Posted by
Billy email MADBillyD@aol.com on Friday, July 04, 2008 3:19:20 PM
Jesse Helms, the firebrand U.S. senator whose outspoken, conservative views polarized North Carolina and U.S. voters for decades, died at 1:15 a.m. Friday in Raleigh, according to John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center.
He joins the second, third and fifth presidents of the United States – John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe – who also died on Independence Day. He was 86.
Helms served five terms in the U.S. Senate, retiring in 2003 because of his faltering health. During his 30 years in Capitol Hill, the North Carolina Republican became a powerful voice for a conservative movement that was growing both in Congress and across the country, and he used his position to speak out against issues like gay rights, federal funding for the arts and U.S. foreign aid.
"I had sought election in 1972 to try to derail the freight train of liberalism that was gaining speed toward its destination of government-run everything, paid for with big tax bills and record debt," Helms wrote in his 2005 memoir, "Here's Where I Stand."
"My goal, when my wife, Dot, and I decided I would run, was to stick to my principles and stand up for conservative ideals."
(Helms did many good things for the right. He did what he thought was right and didn't worry about what the polls say. He was on the right before that was cool. I also have heard he did kind things which of course the media didn't report. Read more about Sen. Helm's life conservative firebrand Jesse Helms dies on Independence Day. )
