Jesse Helms, a former North Carolina U.S. Senator died at 1:15 a.m. of natural causes at a nursing home in Raleigh. A former newspaper man and WWII Navy veteran, Helms was first elected to the Senate in 1972. He served for 30 years in Congress and came be known as “Senator No.” A conservative icon that was repeatedly accused of race-baiting, his career highlights included serving as chairman of the Agriculture Committee and Foreign Relations Committees. He retired from the Senate in 2002.
A controversial critic of modern culture he very publicly took on the National Endowment of the Arts in 1989. Another of his public crusades was against the United Nations. In attempting to force reform in the international body, he held up payments to the body by the U.S. to the tune of $1 billion through the Helms-Biden Act. He also blocked passage of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
He was 86.
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