Helms lauded as conscience of Senate conservatives

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RALEIGH, N.C. -- Jesse Helms says it is presumptuous to acknowledge that he was what admirers say he was: the conscience of conservatives in the Senate for 30 years.

"I would never have presumed to take on the role of 'conscience,'" the North Carolina Republican says.

But he did just that, bucking Democratic and Republican administrations, blocking treaties and arms agreements, presidential appointments and domestic legislation whenever he thought they jeopardized limited government, national defense or civilized standards of behavior.

From virtually his first day in the Senate in January 1973, his insistence on principle was at times so politically incorrect as to exasperate whoever happened to occupy the Oval Office and to embarrass colleagues on the right whose spines might be less stiff than his.

He tells the story of when the newly inaugurated President Clinton clasped his hand, looked him in the eyes and said: "Senator, I'm so happy to meet you, because we have so much in common."

Mr. Helms recalls his reply: "Mr. President, you must be mistaking me for another senator. My name is Helms. H-E-L-M-S."

Retired from the Senate since 2003, Mr. Helms enters his office here for an interview with the aid of a walker, but still firmly defends his conservative principles.

"I am a conservative first," says Mr. Helms, 83. "I was a conservative Democrat before I became a conservative Republican. And, following the 1976 elections, I was chairman of a committee to consider the formation of a national conservative party. We didn't go forward because Ronald Reagan wanted to stay in the Republican Party and fight for its nomination."

In the 1976 Republican presidential-nomination fight, Mr. Helms and his state political organization, the Congressional Club, now known as the National Congressional Club, helped Mr. Reagan score a key primary win in North Carolina. Though Mr. Reagan eventually lost the nomination to President Ford, his North Carolina victory proved to be a turning point.

"The folks in North Carolina helped get Ronald Reagan to the White House by giving him their votes in the 1976 presidential primary," Mr. Helms says. "Winning that election kept Reagan in the race and positioned him for a successful campaign in 1980."