Gary Pearce posted on July 08, 2008 09:54
Jesse Helms was the last of the old-time racist Southern politicians.
He built his reputation on race-baiting. He won his elections with race-baiting. And he used his Senate office as a platform for race-baiting.
So you won’t find me falling all over myself to find some redeeming quality in the man.
This may surprise some people who don’t remember – or understand – the bitterness of the 1984 Senate race between Helms and Jim Hunt.
But that bitterness was born in the bitter years of conflict over race throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Men like Helms did all they could to stir up – and profit from – bigotry and prejudice. It worked out well for him.
Men like Terry Sanford, Bert Bennett and Jim Hunt – and many too numerous to name, but you know who you are – stood up for what was right. And paid a political price.
Say what you want about the impact Helms had on politics and the conservative movement.
Tom Ellis and Carter Wrenn – and the talented operatives they assembled – were the ones who changed politics. I’m not sure Helms understood what was going on.
Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan and William Buckley spread the conservative gospel – for the most part without resorting to race-baiting.
And don’t tell me what a kind man Helms was. Barry Saunders of the N&O had it right: If he was so nice, then what he said and did in public was calculated to help himself at the expense of other people.
Helms can’t escape this judgment of history.
It’s just too bad that on the day his remains were being viewed, plane trouble prevented the black man who might become President from campaigning in North Carolina.
That would have been historical justice.
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