Anecdotes

Alan Jacobs offers one about the late Senator Jesse Helms:

[A] story I heard years ago from a young man who as an undergraduate did an internship in Helms’s office. Senator Helms was a particular target of Bono’s persuasive powers, and indeed near the end of his career he threw his considerable weight behind increased funding for AIDS projects in Africa. This young man claimed that he was in the office one day when Bono came by with the Edge in tow.

“Senator Helms,” Bono said, “I’d like you to meet the Edge.”

Helms stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleashuh to meet you, Mistuh the Edge.”

Other wacky anecdotes include Helms' staunch support for apartheid South Africa, whistling "Dixie" in front of Carol Moseley Braun when she joined him in the United States Senate and how he enjoyed "railing against [Martin Luther] King, 'Negro hoodlums,' the media, 'sex perverts,' and anyone on welfare."

One strange aspect of the settlement of the Civil Rights controversy was that this social and political upheaval resulted in surprisingly little actual political turnover. Instead of segregationist politicians being defeated and hounded of out public life, in essence they agreed to stop challenging the core principles of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts (gutting enforcement under GOP presidents was still okay) and in exchange everyone else agreed to sort of ignore their backgrounds. I've written about this before with regard to John Stennis and James Eastland but it's remarkable how little removed we are from the era when vast power was wielded in American politics by people with backgrounds as white supremacist politicians of which I guess you'd say Robert Byrd is the last.

And, of course, within that group there were considerable distinctions, with Helms holding distinction as amongst the very least-repentant.

Comments

I'm assuming he voted with John McCain against the institution of MLK day, right?

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 5:29 PM

Other wacky anecdotes include Helms' staunch support for apartheid South Africa

Considering the experiences of Zimbabwe, why is this such a terrible thing?

Posted by Glaivester | July 4, 2008 5:47 PM

Considering the experiences of Zimbabwe, why is this such a terrible thing?

Matt, you certainly know how to bring out the racist trolls.

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 6:04 PM

Considering the experiences of Zimbabwe, why is this such a terrible thing?

Good Independence-Day-themed trolling there.

Posted by steve | July 4, 2008 6:06 PM

Seeing as how slavery played such an important role in the development of the US of A, are we going to see an Independence Day defense of it?

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 6:09 PM

So, in other words, may he burn in hell.

Posted by Cal | July 4, 2008 6:12 PM

I've written about this before with regard to John Stennis and James Eastland but it's remarkable how little removed we are from the era when vast power was wielded in American politics by people with backgrounds as white supremacist politicians of which I guess you'd say Robert Byrd is the last.

But Helms didn't make amends by supporting Obama for President like Byrd has. If you remember, Byrd actually threw his support behind Obama a few days before the WV primary.

Posted by Joe Klein's conscience | July 4, 2008 6:17 PM

I'm just sorry I don't live close enough to North Carolina to kick the first stone into his grave. Rest In Pieces.

Posted by john | July 4, 2008 6:27 PM

Hounding people from office doesn't tend to do much for national unity.

Posted by Tim K | July 4, 2008 6:43 PM

In American politics, it is not uncommon for a journalist or pundit to become a successful politician. It just hasn't happened much in the last 25 years. But, it is a career path. Shared with such luminaries as Benito Mussolini and Warren G. Harding.

Posted by Bruce Wilder | July 4, 2008 6:43 PM

Hounding people from office doesn't tend to do much for national unity.

Shorter Tim K: Stop being so intolerant of racists. Leave Jesse Helms aloooooooone!

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 6:49 PM

Jesse Helms was a vile, nasty, bigoted piece of work. He leaves a legacy which is disgusting and disgraceful...our modern Republican Party, home of bigotry, intolerance, intimidation.

Posted by della Rovere | July 4, 2008 7:03 PM

I thought Byrd's past was more of a youth thing than a career as a racist leader.

More importantly, if Helms was least-repellent in domestic areas, he was the greatest force for evil in Latin American policy. He didn't support murderous oligarchies just for Cold War strategic reasons -- he liked and identified with those people. They were living his vision of what the South should have looked like. He felt good about supporting death-squad-employing elites. Veterans of his office in the State Department are one of the reasons for Bush's toxic legacy. And he got away with all this partly because his base in NC paid no real attention to foreign policy.

Posted by rm | July 4, 2008 7:32 PM

I hope there is an afterlife because the image of him and Strom strapped into Ludovico chairs to watch the I have a dream speech over and over is just too awesome for words.

Posted by Kyle | July 4, 2008 7:36 PM

I hope there is an afterlife because the image of him and Strom strapped into Ludovico chairs to watch the I have a dream speech over and over is just too awesome for words.

I'm more enamored with him reliving the life of a pre-Civil Rights Era poor black sharecropper somewhere in the deep, deep south.

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 7:46 PM

Jesse Helms was a vile, nasty, bigoted piece of work. He leaves a legacy which is disgusting and disgraceful...our modern Republican Party, home of bigotry, intolerance, intimidation.
Posted by della Rovere

Yeah, right....as if Democrats Jesse Jackson, Shiela Jackson, Marion Barry, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney.....and dozens of others, as well as their white lickspittles and apologists are any different.

True home of bigotry, intolerance, intimidation?

Just about any well-functioning, clean, low-crime nation , city in N America, Latin America, Europe, or Africa handed over to black majority rule.
While no one said blacks shouldn't control their own turf, few anymore have any doubts the end result is a shithole.

Posted by chris ford | July 4, 2008 7:46 PM

Considering the experiences of Zimbabwe, why is this such a terrible thing?

How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?
(Johnson: Taxation No Tyranny)

Posted by emmanuelgoldstein | July 4, 2008 8:11 PM

If you tell your enemies you're going to annihilate them to the last man, they fight to the last man.

Posted by turkey | July 4, 2008 8:20 PM

Chris ford likes his niggers non-uppity.

Posted by gregor | July 4, 2008 8:26 PM

I think that's probably the most vile thing Chris Ford has said on this blog -- and that's saying something.

Posted by Rob | July 4, 2008 8:30 PM

Did you notice that the Reuters' obit left out any mention of race or civil rights whatsoever? (unless you count an oblique mention to his opposition to affirmative action). It was kind of informative to see what Reuters considered acceptable... it was ok to mention his opposition to gay issues for example

Posted by Cornfields | July 4, 2008 8:38 PM

"the end result is a shithole."

As the personification of a shithole, Chris Ford is certainly well-qualified to speculate on this topic.

Smarter trolls, please.

Posted by Joel | July 4, 2008 8:38 PM

I think that's probably the most vile thing Chris Ford has said on this blog

It's also quite appropriate for a tribute to a vile and hateful horrible excuse for a human being.

Posted by ben | July 4, 2008 8:39 PM

Did you notice that the Reuters' obit left out any mention of race or civil rights whatsoever? (unless you count an oblique mention to his opposition to affirmative action). It was kind of informative to see what Reuters considered acceptable... it was ok to mention his opposition to gay issues for example

Posted by Cornfields | July 4, 2008 8:45 PM

I'm open to the non-shithole theory.

You might even find an African nation that is improving. Or bring up a particular Caribbean island. Or mention a black-majority suburb in Maryland made up of GS-12 and above black civil service, or a black community in Belgium that is not a crime-riddled, failing schools, declining craphole.

But you have to look hard.

Posted by chris ford | July 4, 2008 9:13 PM

Speaking of shitholes, Chris, we were talking about Jesse Helms. Nice threadjack attempt, though...

Posted by Ethel-To-Tilly | July 4, 2008 9:26 PM

All slums filled with poor people have problems - It's unfair, in bad taste, and inaccurate to single out one racial group for this kind of crack.

So far it seems Helms fathered no illegit children like Thurmond did . Maybe that will be his epitaph.

Posted by Comment | July 4, 2008 9:30 PM

Mistuh the Edge? Sounds more like Bill and Ted.

Posted by ed | July 4, 2008 9:48 PM

In American politics, it is not uncommon for a journalist or pundit to become a successful politician. It just hasn't happened much in the last 25 years. But, it is a career path. Shared with such luminaries as Benito Mussolini and Warren G. Harding.

Posted by Bruce Wilder | July 4, 2008 9:49 PM

So Helms's defenders here are 1) a racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, homophobic, sexist all-around bigot and 2) someone who can't tell two different countries apart just because they have black people. Here's a hint: South Africa has had high levels of economic growth. Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize and stepped down after only a few years because he didn't want to be a dictator and wanted to set a good example for other African leaders. Mugabe, in the latter half of his reign, has wrecked the economy and become a total dictator. How much different could two men be? To Helms-style conservatives, the fact that is Mugabe is black is enough to call Mandela a terrorist.

Posted by Reality Man | July 5, 2008 3:06 AM

South Africa is a virtual utopia now that apartheid has been abolished.

Except for that "rape capital of the world" part.

Posted by perspective | July 5, 2008 10:03 AM

"Instead of segregationist politicians being defeated and hounded of out public life, in essence they agreed to stop challenging the core principles of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts (gutting enforcement under GOP presidents was still okay) and in exchange everyone else agreed to sort of ignore their backgrounds. "

Whenever opponents of Obama say his white backers supporting him "just" to assuage their guilt or make themselves feel better, I think, yeah, those who passed the Voting Rights Acts did it just to make themselves feel better. Right...

Posted by Peter K. | July 5, 2008 10:09 AM

Can people here understand that it is possible to respect and appreciate Dr. King, but still believe that a holiday in his memory is overkill? (I don't mean Helms fits that description.) I know plenty of people who admire King but who consider a federal holiday in his honor to be slightly ridiculous. There are much better and more substantial ways of honoring the man.

Posted by not a fan | July 5, 2008 10:11 AM

Perspective,

It's odd that the African country with the highest % of white people has the highest rates of rape, murder, and general crime, is it not?

Posted by Hector | July 5, 2008 10:37 AM

How do you suggest we honor Dr. King, not a fan?

Perhaps we could burn crackers like Helms in effigy on the National Mall.

Posted by a troll, not a fan | July 5, 2008 10:43 AM