[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S6431]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING SENATOR JESSE HELMS

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I was saddened by the news of the death 
of our former colleague, Jesse Helms of North Carolina. It was a 
privilege to work with him when he served as chairman of the 
Agriculture Committee. He was always courteous and respectful of the 
interests of all of the members of the committee. His conscientious 
efforts to be fair and resourceful in achieving a consensus on the 
provisions of legislation providing Federal Government support for the 
producers of food and fiber were deeply appreciated by me as a Senator 
from the State of Mississippi, which is so heavily dependent on farming 
and agribusiness.
  I also admired his warmhearted and friendly manner. He was the 
epitome of the Southern gentleman. He was forceful and combative in his 
arguments in support of the issues he believed in, and he was never 
afraid to say what he thought, even though he knew he might not be 
supporting the prevailing view.
  His wife Dot was one of the most precious Senate Wives Club members. 
My heartfelt sympathies go out to her and all the members of the family 
of our departed colleague.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a great 
patriot--and a good friend--who passed away on our Nation's 
Independence Day.
  It seems somehow so fitting that Senator Jesse Helms should have left 
us on July 4, the anniversary of America's foundational document. 
Senator Helms was, above all else, a patriot who loved his country and 
the ideals we embody as a nation. And he spent his entire adult life 
defending those ideals, beginning with his service in the U.S. Navy in 
World War II.
  Jesse always fought for what he believed in, even at great personal--
or political--cost. Two things friends and foes alike acknowledged, and 
admired, about Senator Helms were that you always knew where he stood 
and that his word was as good as gold. He was a man of enormous 
integrity, as all who dealt with him on a personal and professional 
level can testify.
  While he was a formidable politician, there were some things that, 
for Jesse, were more important than political success or winning 
elections.
  He spent much of his three decades in the Senate standing up for the 
principles he believed so deeply in, even if that meant taking on 
powerful opposition, sometimes in his own party. But as Jesse famously 
said, ``I didn't come to Washington to be a 'yes man' for any 
president, Democrat or Republican . . . I didn't come to Washington to 
get along and win any popularity contests.''
  What he did win in Washington was the enduring affection of people on 
both sides of the political aisle who found that this tough-as-nails 
politician was also a gracious, generous, compassionate human being. As 
Linda Chavez so aptly said in tribute to Senator Helms, ``he took his 
politics seriously, but he didn't use political differences as an 
excuse for bad manners.'' He embodied southern charm, good manners, and 
courtliness. He seemed to recognize that there is never a contradiction 
between standing up strongly for your political and philosophical 
principles and always treating people, including those who disagree 
with you, in a way that always respects their human dignity.
  Nor was this just a public display of good manners--Jesse Helms' 
Christian charity extended to his private life as well. Having been 
active in the pro-life movement for a long time I can't tell you how 
many times I have heard the accusation that pro-lifers only care about 
life from conception to birth--after that, they have no interest in 
caring for their fellow human beings.
  Well, suffice it to say that Senator Helms disproved this caricature. 
Jesse and his wife Dot were always what I like to call ``pro-life and 
whole-life.'' In 1963, after 21 years of marriage, they adopted a 
disabled child, their son Charles, after they read a newspaper article 
in which the child, who was 9 at the time, wished for a mother and a 
father for Christmas. Senator Helms never used adopting a child with 
cerebral palsy to soften his image as a hard, uncaring right-wing 
ideologues--in fact, he refused to talk about it in interviews. But 
Charles was, he said, a great blessing and was the center of his 
family. He served for years on the boards of private charities to help 
others with cerebral palsy.
  For those young people who had the opportunity to work with him, he 
was a wonderful mentor. More than anything else, he loved to talk to 
young people, give them guidance and encouragement, and show them the 
ropes of public service. Those who knew the dynamics of his office 
testified that he was always more accessible to young people than he 
was to high-powered lobbyists. One of his great legacies is the Jesse 
Helms Center near his hometown of Monroe, NC, an organization centered 
on young people and dedicated to assuring that future generations fully 
understand and appreciate the blessing and opportunities of this great 
country.
  What is perhaps most obvious about Senator Helms was that he was, 
simply put, a political giant. He was among the first to take up the 
pro-life cause in Congress, and his dedication to that cause never 
wavered. He was a lifelong opponent of communist tyranny, and his 
leadership in key Cold War battles was indispensible. Ronald Reagan 
could never have achieved all that he did achieve without Senator Helms 
strong and steady leadership as chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee.
  And that was not all the Reagan revolution owed to Jesse Helms. Like 
Ronald Reagan, he left the Democratic Party after many years as a 
Democrat because he believed it no longer embodied the principles he 
believed in. He was on the cutting edge of transforming the solid south 
from the Roosevelt coalition to the Reagan coalition. His support for 
Ronald Reagan in his State's primary in 1976 was the key to Reagan's 
victory, and the beginning of the revival of his fortunes that led to 
the Reagan landslides of 1980 and 1984.
  Senator Helms' political leadership will be missed, but his impact on 
our Nation will remain as his lasting legacy. We mourn the passing of 
this great American, and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his 
family, his friends, and to the people of his beloved North Carolina 
and across the Nation who loved him.

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