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Courtesy U.S. Senate Historical Office
HELMS, Jesse (1921-2008)
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Senate Years of Service: 1973-2003

HELMS, JESSE, a Senator from North Carolina; born in Monroe, Union County, N.C., October 18, 1921; educated in the public schools of Monroe, Wingate Junior College, and Wake Forest College; served in the United States Navy 1942-1945; city editor, Raleigh Times; administrative assistant to United States Senators Willis Smith 1951-1953 and Alton Lennon 1953; executive director, North Carolina Bankers Association 1953-1960; member, Raleigh City Council 1957-1961; television and radio executive 1960-1972; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1972 and reelected in 1978, 1984, 1990 and again in 1996 and served from January 3, 1973, to January 3, 2003; not a candidate for reelection in 2002; chair, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry (Ninety-seventh to Ninety-ninth Congresses), Committee on Foreign Relations (One Hundred Fourth to One Hundred Sixth Congresses; One Hundred Seventh Congress [January 3, 2001; January 20, 2001-June 6, 2001]); was a resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, until his death on July 4, 2008; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Wingate College
Jesse Helms Center
Wingate, NC
Senatorial papers.

  • Beschloss, Michael R. Legends of the Hill. New York: George Publishing Co., 1997.
  • Day, Frederick A., and Gregory A. Weeks. "The 1984 Helms-Hunt Senate Race: A Spatial Postmortem of Emerging Republican Strength in the South." Social Science Quarterly 69 (December 1988): 942-60.
  • Helms, Jesse. Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir. New York: Random House, 2005.
  • ___. "Latin American Policy Today.'' In The Defense of America: From Assured Destruction to Assured Survival, edited by Albion Knight and David S. Sullivan, pp. 25-33. Houston: Texas Policy Institute, 1983.
  • ___. When Free Men Shall Stand. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976.
  • Link, William A. Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008.
  • Snider, William D. Helms and Hunt: The North Carolina Senate Race, 1984. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.
  • Swint, Kerwin C. "The Art of War," in Mudslingers: The Top 25 Negative Political Campaigns of All Time. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2006: 39-46.