Helms died at age 86 of natural causes on the [[Fourth of July]], 2008, in [[Raleigh]].<ref>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080704/ap_on_re_us/obit_helms</ref>
== Early Life life ==
Helms' parents were Jesse Helms Sr., the local chief of police, and his wife Ethel Mae Helms.<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/jesse-helms</ref>
Helms early work in politics lead him to become the Executive director of the North Carolina Bankers Association and later the Raleigh City Council where he opposed excessive taxation and supported limiting the growth of government.<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/jesse-helms</ref> By the mid-1960's, Helms became the executive Vice President for Capitol Broadcasting in Raleigh. He directed the news operation and delivered over-the-air commentaries. Helms developed a following due to his firebrand but perceptive political commentary<ref>http://www.jessehelmscenter.org/jessehelms/biography.asp</ref> which often attacked the decline of morality, liberal trends in society of the time, the Federal government's dubious social engineering in the southern states and Judicial activism.<ref>http://www.answers.com/topic/jesse-helms</ref>
== Senate Career career ==
=== Democrat to Republican ===
=== Standing on principle ===
Helms challenged the Republican party to promote the socially and economically conservative values of the American People. Helms's conservative values won him a 100% rating from the American Conservative Union for the entire last decade he was in office and never more than 10% according to similar liberal groups. Terry O'Neill -- of Neill—of the far left [[feminist]] group, the [[National Organization for Women]] -- on —on hearing of Helms ill health and planned retirement reacted gleefully with the statement "It's a very good thing for the country that he's leaving the Senate."
Helms stated his disbelief in the old adage that "morality cannot be legislated". Helms took an active role in campaigning and in helping the Republican party to engage these values. First in his early work for Smith, then locally and eventually in early 1980 played a key role in helping the father of modern conservative, Ronald Reagan, win the Republican primary and take the White House back from the liberal president Jimmy Carter. Helms's political action committee spent over $4.6 million dollars to help Reagan capture the white house.<ref>http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b8990d63719.htm</ref> Until recently, when Helms became incapacitated, in his home state of North Carolina few Conservative Republican candidates would run for state or national office without an endorsement from Helms.
==Social Clubs==
Jesse Helms was a Freemason. <ref>[http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/jesse-helms]</ref> <ref>S. Brent Morris & Arturo de Hoyos Is it True What They Say About Freemasonry? M. Evans The Rowman and Littlefield Publishing Group Lanham, Maryland 2010 page 107</ref> <ref>The Everything Freemasons Book: Unlock the Secrets of this Ancient and Mysterious Society J. Young & B. Karg 2006 F+W Media page 132</ref> <ref>http://www.mastermason.com/toowoombalodge132/Famous%20Masons.html</ref> He was also a member of the Rotary Club.<ref>[http://www.nndb.com/people/595/000022529/]</ref>
==Work for Americans held captive==
1. How many KAL-007 family members and crew are being held in Soviet camps?
2. Please provide a detailed list of the camps containing live passengers and crew, together with a map showing their location[http://www.rescue007.org/helms_letter.htm].
Helms and his conservative values can be summed up in his own words: "Compromise, hell!" Helms said. "That's what has happened to us all down the line -- and that's the very cause of our woes."<ref>http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b8990d63719.htm</ref>
==Bibliography==
* CQ. "Helms, Jesse Alexander" in CQ, ''Politics in America 2002. The 107th Congress.'' (2001)
* Furgurson, Ernest B. ''Hard Right: The Rise of Jesse Helms.'' 1986. 302 pp.
* Helms, Jesse. "Saving the U.N.: A Challenge to the Next Secretary-General," ''Foreign Affairs,'' September/October 1996 [http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19960901facomment3388/jesse-helms/saving-the-u-n-a-challenge-to-the-next-secretary-general.html online edition]
==See Alsoalso==
*[[Jesse Helms: A Tribute]]
*[[Larry McDonald]]
{{reflist|2}}
==External Linkslinks==
*[http://www.rescue007.org/ International Committee for the Rescue of KAL 007 - for Senator Helms work on Committee for Foreign Relations in KAL 007 matters]
*[http://www.rescue007.org/helms_letter.htm Letter of Senator Helms To Boris Yeltsin requesting location and fate of Cong. [[Larry McDonald]] and rest of KAL 007 passengers]