bob Dole for president, while Gantt endorsed Bill Clinton. Although Helms is generally credited with being the most successful Republican politician in North Carolina history, his largest proportion of the vote in any of his five elections was 54.5 percent. In North Carolina, Helms was a polarizing figure, and he freely admitted that many people in the state strongly disliked him: "[The Democrats] could nominate Mortimer Snerd and he'd automatically get 45 percent of the vote." Helms was particularly popular among older, conservative constituents, and was considered one of the last "Old South" politicians to have served in the Senate. However, he also considered himself a voice of conservative youth, whom he hailed in the dedication of his autobiography.

File:Joe Biden and Jesse Helms.jpg in 1999]]

The summer of 1997 saw Helms engage in a protracted, high-profile battle to block the nomination of William Weld, Republican Governor of Massachusetts,{{cite book |title=The Controversial Pivot |url=https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe |url-access=registration |last=Ornstein |first=Norman |editor-first=Rafael Fernández |editor-last=de Castro |year=1998 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-8157-6923-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe/page/97 97] |chapter=The New Congress }} as Ambassador to Mexico, refusing to hold a committee meeting to schedule a confirmation hearing. Although he did not make a formal statement of his reason, Helms did criticize Weld's support for medical marijuana,{{cite news |first=William F. |last=Buckley |author-link=William F. Buckley, Jr |title=Bill and Jesse |work=National Review |date=September 1, 1997 }}{{cite news |first=Maureen |last=Dowd |author-link=Maureen Dowd |title=Insulting the Crocodile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/30/opinion/insulting-the-crocodile.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 30, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} which Senate conservatives saw as incompatible with Mexico's key role in the War on Drugs.{{cite news |first=Steven Lee |last=Myers |title=Helms to Oppose Weld as Nominee for Ambassador |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/us/helms-to-oppose-weld-as-nominee-for-ambassador.html |work=The New York Times |date=June 4, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} Weld attacked Helms's politics, saying, "I am not Senator Helms's kind of Republican. I do not pass his litmus test on social policy. Nor do I want to."Link (2008), p. 447 This opened Helms to counter on Weld's positions on abortion, gay rights, and other issues on which he had a liberal position. Other factors, such as Weld's noncommittal position on Helms's chairmanship during his 1996 Senate campaign and Weld's wife's donation to the Gantt campaign,{{cite news |first=Scot |last=Lehigh |title=$199 Gift to Helms's Rival May Cost Weld Lots More |work=The Boston Globe |date=August 5, 1997 }} made the nomination personal and less cooperative.Link (2008), p. 446–7 Held up in the committee by Helms, despite Weld resigning his governorship to concentrate on the nomination and a petition signed by most senators,{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Rimer |title=It's Mexico or Bust as Restless Massachusetts Governor Resigns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/us/it-s-mexico-or-bust-as-restless-massachusetts-governor-resigns.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 29, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}} his nomination died.

In January 1998, Helms endorsed a legislative proposal by the Cuban-American National Foundation to provide $100 million worth of food and medicine so long as Havana could promise the assistance would not be allocated to government stores or officials of the Communist Party.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/31/world/food-aid-for-cubans-backed-by-helms.html|title=Food Aid for Cubans Backed by Helms|date=January 31, 1998|newspaper=The New York Times}} In the same statement, Helms said Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba had "created a historic opportunity for bold action" in the country.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/02/01/helms-backs-aid-to-cuba-proposed-by-exile-group/becccb36-8b65-40fb-9184-91c544dd25d0/|title=Helms backs aid to cuba proposed by exile group|date=February 1, 1998|newspaper=The Washington Post}} On May 15, Helms announced a proposal of $100 million aid package for Cuba that would provide food and medical assistance to the Cuban people by the Roman Catholic Church and politically independent relief organizations. Helms stated the proposal would hurt Castro's regime if he either accepted or rejected it and the proposal was endorsed by more than twenty senators from both parties.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/15/world/helms-plans-100-million-aid-package-for-cuba.html|title=Helms Plans $100 Million Aid Package for Cuba|date=May 15, 1998|first=David|last=Stout|newspaper=The New York Times}} In his memoir, Helms stated the only reason Castro was able to maintain leadership in Cuba was the direct result of the Clinton administration not making his removal an objective of its foreign policy. He asserted the administration should have worked to develop strategies to undermine Castro and instead spent years "wasting precious time and energy on a senseless debate over whether to lift the Cuban embargo unilaterally".{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=265–266|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}

Helms saw the Bush administration as "understanding of the nature" of Castro and his crimes and stated his hope that an American president would eventually be able to visit Cuba at a time when the latter country and the United States could welcome each other as friends and trading partners.

In May 2001, Helms cosponsored legislation with Connecticut Democrat Joe Lieberman granting $100 million in aid to both government critics and independent workers in Cuba during the period of the following four years and said the aim of the bill was to provide financial assistance to domestic opponents of the Cuban government so that they could continue their work. The legislation was "the first major legislative proposal by hard-line critics" since the Helms–Burton Act and Helms promoted its enactment in a statement by saying it would see the United States government "move beyond merely isolating the Castro regime" which could be undermined "by finding bold, proactive and creative programs to help those working for change on the island".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/world/helms-and-lieberman-seek-to-aid-dissidents-in-cuba.html|title=Helms and Lieberman Seek to Aid Dissidents in Cuba|first=Christopher|last=Marquis|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 16, 2001}} In July, President Bush announced his intent to waive a portion of the Helms–Burton Act authorizing lawsuits against businesses operating in Cuba for six months in the national interest of the US and to aid administration efforts to "expedite the transition to democracy in Cuba". Helms released a statement defending Bush, saying "it would be wise to consider the other salutary initiatives that the president is putting into force" before criticizing the decision and credited Bush with "taking a very tough line which is certain to make Fidel Castro squirm".{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/07/16/bush.cuba/index.html|title=Bush waives controversial portion of Helms-Burton law|date=July 16, 2001|publisher=CNN}}

File:President George W. Bush Signs Iraq Resolution.jpg George W. Bush sign H.J. Resolution 114 authorizing the use of force against Iraq in 2002.]]

In January 1997, during the confirmation hearings for Secretary of State nominee Madeleine Albright, Helms stated President Clinton's first term had left adversaries of the United States in doubt of their resolve and that "a lot of Americans" were praying she would issue in a change during her tenure.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/01/09/at-albrights-confirmation-hearing-differences-are-smoothed-over/1c515f9e-86d5-4005-b1cc-ba5d217acdce/|title=At Albright's Confirmation Hearing, Differences Are Smoothed Over |first=Thomas W.|last=Lippman|date=January 9, 1997|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Two months later, after being confirmed, Albright traveled with Helms to his boyhood home and the Jesse Helms Center for discussions on the treaty to ban chemical arms, Helms afterward saying the pair would not have any issues if they continued being able to cooperate but stressed that the treaty would not assist with protecting Americans.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/26/albright-peace-mission-takes-her-to-helms-turf/|title=Albright Peace Mission Takes Her To Helms' Turf|first=David S.|last=Cloud|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}} In a March 1998 letter to Albright, Helms stated his opposition "to the creation of a permanent U.N. criminal court" and the United Nations becoming "a sovereign entity", Helms spokesman Marc Thiessen confirming concerns of the senator "that a permanent tribunal will turn into a petty claims court that will spend its time taking up complaints about the United States" and thereby serve the function of the General Assembly.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/27/world/helms-vows-to-make-war-on-un-court.html|title=Helms Vows To Make War On U.N. Court|first=Barbara|last=Crossette|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 27, 1998 }}

In September 1997, amid the Senate voting to repeal a $50 billion tax break for the tobacco industry, Helms joined Mitch McConnell and Lauch Faircloth in being one of three senators to vote against the amendment.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/11/us/senate-repeals-tax-break-for-the-tobacco-industry.html|title=Senate Repeals Tax Break For the Tobacco Industry|first=Lizette|last=Alvarez|date=September 11, 1997|newspaper=The New York Times}}

In January 1998, President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky became public. Helms found the revelation "damning", having little patience for sexual transgressions and said anyone that would advocate President Clinton's "should be excused, already announced their total lack of character".{{harvnb|Link|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/righteouswarrior00link_0/page/443 443]}} In remarks the following month, Helms stated the scandal had left him saddened for the United States and President Clinton's daughter Chelsea. Helms exercised caution on the impeachment issue, refraining from announcing his vote until right before Clinton's Senate trial in January of the following year. The Washington Post noted Helms as the only one of the nine senators who had by then served a quarter century to vote in favor of Lewinsky making an appearance before the chamber.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/journal020599.htm|title=Thurmond Leads in a Resounding 'No'|first=David Von|last=Drehle|newspaper=The Washington Post}} In his memoir, Helms stated that his vote against Clinton was not personal and that he understood "the fallibility of every human, and the power of Grace", but that he was unwilling to deny the Constitution not allowing "gradients of wrongdoing" since Clinton was proven to have lied under oath.{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=197–198|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}

In March 1998, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to add Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Helms predicted the resolution would pass overwhelmingly in the full chamber and said the vote was a testament to "confidence in the democracies of Eastern Europe".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/04/world/key-senate-panel-passes-resolution-to-expand-nato.html|title=Key Senate Panel Passes Resolution to Expand NATO |first=Steven|last=Erlanger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 4, 1998 }}

In May 1998, while delivering remarks to Therma, Inc. employees, President Clinton listed Helms as one of the senators who had aided the intent of Partnership for Peace.{{cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1998-book1/html/PPP-1998-book1-doc-pg653-2.htm|title=Remarks at a Roundtable Discussion With Employees of Therma, Inc., in San Jose, California|date=May 1, 1998|first=Bill|last=Clinton|author-link=Bill Clinton|publisher=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States}}

While the United States cast one of four votes against the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted by a 120 to 4 vote in July 1998, President Clinton signed the Statute for the United States. However, Helms was strident in his opposition and let it be known that any attempt to have the Senate ratify the Statute would be "dead on arrival" at the Foreign Relations Committee. He also introduced the American Service-Members' Protection Act, adopted by Congress in 2002 "to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party".

In June 1999, after President Clinton nominated Richard Holbrooke for United States Ambassador to the United Nations, the Clinton administration expressed concerns with Helms's silence on whether he would allow a vote on Holbrooke's nomination.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/17/world/helms-has-white-house-worried-about-its-un-nomination.html|title=Helms Has White House Worried About Its U.N. Nomination|first=Philip|last=Shenon|date=June 17, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}} In a June 5 statement, Helms announced the date of the four hearings and that Holbrooke would be questioned regarding his career, specifically his mediating role in negotiations of the Bosnia accords with President of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević. Helms added that he could not "recall another Cabinet-level nomination sent to this committee with so much ethical baggage attached to it".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/05/world/crisis-balkans-senate-helms-start-four-hearings-holbrooke-june-17.html|title=Crisis in the Balkans: The Senate; Helms to Start Four Hearings On Holbrooke On June 17|date=June 5, 1999|first=Philip|last=Shenon|newspaper=The New York Times}} During the confirmation hearings, Helms stated that Holbrooke had violated the law repeatedly. In response, Holbrooke apologized and admitted to his "misconceptions" regarding ethics, Helms afterward expressing optimism toward the nomination as a result of Holbrooke's remorse.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/18/world/helms-prods-holbrooke-and-receives-a-concession.html|title=Helms Prods Holbrooke And Receives A Concession|first=Philip|last=Shenon|date=June 18, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}} Three months later, after President Clinton nominating former Senator Carol Moseley-Braun for United States Ambassador to New Zealand, Helms released a statement saying the "nomination comes to the Senate with an ethical cloud hanging over Ms. Moseley-Braun" and questioned if her record had even been examined by the Clinton administration. An article published around the same time as the statement by Roll Call indicated Helms would prevent the nomination unless Moseley-Braun "amends for past slights" such as her opposition to the renewal of the emblem for the Daughters of the Confederacy.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/10/18/senate-foreign-relations-committee-chairman-jesse-helms/|title=Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms...|date=October 18, 1999|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}} Helms subsequently demanded documents relating to Moseley-Braun's ethical charges and delayed confirmation hearings until receiving them. On November 9, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to endorse Moseley-Braun 17 to 1, Helms being the lone vote against the nomination.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/world/senate-panel-clears-moseley-braun-appointment-as-ambassador.html|title=Senate Panel Clears Moseley-Braun Appointment as Ambassador|date=November 9, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}} When the Senate voted to confirm Moseley-Braun, Helms was joined by Peter Fitzgerald, who defeated Moseley-Braun in her re-election bid, in being the only two senators to vote against her.{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/11/11/senate-oks-new-title-for-former-colleague/|title=Senate Oks New Title For Former Colleague|date=November 11, 1999|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|first=Mike|last=Dorning}}

In 2000, Bono sought out Jesse Helms to discuss increasing American aid to Africa. In Africa, AIDS is a disease that is primarily transmitted heterosexually, and Helms sympathized with Bono's description of "the pain it is bringing to infants and children and their families".{{cite magazine |magazine=Time |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187308,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060529110536/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187308,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 29, 2006 |title= Bono |date=April 30, 2006 |first=Jesse|last=Helms}} Helms insisted that Bono involve the international community and private sector, so that relief efforts would not be paid for by "just Americans".{{cite news|work= The Charlotte Observer|first= Charles|last= Hurt|title= Helms Brings Hollywood to the Hill|url= http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm|date= March 14, 2002|access-date= August 29, 2008|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080906203351/http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm|archive-date= September 6, 2008}} Helms coauthored a bill authorizing $600 million for international AIDS relief efforts. In 2002, Helms announced that he was ashamed to have done so little during his Senate career to fight the worldwide spread of AIDS, and pledged to do more during his last few months in the Senate. Helms spoke with special appreciation of the efforts of Janet Museveni, first lady of Uganda, for her efforts to stop the spread of AIDS through a campaign based on "biblical values and sexual purity".{{cite news |first=John |last=Wagner |title=Helms admits 'shame' over inaction on AIDS |url=http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm |work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |date=February 21, 2002 |access-date=August 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906203351/http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2008 }} Helms also was a proponent in trying to dissolve the United States Agency for International Development.Brainard, et al, 2003, The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account, Washington DC: Brooklings Institution and Center for Global Development, p.187

In January 2001, Helms stated he would support an increase in international assistance on the condition that all future aid from the United States be provided to the needy by private charities and religious groups as opposed to a government agency, and endorsed abolishing the United States Agency for International Development and concurrently transferring its 7 billion in annual aid to another foundation which would give grants to private relief groups.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/politics/helms-wants-religious-groups-to-funnel-foreign-aid.html|title=Helms Wants Religious Groups to Funnel Foreign Aid|first=Eric|last=Schmitt|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 11, 2001 }}

In March 2002, Helms and Democrat Joe Biden, in their positions as the ranking members of their parties on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, submitted a letter to the Bush administration demanding the Senate receive any nuclear arms reductions with Russia as a formal treaty.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/world/senators-insist-on-role-in-nuclear-arms-deals.html?mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=7DB969DD2F0B8CA1FA53D7463FE1DDA9&gwt=pay|title=Senators Insist on Role in Nuclear Arms Deals|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 17, 2002}}

Because of recurring health problems, including bone disorders, prostate cancer and heart disease, Helms did not seek re-election in 2002. His Senate seat was won by Republican Elizabeth Dole.

File:Jesse Helms and Patrick McHenry.png in 2005]]

In 2004, he spoke out for the election of Republican U.S. Representative Richard Burr, who, like Elizabeth Dole two years earlier, defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles to win the other North Carolina Senate seat. In September 2005, Random House published his memoir Here's Where I Stand. In his memoirs, he likened abortion to the Holocaust and the September 11 terrorist attacks stating, "I will never be silent about the death of those who cannot speak for themselves." {{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

In 1994, after turning down requests for his papers to be left to an Ivy League university, he designated Wingate University as the repository of the official papers and historical items from his Senate career, where the Jesse Helms Center is based to promote his legacy.{{cite news|first=Peter|last=St. Onge|author2=Torralba, Mike|title=Small-town upbringing shaped a senator|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/1132244.html|work=The News & Observer|location=Raleigh, NC|date=July 6, 2008|access-date=July 6, 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}} In 2005, Liberty University opened the Jesse Helms School of Government with Helms present at the dedication.

Helms's health remained poor after he retired from the Senate in 2003. In April 2006, news reports disclosed that Helms had vascular dementia, which leads to failing memory and diminished cognitive function, as well as a number of physical difficulties. He was later moved into a convalescent center near his home.{{cite news|work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |title=Age takes toll on Helms |date=April 2, 2006 |first=Ron |last=Christensen |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/424539.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405000329/http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/424539.html |archive-date=April 5, 2006 }} Helms died of vascular dementia on July 4, 2008, at the age of 86.{{cite news|agency=The Associated Press|title=Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86: Republican known as 'Senator No' served 30 years before retiring in 2003|work=NBC News|date=July 4, 2008|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25530608|access-date=July 12, 2008}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080704.whlems0704/BNStory/International/home |title=Jesse Helms dead at 86 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=April 7, 2008 |access-date=August 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080710073616/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080704.whlems0704/BNStory/International/home |archive-date=July 10, 2008 }} He is buried in Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina.

{{Conservatism US|politicians}}

Jesse Helms was accused of racism throughout his career. Two years before Helms's 2003 retirement from the Senate, David Broder of The Washington Post wrote a column headlined "Jesse Helms, White Racist", analyzing Helms's public record on race, a record he felt many other reporters were side-stepping. He said that Helms was willing to inflame racial resentment against African-Americans for political gain and dubbed Helms "the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country".{{cite news|last=Broder|first=David S.|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10822-2001Aug28.html|title=Jesse Helms, White Racist|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 29, 2001|access-date=December 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010915182729/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10822-2001Aug28.html|archive-date=September 15, 2001|url-status=dead}}

Early in his career, as news director for WRAL radio, Helms supported Willis Smith in the 1950 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, against Frank Porter Graham, in a campaign that used racial issues in a divisive way, in order to draw conservative white voters to the polls.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-helms5-2008jul05-story.html |title=Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86 |last=Neuman |first=Johanna |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 5, 2008 |access-date=December 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219003353/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-helms5-2008jul05,0,1728319,full.story|archive-date=February 19, 2011|url-status=live}} Portraying Graham as favoring interracial marriages, the campaign circulated placards with the heading, "White people, wake up before it is too late"; and a handbill that showed Graham's wife dancing with a black man.Campbell, Karl E. (2017). "Tar Heel Politics in the Twentieth Century: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Plutocracy ", in Larry E. Tise and Jeffrey J. Crowe (Eds.), [https://books.google.com/books?id=k7M1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA254 New Voyages to Carolina: Reinterpreting North Carolina History]. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|9781469634586}}. pp. 241–268; here: p. 254. When Smith won, Helms went to Washington as his administrative assistant.

Helms opposed busing, the Civil Rights Act,{{cite web|url=https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2008/07/05/controversial-helms-stood-by-his-beliefs/27757170007/|title=Controversial Helms stood by his beliefs|publisher=Associated Press|via=Tuscalossa News|last=Woodward|first=Whitney|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=July 5, 2008|access-date=May 4, 2023|archive-date=August 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813033333/https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/2008/07/05/controversial-helms-stood-by-his-beliefs/27757170007/}} and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/16/us/voting-rights-bill-passes-a-key-test.html|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Voting Rights Bill Passes A Key Test|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=June 16, 1982|access-date=May 4, 2023|archive-date=May 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524110213/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/16/us/voting-rights-bill-passes-a-key-test.html}}{{cite book | last = Luebke | first =Paul | title=Tar Heel Politics 2000 | publisher=University of North Carolina Press| year=2007 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=3rUwKxNZJJkC | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8078-4756-5}}{{cite book | last = Heineman | first =Kenneth J. | title=God is a Conservative: Religion, Politics, and Morality in Contemporary America | publisher=NYU Press| year=1998 | url =https://archive.org/details/godisconservativ0000hein | url-access = registration | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8147-3554-1}}{{cite book | last = Longley | first =Kyle |author2=Jeremy D. Mayer |author3=Michael Schaller |author4=John W. Sloan | title=Deconstructing Reagan: Conservative Mythology and America's Fortieth President | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=2007 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=HdvlNzSjgTIC | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-7656-1591-6}} Helms called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress", and sponsored legislation to either extend it to the entire country or scrap it altogether. In 1982, he voted against the extension of the Voting Rights Act.

Helms reminded voters that he tried, with a 16-day filibuster, to stop the Senate from approving a federal holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., although he had fewer reservations about establishing a North Carolina state holiday for King. He was accused of being a segregationist by some political observers and scholars, such as USA Today{{'s}} DeWayne Wickham who wrote that Helms "subtly carried the torch of white supremacy" from Ben Tillman.{{cite news|last=Wickham |first=DeWayne |title=Helms Subtly Carried Torch of White Supremacy |work=USA Today |date=July 8, 2008 |url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html#more |access-date=July 12, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802025535/http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html |archive-date=August 2, 2008 }}{{cite book | last = Dyson | first =Michael Eric | title=Open Mike: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion | publisher=Basic Civitas Books| year=2003 | url =https://archive.org/details/openmikereflecti0000dyso | url-access = registration | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-465-01765-2}}{{cite book | last = Crowther | first =Hal | title=Gather at the River: Notes from the Post-millennial South | publisher=LSU Press | year=2005 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=E15SdQQFnJwC | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8071-3100-8}}{{cite book | last=Curry | first=George E. | author2=Cornel West | title=The Affirmative Action Debate | publisher=Basic Books | year=1996 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l2xSlM895ewC | access-date=July 13, 2008 | isbn=978-0-201-47963-8 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Helms never stated that segregation was morally wrong and expressed the belief that integration would have been achieved voluntarily but that it was forced by "outside agitators who had their own agendas".{{cite news| title = Helms apologetic on AIDS, not segregation| newspaper = Winston-Salem Chronicle| pages = A2| agency = Associated Press| date = June 16, 2005| url = http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn85042324/2005-06-16/ed-1/seq-2}}

In 1990, former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt ran against Helms in a "bid to become the nation's only black senator" and "the first black elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction".

Helms aired a late-running television commercial titled "Hands", also known as "White Hands", that showed a white man's hands crumpling an employment rejection notice while a voiceover said, "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is." During the same election, Helms's campaign mailed 125,000 postcards to households in predominantly African-American precincts falsely claiming if people voted without updating their addresses on the electoral register since their last move they could go to jail.Link (2007), pp. 379–80

Helms was one of 52 senators to vote to confirm Clarence Thomas, an African American, to the Supreme Court as an associate justice in 1991.

In 1993, after Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman in the Senate and the only black senator at the time, persuaded the Senate to vote against Helms's amendment to extend the patent of the United Daughters of the Confederacy insignia, which included the Confederate flag, Moseley Braun claimed Helms ran into her in an elevator, and that Helms turned to Senator Orrin Hatch and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing "Dixie" until she cries," and proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery.Chicago Sun-Times, August 5, 1993{{cite news|url=http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html |title=Helms subtly carried torch of white supremacy |work=USA Today |author=Wickham, DeWayne |date=July 8, 2008 |access-date=August 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802025535/http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/07/helms-subtly-ca.html |archive-date=August 2, 2008 }} In 1999, Helms unsuccessfully attempted to block Moseley Braun's nomination to be United States Ambassador to New Zealand.

Besides opposing civil rights and affirmative action legislation, Helms blocked many black judges from being considered for the federal bench, and black appointees to positions of prominence in the Federal Government. In one instance, he blocked attempts by President Bill Clinton over a period of years to appoint a black judge on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.{{cite web | last = Michaels | first =Cash | title=The racial legacy of Jesse Helms | work=The Louisiana Weekly | date=July 17, 2008 | url =http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=200 | archive-date=November 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128112037/http://louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=200}} Only when Helms's own judicial choices were threatened with blocking did attorney Roger Gregory of Richmond, Virginia get confirmed.

{{quote|Nothing positive happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and nothing positive is likely to happen to America if our people succumb to the drumbeats of support for the homosexual lifestyle.|author=Jesse Helms|title=The New York Times}}

Helms had a negative view of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and LGBT rights in the United States.{{cite web | last=Briscoe | first=Ben | title=LGBT rights step forward as 'Old Guard' leader passes away | work=Dallas Voice | date=July 14, 2008 | url=http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=77327 | access-date=July 15, 2008 | archive-date=January 20, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120033809/http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=77327 | url-status=dead }} Helms called homosexuals "weak, morally sick wretches" and tried to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Arts for supporting the "gay-oriented artwork of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe".Jesse Helms, "Tax-Paid Obscenity." Nova Law Review 14 (1989): 317. [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/novalr14&div=35&id=&page= online]{{cite web | title=Jesse Helms: The Far-right Senator Who Refused To Compromise | work=The Week | date=July 18, 2008 | url=http://theweekdaily.com/article/index/87141/3/3/Jesse_Helms | access-date=July 12, 2008 | archive-date=October 3, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003124045/http://theweekdaily.com/article/index/87141/3/3/Jesse_Helms | url-status=dead }} In 1993, when then-president Bill Clinton wanted to appoint 'out' lesbian Roberta Achtenberg to assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Helms held up the confirmation "because she's a damn lesbian", adding "she's not your garden-variety lesbian. She's a militant-activist-mean lesbian".{{cite news | last = Holmes | first =Elizabeth | title=Jesse Helms (1921–2008): Ex-Senator Served North Carolina for Three Decades | work=The Wall Street Journal | date=July 5, 2008 | url =https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121521859205329713 | access-date=July 15, 2008}} Helms also stated "I'm not going to put a lesbian in a position like that. If you want to call me a bigot, fine." When Clinton urged that gays be allowed to serve openly in the armed forces, Helms said the president "better have a bodyguard" if he visited North Carolina. His views on gay and lesbian citizens were depicted in the 1998 documentary film Dear Jesse.

Helms initially fought against increasing federal financing for HIV/AIDS research and treatment, saying the disease resulted from "unnatural" and "disgusting" homosexual behavior. In his final year in the Senate, he strongly supported AIDS measures in Africa, where heterosexual transmission of the disease is most common, and continued to hold the belief that the "homosexual lifestyle" is the cause of the spread of the epidemic in America.{{cite web|last=Najafi |first=Yusef |title=Helms regrets AIDS stance: Former senator 'wrong' on AIDS funding because families hurt |work=The Washington Blade |date=June 17, 2005 |url=http://www.washblade.com/2005/6-17/news/national/helms.cfm |access-date=July 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726083329/http://www.washblade.com/2005/6-17/news/national/helms.cfm |archive-date=July 26, 2008 |url-status=live }}

During his 1990 campaign against Harvey Gantt, Helms ran television commercials accusing Gantt of running a "secret campaign" in homosexual communities and of being committed to "mandatory gay rights laws" including "requiring local schools to hire gay teachers".

In 1993, when he voted against confirming Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, he cited her support for the "homosexual agenda" as one of his reasons for doing so.{{cite news|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-08-04/news/9301270900_1_judge-ginsburg-high-court-appointment-senate-judiciary-committee|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610091817/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-08-04/news/9301270900_1_judge-ginsburg-high-court-appointment-senate-judiciary-committee|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 10, 2015|title=Ginsburg To Join High Court|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 4, 1993|access-date=June 10, 2015}}

In his 2017 memoir, Logical Family, gay author Armistead Maupin recalls that Helms described homosexuality as an "abomination" when he was working for him as a young man. Maupin adds that he later gave an interview about his first novel on the same TV station, and said, "I worked here when Jesse Helms was here. Now he's in Washington, ranting about militant homosexuals, and I'm out running around being one."

Helms and his wife Dot had two daughters, Jane and Nancy, and 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.{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article10117976.html|title=Wake County Clerk of Superior Court: Knox wins narrow victory

|date=November 4, 2014|first=Josh|last=Shaffer}}

{{quote|Atheism and socialism – or liberalism, which tends in the same direction – are inseparable entities: when you have men who no longer believe that God is in charge of human affairs, you have men attempting to take the place of God by means of the superstate. The all-provident government, which these liberals constantly invoke, is the modern-day version of Baal.|Jesse Helms|When Free Men Shall Stand}}

Helms was well known for his strong Christian religious views.{{cite news |title=Jesse Helms |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2247518/Jesse-Helms.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2247518/Jesse-Helms.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=July 6, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2009 | location=London}}{{cbignore}} He played a leading role in the development of the Christian right,{{cite journal|last=Guillory |first=Ferrel |date=January 27, 1995 |title=The right hand of God: Jesse Helms's political theology |journal=Commonweal |volume=122 |issue=2 |pages=4–6 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_n2_v122/ai_16233117/ |access-date=July 7, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102202429/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_n2_v122/ai_16233117 |archive-date=January 2, 2009 }} and was a founding member of the Moral Majority in 1979. Although a Southern Baptist from his upbringing in a strictly literalist, but hawkishly secularist,{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Wicker |title=The Baptist Switch |work=The New York Times |date=June 22, 1982 |page=27 }} environment, when in Raleigh, Helms worshipped at the moderate Hayes-Barton Baptist Church, where he had served as a deacon and Sunday school teacher before his election to the Senate.

Helms was close to fellow North Carolinian Billy Graham (whom he considered a personal hero),{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Not So Vital Statistics on Mr. Helms |work=The New York Times |date=January 6, 1982 |page=16 }} as well as Charles Stanley, Pat Robertson,{{cite book |title=The Religious Right: a Reference Handbook |last=Utter |first=Glenn H. |author2=Storey, John Woodrow |year=2001 |publisher=ABC-Clio |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1-57607-212-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religiousrightre00utte_0/page/16 16] |url=https://archive.org/details/religiousrightre00utte_0/page/16 }} and Jerry Falwell, whose Liberty University dedicated its Jesse Helms School of Government to Helms. Helms helped found Camp Willow Run, an interdenominational Christian summer camp, sitting on its board of directors until his death, and was a Grand Orator of the Masonic Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

Equating leftism and atheism, Helms argued that the downfall of the U.S. was due to loss of Christian faith, and often stated, "I think God is giving this country one more chance to save itself".{{cite news |first=Bill |last=Welch |title=Former Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-07-04-helms-obit_N.htm |work=USA Today |date=July 4, 2008 |access-date=July 7, 2009}} He believed that the morality of capitalism was assured in the Bible, through the Parable of the Talents. He believed, writing in When Free Men Shall Stand, that "such utopian slogans as Peace with Honor, Minimum Wage, Racial Equality, Women's Liberation, National Health Insurance, Civil Liberty" are ploys by which to divide humanity "as sons of God".

File:Jesse Helms Center, Wingate, NC IMG 4252.JPG is located next to the Wingate Town Hall.]]

Helms held honorary degrees from several religious universities including Bob Jones University, Campbell University, Grove City College, and Wingate University which he attended but did not receive a degree.

• Taiwan: Order of Propitious Clouds with Grand Cordon (2002){{cite web|url=https://www.roc-taiwan.org/us_en/post/342.html|title=Republic of China honors Senator Jesse Helms|date=November 12, 2002|access-date=April 3, 2020|website=Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States|quote=On behalf of Republic of China (ROC) President Chen Shui-bian, Representative C. J. (Chien-Jen) Chen, the ROC's chief representative in the United States, presented Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) with the Order of Propitious Clouds with Grand Cordon October 24 at the senator's office in recognition of his contributions to promoting friendly relations between Taiwan and the United States.}}

• "Saving the UN: a challenge to the next Secretary-General." Foreign Affairs 75 (1996): 2+ [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora75&div=73&id=&page= online]
• "What Sanctions Epidemic? US Business' Curious Crusade." Foreign Affairs (1999): 2–8. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/20020234 in JSTOR]
• "Tax-Paid Obscenity." Nova Law Review 14 (1989): 317. [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/novalr14&div=35&id=&page= online]
• When Free Men Shall Stand (1976); Zondervan Pub. House.
• Empire for Liberty: A Sovereign America and Her Moral Mission (2001); by National Book Network.
• Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir (2005); New York: Random House.

• {{cite book |title=Cuba, the United States, and the Helms-Burton Doctrine |last=Roy |first=Joaquín |year=2000 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville |isbn=978-0-8130-1760-0 }}
• {{cite book |first=Craig |last=Shirley |author-link=Craig Shirley |publisher=Thomas Nelson |date=January 20, 2005 |isbn=978-0-7852-6049-3 |title=Reagan's Revolution: The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/reagansrevolutio0000shir }}
• {{cite book |last=Link |first=William A. | publisher=St. Martin's Press| isbn= 978-0-312-35600-2 |title=Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism |url=https://archive.org/details/righteouswarrior00link_0 |url-access=registration |year=2008}}
• {{cite book |title=Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq |last=Kinzer |first=Stephen |year=2006 |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8050-7861-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/overthrowamerica00kinz }}
• Thrift, Bryan Hardin. Conservative Bias: How Jesse Helms Pioneered the Rise of Right-Wing Media and Realigned the Republican Party (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/Conservative-Bias-Pioneered-Right-Wing-Republican/dp/0813049318/ excerpt]

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last =Clarke |first =Patsy |author2=Eloise Vaughn |author3=Nicole Brodeur |author4=Allan Gurganus | publisher=Alyson Books | isbn= 1-55583-572-4 |title=Keep Singing: Two Mothers, Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Jesse Helms |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nD8EAAAACAAJ |year=2001}}
• {{cite book |last =Furgurson |first =Ernest B.| publisher=Norton | isbn= 0-393-02325-7 |title=Hard Right: The Rise of Jesse Helms |url=https://archive.org/details/hardrightriseof00furg |url-access =registration |year=1986}}
• {{cite book |last =Levy |first =Alan Howard| publisher=University Press of America| isbn= 0-7618-0674-1 |title=Government and the Arts: Debates Over Federal Support of the Arts in America from George Washington to Jesse Helms |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AP4MAAAACAAJ |year=1987}}

{{Commons category}}

{{wikiquote|Jesse Helms}}

{{CongBio|H000463}}

• [http://www.jessehelmscenter.org/ Jesse Helms Center] which hosts [https://web.archive.org/web/20081223153904/http://www.jessehelmscenter.org/jessehelms/editorials.asp Articles About Senator Helms]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161122222230/http://www.liberty.edu/academics/government/index.cfm?PID=169 Liberty University's Helms School of Government]
• [https://vimeo.com/263979392 Senator No: Jesse Helms]—UNC-TV biographical documentary by independent filmmaker John Wilson
• [http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/A-0124/menu.html Oral History Interview with Jesse Helms] from [http://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/ Oral Histories of the American South]
• [http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS121848 Memorial Addresses and Other Tributes Held in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States Together with a Memorial Service in Honor of Jesse Helms, Late a Senator from North Carolina: One Hundred Tenth Congress, Second Session]
• {{C-SPAN|1767}}
• [https://vault.fbi.gov/jesse-helms FBI Records: The Vault – Jesse Helms]

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