# Jesse Helms is dead! Let's dance on his grave. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 4, 2008, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299 "2008-07-04T15:31:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/21 "2008-07-04T16:42:13Z")
What a jackass. My parents once attended some function held in his honor; as a result, I have a little book about dear ol’ Jesse entitled “And the World Came His Way”. I’ve never read it. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/22 "2008-07-04T16:42:37Z")
I’m only sad because I one day wanted Jesse Helms, Jesse Jackson, and Jesse Ventura all locked in a small room for a week just to see what would happen. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/23 "2008-07-04T16:45:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Hm, I just checked out his Wikipedia page and had to wonder a bit about their statement: “Firmly opposed to integration efforts in his own state, in other editorials Helms referred to the University of North Carolina as the ‘University of Negros and Communists.’ Although his editorials created controversy, they also made him popular with conservative voters, and Helms won a seat on the Raleigh City Council in 1957.” It was my understanding that previous to JFK, the Republican party was the one which most supported integration, so it seems a bit odd to link the gain of Republican voters to his racism as the Wikipedia article seems to do. More it seems like it might have been him who started to swing Democratic bigots to Republicanism because he sided with them on that issue, and his appeal to Republicans would have had more to do with his financial editorials more than his racial ones. Or were North Carolina Republicans in the 50s simply not representative of the rest of the party at that time? [/QUOTE] No, he was a Democrat back then. He turned Republican after that…I’m not sure exactly when, but I would presume around the time they turned against civil rights in order to capture disaffected conservative southern voters.. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/24 "2008-07-04T16:49:26Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] Or were North Carolina Republicans in the 50s simply not representative of the rest of the party at that time? [/QUOTE] Jesse was a Democrat in the Old Days. Back then the GOP was the Party of Lincoln. This continued until Nixon used his “Southern Strategy” (i.e. played the race card). Besides the northern Democrats were letting Black people vote and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/25 "2008-07-04T16:55:44Z")
So why would racist editorials attract conservatives? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/26 "2008-07-04T16:58:25Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] I went to WIkipedia to find some nice things to say about the man. I didn’t find anything. [/QUOTE] [Guess who did.](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040722/posts) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/27 "2008-07-04T16:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Will the Westboro Baptist Church have a Jesse in Hell page? [/QUOTE] That’s a very interesting question. I’d love to hear Phelps’ opinion of Helms. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/28 "2008-07-04T17:01:31Z")
Wait, [here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Helms#Senatorial_service) **one** thing, at least: > [@](#): > > Helms vehemently opposed granting MFN to China, citing human rights concerns. He was also an ardent supporter of Pinochet – he only seems to have been concerned with human-rights abuses when Communists were inflicting them – but that’s better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/29 "2008-07-04T17:06:57Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] > [@panache45](#): > > Now please remind me . . . why didn’t he help fight AIDS in the U.S.? It wasn’t straight people dying. [/quote] So AIDS is a gay disease? 😉 [Helms did more than most to make the UN something more than a hot air society for Third World despots.](http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=397419) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/30 "2008-07-04T17:09:42Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] So why would racist editorials attract conservatives? [/QUOTE] In a nutshell, because [there are several different kinds of “conservatives,”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9423088&highlight=wooldridge#post9423088) with many points of difference but some Boolean intersection between them, and they have been forging strategic alliances ever since the Goldwater campaign. There are some signs, now, that that coalition is starting to fracture, just as liberals/leftists/progressives of various stripes are starting to bury their differences and work together **and** reach out to some populist conservatives who share some of their goals – a story told in [_The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington,_](http://www.amazon.com/Uprising-Unauthorized-Populist-Scaring-Washington/dp/0307395634/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215191213&sr=8-1) by [David Sirota](http://www.davidsirota.com/). Let all good Americans make it their business to keep “Pinwheel” Jesse spinning in his grave! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/31 "2008-07-04T17:13:16Z")
The consistent racist and homophobic bigotry really jumps off the page in that Wiki entry. No surprise he’s such a hero to the Freepers. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/32 "2008-07-04T17:14:25Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] [Helms did more than most to make the UN something more than a hot air society for Third World despots.](http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=397419) [/QUOTE] What in the referenced legislation makes the UN **more** of anything, good or bad? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/33 "2008-07-04T17:19:15Z")
When was the UN ever a “hot air society for third world despots?” That’s news to me, especially since the US was the key founding nation. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/34 "2008-07-04T17:26:44Z")
If Dante was writing the\* Divine Comedy\* today, the three people in the center of hell would be Jesse Helms, Jerry Falwell, and Ronald Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/35 "2008-07-04T17:27:04Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] So why would racist editorials attract conservatives? [/QUOTE] Conservative does not necessarily equal Republican. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/36 "2008-07-04T17:34:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [Guess who did.](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040722/posts) [/QUOTE] You can always count on the Freepers. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/37 "2008-07-04T17:35:58Z")
Please remember, when you think about nasty segregationists in the 1950s in the South, those guys were all Democrats. Racists shifted to the GOP when the Democrats went nuts with McGovern. I note Helms’ death is not at the moment on CNN’s front page. The man was bypassed by history. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/38 "2008-07-04T17:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Please remember, when you think about nasty segregationists in the 1950s in the South, those guys were all Democrats. Racists shifted to the GOP when the Democrats went nuts with McGovern. I note Helms’ death is not at the moment on CNN’s front page. The man was bypassed by history. [/QUOTE] The Democrats were the conservative party then. Those people weren’t liberals. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/39 "2008-07-04T17:45:47Z")
I did not say they were. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299/40 "2008-07-04T18:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] So AIDS is a gay disease? 😉 [/QUOTE] Yes, actually, in the spirit that I said “because straight people weren’t dying,” AIDS IS a gay disease. That spirit is in the spirit of mocking Helms’s homophobic opposition to AIDs. Of course straight people were dying of AIDS in the US. Gay people were dying disproportionately, and his homophobia was his explicit reason for opposing AIDS research (the NYTimes editorial has the relevant quotes). It was only when he saw straight people as its primary victims in Africa that he became concerned. Daniel [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jesse-helms-is-dead-lets-dance-on-his-grave/455299.md?page=3)