Farewell to Helms

With Jesse Helms' announcement Wednesday that he will not pursue a sixth term in the Senate, the state of North Carolina--and the nation--is about to lose a political legend. In five terms since 1972, the Republican senator has endured many tough campaigns to become the longest-serving senator in North Carolina history. Unfortunately, his political career is haunted by the extreme convictions that have kept him from rising to the level of a true statesman.

Helms did the right thing in not pursuing a sixth term in office. At the age of 79, he put his personal ego aside and ensured that the people's elected senators will be physically and mentally up to the task.

But Helms' departure is even more important in that it signals the next generation to step forward and assume its place in leading both the state and the country. North Carolina has seen a large influx of new residents over the past decade and is not the same state in which Helms began his political career. Hopefully, his successor will better reflect the values of today's North Carolinians.

Helms, to his core, is a man devoted to his constituents. He has taken pride in meeting with over 100,000 youths from the state during his tenure in office and even highlighted that feat as one of his top accomplishments Wednesday night. Such meetings were part of a greater commitment to helping government work for North Carolinians from the local to the national level. In the process, Helms has fought hard to help farmers and, in recent years, victims of Hurricane Fran and Hurricane Floyd. Seemingly, no request was too big or too small for Helms' office.

In the Senate, Helms has been a key player in foreign affairs. He has driven the U.S. embargo of Cuba, been at the forefront of defending Taiwan from mainland China and defending other nations against communism. Third World debt relief had made little progress until Helms lent his support.

Few doubt that Helms believes in what he stands for, and he has the candor to voice those beliefs. These stated values, however, reflect an aging, out-of-touch man whose political views lie beyond the point of respectful differences in opinion. His record on minority and homosexual issues is appalling. At the same time, his isolationist attitudes toward the United Nations, trade and other international policies come from a period America has long left behind.

The oft-touted convictions that define the legend of Helms have impeded his tangible success. True leaders have the pragmatism to compromise and gain something instead of standing firm and losing everything. For instance, two North Carolinians could be sitting on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals--a circuit in need of extra judges--if Helms would only acquiesce and allow former Clinton appointee James Wynn to be appointed along with Bush appointee Terrence Boyle.

His candor has also sometimes embarrassed both his state and his party. Perhaps the lowest point was a 1994 suggestion that then-President Bill Clinton would need a bodyguard should he come to North Carolina. Such conduct was unfitting and unpatriotic from a U.S. senator toward the president. But the examples do not stop there. In 1990, his campaign for reelection stirred up base racial animosity over the heated issue of affirmative action.