The Magazine

The Ascendancy of Jesse Helms

Aug 11, 1997, Vol. 2, No. 47 • By FRED BARNES
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Editor's note: Sen. Jesse Helms passed away July 4, 2008.


Republican senator Gordon Smith, a golfing buddy of William Weld, gently lobbied Sen. Jesse Helms on behalf of Weld's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico. So did GOP senator John Ashcroft of Missouri. Two moderate Republican senators, Olympia Snowe of Maine and John Chafee of Rhode Island, sent Helms a letter endorsing Weld. The Massachusetts governor himself demanded that Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, step aside and let his nomination proceed. Thirty-six other governors echoed Weld. Meanwhile, the Weld camp recruited conservatives to whisper kind words about Weld in Helms's ear. One who did, a North Carolina banker, insisted Weld had been an effective U.S. attorney in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, when the State Department asked Helms to meet privately with the nominee, the senator declined. "Why should I subject myself to that?" he said. If Weld drops by anyway, Helms added, he'll point the now-former governor and his press claque down the hall, where they can gather for a press conference. And Helms will retreat to his office, shut the door, and chuckle.

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