[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 14923]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING SENATOR JESSE HELMS

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to my late colleague, 
Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. Other Senators have spoken at 
length in remembrance of our friend, recalling the man and his many 
accomplishments in this body. It was wonderful to hear the tributes by 
friends and family at his services in Raleigh, NC.
  It was my good fortune to come to the Senate when Senator Helms was 
leading a lot of fights for a strong America. Senator Helms took charge 
of the Foreign Relations Committee at the same time I arrived in the 
Senate. From that perch as chairman, he steadfastly defended the 
Nation's interests. Senator Helms relished defending his principles, 
and I am sure he enjoyed his victories.
  One such victory in this body is of particular note to me, for I was 
privileged to play a part in it. In 1999, in Senator Helms's fifth and 
final term in office, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was before the 
Senate, and it was poised for ratification. But, with his support and 
blessing, I helped secure the votes to defeat the treaty, and it fell 
far short of the two-thirds vote that had at one time seemed assured.
  That is but one of the many victories for U.S. national security in 
which Jesse Helms was involved in his three decades in the Senate.
  Senator Helms fought some of most contentious and courageous fights 
in the Senate on issues of profound significance. Yet even when the 
stakes were so high that they involved preserving and safeguarding this 
Nation, Senator Helms remained unfailingly courteous. He held to his 
principles even when they were not popular, but he did so in a way that 
did not damage friendships.
  My wife Caryll and I offer our sympathies to Jesse's wife Dot and 
their family. Senator Helms took the positions he judged to be right 
and he didn't flinch. He was a kind and gentle man who deeply believed 
in his country, his family, and his God.

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