Jesse Helms casts a longer shadow in today's senate than he did during the thirty years when he served. Who among Senate Republicans goes after the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, or the United Nations with the fervor that Senator Helms did? In the era of President Yes, America would have benefitted from Senator No. "Goodbye Jesse, say hello to Lucifer for me," quipped a blogger at MyDD. Over at the Daily Kos, an obit's headline simply read: "Jesse Helms, You Rat Bastard, Burn in Hell." It's narcissism to believe that merely sharing your political views ensures a place in heaven, and rejecting them relegates one to hell. That such assessments come from those who normally ridicule notions of heaven and hell make them of even greater interest to armchair psychologists. What makes me suspect that Jesse Helms will enjoy a beautiful reward in the afterlife has nothing to do with politics. Prior to a career in politics, Jesse Helms ironically worked as a journalist. Coming across a newspaper story of a young disabled orphan who wanted a mom and dad for Christmas, Helms and his wife were overcome with emotion. From the version that I remember, and I am certain I am getting something wrong, they took the boy out and gave him the time of his life at a baseball game. In the process, Helms bought the boy a cap. At the end of the day, Helms put the nine-year-old cerebral palsy victim to bed in the Helms house. If you don't decide to keep me, can I still keep the hat, the boy plaintively asked. It's not a question of us wanting to keep you, but rather will you keep us, Helms responded. The boy received his Christmas wish of a mom and a dad. I didn't know Jesse Helms, but it's hard to imagine the man in that story in the same fiery company as Lucifer.
G-d bless and keep Jesse Helms. He was a true patriot and it's fitting that he died on July 4th, along with Adamms and Jefferson!
I was an intern for Senator Helms in the spring of 2000. While there, a story that I doubt has ever been recorded, I witnessed a day where his entire staff was frantically trying to find the Senator. I interned on Tuesdays and Fridays, and this was a Tuesday and the Senator had missed an important meeting, and missed two committee hearings, one of which he was supposed to chair. No one had any idea where he was at.
When I came in on Friday, I asked if they had ever found the Senator last Tuesday. Somewhat nonchalantly the Legislative Correspondent I worked with the most explained that Sen. Helms, who was in a wheelchair from double knee replacement surgery, was coming back from the Hill and ran across a student tour. And seeing this tour, he noticed a young girl in a wheelchair at the end of the tour. She was looking down in spirit, so Helms asked her what was wrong. She told him, not knowing who he was, that she had been looking forward to this day but was having trouble keeping up with the tour. So, for the next 4-5 hours she got a personal one-on-one tour of the Capitol from Sen. Helms, both of them carting around in their wheelchairs. The LC told me that Helms even took her into rooms "he wasn't supposed to" and showed her the entire place.
One story, one anecdote, maybe not that big of a deal. But, for all the vile spewed at this man, every one of his staffers who I met shared this vision of him, and adored him. It is a shame that our society, culture and history have been hijacked by people like Andrew Sullivan so that we can't properly honor a man, a real man, like Helms was.
To think that North Carolina got Liddy Dole in exchange for a champion like Helms makes one sad for the state of conservatism.
I also did not know of helms but knew of his reputation amongst those who worked in Congress when I lived in DC. One thing I recall is that he was very grandfatherly and made it a habit to buy ice cream for the high school and college interns working there (not necessarily just for his own interns). It is a silly anecdote but recall more than once hearing of an aide mentioning he bought them ice cream (in a non-creepy way). Basically, he seemed to be a gentleman and gracious. Sad our political elites are not.
I can't believe some of the things that are being said about Jesse. I knew his grandchildren when I lived in Winston-Salem, NC. One of the girls sang in the youth choir I worked with at church and attended the school where I worked as a substitute teacher. I feel very sad for his grandchildren who are mourning his loss and have to listen to the venom spewing forth from the irreligious left.
