Editing Jesse Helms (section)

==Early career (1940–1972)==
Helms's first full-time job after college was as a [[sports journalism|sports reporter]] with the ''[[Raleigh Times]]''.<ref name="times background">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/05/us/politics/00helms.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp|title=Jesse Helms, Conservative Force in the Senate, Dies at 86|last=Holmes|first=Steven A. |date=July 4, 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 4, 2008}}</ref> During [[World War II]], Helms served stateside as a recruiter in the [[United States Navy]].

After the war, he pursued his twin interests of journalism and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics. Helms became the city news editor of the ''Raleigh Times.'' He later became a radio and television newscaster and commentator for ''[[WRAL-TV]]'', where he hired [[Armistead Maupin]] as a reporter.<ref name="logicalfamily7682">{{cite book|last1=Maupin|first1=Armistead|title=Logical Family: A Memoir|date=2017|publisher=Penguin|location=London, U.K.|isbn=9780857523518|pages=76–82|title-link=Logical Family: A Memoir}}</ref>

===Entry into politics===
[[File:Richard Russell quotation at Helms Center in Wingate, NC IMG 4263.JPG|200px|right|thumb|[[U.S. Senator]] [[Richard Russell Jr.]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] told Helms in 1952 that he hoped Helms would one day become a senator; Helms achieved this 20 years later, but Russell did not live to see it.]]

In 1950, Helms played a critical role as campaign publicity director for [[Willis Smith]] in the U.S. Senate campaign against a prominent [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]], [[Frank Porter Graham]].<ref name="Borstelmann TCWA 65">{{cite book | last = Borstelmann | first =Thomas | title=The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena | publisher=Harvard University Press | year=2003 | pages =65–66 | isbn =0-674-01238-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWqjxBEPPlEC&pg=PA65 | access-date=July 14, 2008}}</ref> Smith (a conservative Democratic lawyer and former president of the [[American Bar Association]]) portrayed Graham, who supported school [[desegregation]], as a "dupe of communists" and a proponent of the "[[miscegenation|mingling of the races]]".<ref name="Borstelmann TCWA 65"/> Smith's fliers said, "Wake Up, White People",<ref name="Borstelmann TCWA 65"/> in the campaign for the virtually all-[[white primary|white primaries]]. Blacks were still mostly [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchised]] in the state, because its 1900 constitutional amendment had been passed by white Democrats with restrictive voter registration and electoral provisions that effectively and severely reduced their role in electoral politics.<ref name="Borstelmann TCWA 65"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Article VI. Suffrage and Eligibility to Office – Qualifications of an Elector.|url=http://core.ecu.edu/umc/Wilmington/scans/ticketThree/articleSix.pdf|publisher=[[East Carolina University]]|access-date=November 19, 2016}}</ref>

Smith won and hired Helms as his administrative assistant in Washington. In 1952, Helms worked on the presidential [[1952 United States presidential election|campaign]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] Senator [[Richard Russell Jr.]] After Russell dropped out of the presidential race, Helms returned to working for Smith. When Smith died in 1953, Helms returned to Raleigh.

From 1953 to 1960, Helms was executive director of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He and his wife set up their home on Caswell Street in the [[Hayes Barton Historic District]], where he lived the rest of his life.<ref name="Christensen TNO 4 Jy">{{cite web |last=Christensen |first=Rob |title=Jesse Helms dead at 86 |work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |date=July 4, 2008 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/v-print/story/1130628.html |access-date=December 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712233014/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/v-print/story/1130628.html |archive-date=July 12, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1957, Helms as a Democrat won his first election for a [[Raleigh City Council]] seat. He served two terms and earned a reputation as a conservative gadfly who "fought against everything from putting a median strip on Downtown Boulevard to an [[urban renewal]] project".<ref name="Christensen TNO 4 Jy"/> Helms disliked his tenure on the council, feeling all the other members acted as a private club and that Mayor [[William G. Enloe]] was a "steamroller".{{sfn|Link|2008|p=60}} In 1960, Helms worked on the unsuccessful primary gubernatorial campaign of [[I. Beverly Lake Sr.]], who ran on a platform of [[racial segregation]].<ref name="Drescher TOGW">{{cite book | last = Drescher | first =John |author2=David Espo | title=[[Triumph of Good Will: How Terry Sanford Beat a Champion of Segregation and Reshaped the South]] | publisher=University Press of Mississippi | year=2000 | isbn =1-57806-310-8 }} - [https://books.google.com/books?id=LpMukF2ifkEC Link to book profile], accessed on July 14, 2008 on Google Books.</ref>  Lake [[1960 North Carolina gubernatorial election#Primary elections|lost to]] [[Terry Sanford|future Senator Terry Sanford]], who ran as a racial moderate willing to implement the federal policy of school integration. Helms felt [[desegregation busing in the United States|forced busing]] and forced racial integration caused animosity on both sides and "proved to be unwise".<ref name="Drescher TOGW"/>

===Capitol Broadcasting Company===
In 1960, Helms joined the Raleigh-based [[Capitol Broadcasting Company]] (CBC) as the executive vice-president, vice chairman of the board, and assistant chief executive officer. His daily CBC editorials on [[WRAL-TV]], given at the end of each night's local news broadcast in Raleigh, made Helms famous as a conservative commentator throughout eastern North Carolina.

Helms's editorials featured folksy anecdotes interwoven with conservative views against "the civil rights movement, the liberal news media, and anti-war churches", among many targets.<ref name="Christensen TNO 4 Jy"/> He referred to ''[[The News and Observer]]'', his former employer, as the "Nuisance and Disturber" for its promotion of liberal views and support for African-American civil rights activities.<ref name="Christiansen TNO 10 Jy">{{cite news|url=http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/291092.html |title=Helms' long-held views on race muted in book |first=Rob |last=Christiansen |work=[[News & Observer]] |location=Raleigh, NC |date=June 10, 2005 |page=1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606051301/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/politicians/helms/story/291092.html |archive-date=June 6, 2009 }}</ref> The [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]], which had a reputation for liberalism, was also a frequent target of Helms's criticism. He is said to have referred to the university as "The University of Negroes and Communists" despite a lack of evidence,<ref name="Batten 2012">{{cite news| url=http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesse-helms-and-university-of-negroes.html| work=[[The Charlotte Observer]]| date=December 6, 2012| title=Jesse Helms and the 'University of Negroes and Communists'| first=Taylor| last=Batten| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104045457/http://obsdailyviews.blogspot.com/2012/12/jesse-helms-and-university-of-negroes.html| archive-date=January 4, 2014| url-status=dead| access-date=December 22, 2020}}</ref> and suggested a wall be erected around the campus to prevent the university's liberal views from "infecting" the rest of the state. Helms said the civil rights movement was infested by [[Communists]] and "moral degenerates". He described the federal program of [[Medicaid]] as a "step over into the swampy field of socialized medicine".<ref name="Christensen TNO 4 Jy"/>

Commenting on the 1963 protests and [[March on Washington]] during the [[Civil Rights Movement]], Helms stated, "The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."<ref name="sack">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A0CE6DB1031F935A1575BC0A9679C8B63&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss|title= Ideas & Trends; The Quotations of Chairman Helms: Race, God, AIDS and More|last=Kevin|first=Sack|date=August 26, 2001|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 29, 2008}}</ref> He later wrote, "Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are facts of life which must be faced."<ref name="thunder">{{cite news|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B14FB385F0C7B8CDDAB0894D9484D81|title=Thunder from the Right|last=Range|first=Peter Ross|date=February 8, 1981|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=July 13, 2008}}</ref>

He was at Capitol Broadcasting Company until he filed for the Senate race in 1972.

===Senate campaign of 1972===
{{Main|1972 United States Senate election in North Carolina}}

Helms announced his candidacy for a seat in the [[United States Senate]] in 1972. His Republican primary campaign was managed by [[Thomas F. Ellis]], who would later be instrumental in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s 1976 campaign and also become the chair of the [[National Congressional Club]]. Helms took the Republican primary, winning 92,496 votes, or 60.1%, in a three-candidate field.<ref name="SouthNow 46">{{cite web|title=North Carolina DataNet #46 |url=http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927181120/http://southnow.org/southnow-publications/nc-datanet/DataNet%20April08.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |date=April 2008 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina]] |access-date=June 12, 2009 }}</ref> Meanwhile, Democrats retired the ailing Senator [[B. Everett Jordan]], who lost his primary to Congressman [[Nick Galifianakis (politician)|Nick Galifianakis]]. The latter represented the "new politics" of voters who included the young, African Americans voting since federal legislation removed discriminatory restrictions, and anti-establishment activists, who were based in and around the urban [[Research Triangle]] and [[Piedmont Triad]]. Although Galifianakis was a "liberal" by North Carolina standards, he opposed [[Desegregation busing in the United States|busing]] to achieve integration in schools.<ref>{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Defeat of Jordan by Rep. Galifianakis In Carolina is Linked to 'New Politics{{'-}} |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 5, 1972 |page=26 }}</ref>

Polls put Galifianakis well ahead until late in the campaign, but Helms, facing all but certain defeat, hired a professional campaign manager, F. Clifton White, giving him dictatorial control over campaign strategy. While Galifianakis avoided mention of his party's presidential candidate, the liberal [[George McGovern]],<ref name="Major races in NC seem close">{{cite news |first=Marjorie |last=Hunter |title=Major Races in North Carolina Seem Close |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 28, 1972 |page=14 }}</ref> Helms employed the slogans "McGovernGalifianakis – one and the same", "Vote for Jesse. Nixon Needs Him" and "Jesse: He's One of Us", an implicit play suggesting his opponent's Greek heritage made him somehow less "American".<ref name="Conservative Republican Victor" /><ref name="Major races in NC seem close" /> Helms won the support of numerous Democrats, especially in the conservative eastern part of the state. Galifianakis tried to woo Republicans by noting that Helms had earlier criticized Nixon as being too left-wing.<ref name="Major races in NC seem close"/><ref name="Democrats Gain 2 Seats">{{cite news |first=Warren |last=Weaver |title=Democrats Gain 2 Seats and have 57–43 Majority |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 9, 1972 |page=25 }}</ref>

In a taste of things to come, money poured into the race. Helms spent a record $654,000,<ref name="It'll be a yes">{{cite news |title=North Carolina; It'll be a yes for Senator No |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=February 11, 1978 |page=42 }}</ref> much of it going toward carefully crafted television commercials portraying him as a soft-spoken mainstream conservative. In the final six weeks of the campaign, Helms outspent Galifianakis three-to-one.<ref name="Major races in NC seem close" /> Though the year was marked by Democratic gains in the Senate,<ref name="Democrats Gain 2 Seats" /> Helms won 54 percent of the vote to Galifianakis's 46 percent. He was elected as the first Republican senator from the state since 1903, before senators were directly elected, and when the Republican Party stood for a different tradition.<ref name="Conservative Republican Victor">{{cite news |first=Linda |last=Charlton |title=Conservative Republican Victor in North Carolina Senate Race |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 8, 1972 |page=5 }}</ref> Helms was helped by [[Richard Nixon]]'s gigantic landslide victory in that year's presidential election;<ref name="Pundit to Pol">{{cite news|first=John |last=Gizzi |title=Jesse Helms: Pundit to Pol |url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |work=[[Human Events]] |date=July 5, 2008 |access-date=July 8, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108083837/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27366 |archive-date=January 8, 2009 }}</ref> Nixon carried North Carolina by 40 points.