# Any truth to Ted Cruz' story about John Wayne and Jesse Helms?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-truth-to-ted-cruz-story-about-john-wayne-and-jesse-helms/669146>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 18, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-truth-to-ted-cruz-story-about-john-wayne-and-jesse-helms/669146 "2013-09-18T15:34:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-truth-to-ted-cruz-story-about-john-wayne-and-jesse-helms/669146/1 "2013-09-18T15:34:14Z")

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On September 11, 2013 Ted Cruz recounted [a story](http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/12/20455782-we-need-a-hundred-more-like-jesse-helms-in-the-us-senate?lite) about how Jesse Helms received a campaign donation check from John Wayne. According to Cruz, Helms contacted Wayne to thank him and, as he (Cruz) tells the story, Wayne said to Helms,

> [@](#):
>
> Oh yeah, you’re that guy saying all those crazy things. We need 100 more like you.

Is there any truth to Cruz’s story about John Wayne and Jesse Helms and, if so, how much?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-truth-to-ted-cruz-story-about-john-wayne-and-jesse-helms/669146/2 "2013-09-18T16:11:46Z")

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The factuality of the statement can still be addressed in the thread that was just moved to Great Debates. I don’t think we need an additional thread on the subject.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator