Opinion of Jesse Helms

[coolface1572]

Sen. from NC 1973-2003

[😥]

Massive HP

[Santander]

When Margaret Thatcher first visited the US as Leader of the Opposition, she was denied use of the British Embassy to meet with American conservatives. Jesse Helms offered her his own office, and that is where she met Ronald Reagan for the first time. He was a major force in moving the GOP to become more socially conservative in the 70s and 80s. He was a courageous legislator and he is misunderstood.

[America Needs R'hllor]

Not very different from the white supremacist Dixiecrats, and also maniacally homophobic.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

HP, this is the 1 seat that has flipped from R to D due to the changing demographics of NC; as a result, this is why Trent Lott is no longer in the Senate Leadership, due to Phil Gramm, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Hekms all being gone, and retired

[TML]

I was surprised that he held on to his seat for that long.

[Storr]

Massive HP, but he was very representative of his generation. Generally rural and lesser educated whites born and raised in the segregationist South that absolutely hated the 60s and the changes that the decade brought to the region. He was a master of winning close elections by relying on turning out the conservative white vote (epitomized by the infamous "Hands" TV ad in 1990), never winning by more than 54.5% and winning by less than 53% in his final three elections. I've read his autobiography and he seemed to truly believe what he preached, despite how terrible many of his views were. Of course he denied being a racist but, well yeah... He did admit his opposition to AIDS funding was a mistake, which is noteworthy and worked to promote AIDS funding during his final years in the Senate. But one good thing isn't enough to make up for a lifetime of race baiting, homophobia, and general culture wars BS (he led a personal crusade against modern art, of all things).

[TDAS04]

Garbage. 

[The Dowager Mod]

If there is a hell he is there.