Helms says he won't seek re-election

Helms, a senator since 1973, talks about his retirement on Wednesday.

By Ian Christopher McCaleb
CNN Washington Bureau

RALEIGH, North Carolina (CNN) -- North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, a conservative stalwart and a leading figure in the growth of a Republican South, announced Wednesday he would not seek a sixth term in office.

"I would be 88 if I ran again in 2002 and was elected and lived to finish a sixth term," Helms said. "And this, my family and I have decided, I shall not do."

Helms, 79, has suffered from a nerve condition in his feet that requires him to use a motorized scooter to get around the Senate. He made the announcement in a taped statement on Raleigh television station WRAL, where he was a political commentator before being elected to the Senate in 1972.

Helms told WRAL he made his final decision "about three weeks ago."

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"Being a part of the Senate is not just another job," he said. "But I had to choose between that and my family, and I made the right choice."

Helms was the first Republican elected to the Senate from North Carolina in the 20th century, and his sometimes-contradictory manner and conservative volubility have made him one of the modern Republican Party’s most recognized figures. North Carolina GOP strategist Carter Wrenn said Helms "defined conservatism in the Senate."

"Sen. Helms had the stature of a Barry Goldwater or a Ronald Reagan, and it will leave a vacancy," Wrenn said.

Helms has won friends nationally and internationally for his often-genteel Southern sociability, along the way irritating his political opposition, some world leaders, supporters of government funding for the arts and members of social interest groups seeking broader rights and wider recognition.

"If the liberal politicians think I've been a thorn in their sides in the past, they haven't seen anything yet," a defiant Helms said following his 1990 election victory over Harvey Gantt, the African-American mayor of Charlotte who tried twice to unseat him.

Only a short list of legislation bears Helms' name. But as the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Helms had the power to shape U.S. international policy by blocking initiatives and nominees with whom he disagreed -- a practice that earned him the nickname "Senator No."

Helms bottled up appropriations to pay millions in U.S. back dues to the United Nations until the world body agreed to make substantial reforms. He assisted in the passage of the Helms-Burton Act to tighten the embargo on Fidel Castro's Cuba, and worked to scuttle the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1999.

He responded to accusations of obstructionism by saying his role was to slow the wheels of diplomacy and carefully consider America’s international commitments. He would rather "be right," he once said, than win.

President Bush issued a statement Wednesday evening saying the Senate "is losing an institution" with Helms' decision to step down.

"Sen. Helms went to Washington, but never became a part of Washington. He has always remained true to his conservative principles and to the people of North Carolina who elected him five times," Bush said.

Though he announced he would not seek re-election, Helms said, "I am by no means announcing my retirement, because a great deal of work lies ahead of the United States Senate this fall and next year." He specifically cited the upcoming reauthorization of a major farm bill. As a member of the Agriculture committee, Helms has worked to secure subsidies for the state's extensive tobacco industry.

"You don't need me to explain to you how important this particular farm bill will be to the farm families all across North Carolina," he said.

Helms said he hoped he and his wife, Dot, "can continue as private citizens to be helpful to the great people of North Carolina.

"One thing is for sure: We will never forget you, and we will always be grateful for all that you have meant to us."

A conservative innovator

The Tarheel State's senior senator retained his seat – and made the GOP a powerhouse political force in North Carolina – by employing a variety of innovative election strategies over the past three decades.

He perfected the use of direct-mail campaigns; appealed to his state’s Christian conservatives years before the rest of the GOP caught on; and excelled at serving his constituents – making himself and his staff available to answer queries and concerns from the people back home.

Helms’ 1984 race against North Carolina Gov. James Hunt Jr. set records for fund-raising efforts. Hunt gave Helms a spirited run, and Helms, buffeted by criticism for blocking creation of a federal holiday marking Martin Luther King’s birthday, needed to raise $16.5 million and muster the support of conservatives across the state to eke out a four-point victory.

Helms in an undated photo.

Born in Monroe, North Carolina, on October 18, 1921, he served in the Navy at the height of the World War II. He returned home to serve as city editor of the long-defunct Raleigh Times in the state capital. He later became news director for a North Carolina state radio network and then Raleigh’s influential WRAL Radio.

Although always a conservative, Helms -- like many Southern politicians of his generation -- began his political career as a Democrat.

He dived into politics in the 1950s, working as an administrative assistant to U.S. Sen. Willis Smith from 1951 to 1953 and to Sen. Alton Lennon in 1953. In the late 1952 and early 1960s, he served on the Raleigh City Council as he tended to a successful publication aimed at state bankers.

He returned to broadcasting in 1960, and for 12 years presented daily editorials on TV station WRAL, owned by Raleigh’s Capitol Broadcasting Co., on whose board he then served.

Helms sounded off in 3,000 televised "Viewpoint" commentaries on subjects as varied as the latest fads in music and dancing to the civil rights movement.

In 1968, Helms said "black power movements are festering on college campuses," and openly voiced his suspicion that civil rights activists were in league with the forces of international communism.

Helms abandoned the Democratic Party in 1970 and threw his hat into the 1972 race for the Senate as a Republican, facing U.S. Rep. Nick Galifianakis. An underdog in that race, Helms aligned his political fortunes with incumbent President Nixon and defeated the Democrat Galifianakis with 54 percent of the vote.

In 1976, Helms used his influence in North Carolina to help Ronald Reagan win that state's presidential primary. Though Reagan did not win the Republican nomination that year, Helms’ work for the California governor netted significant dividends -- and paid off again when Reagan reached the White House in 1980.

Helms’ high profile brought him an unexpected vice presidential nomination at the 1976 GOP convention – with the support of some 800 delegates – and election to a second term in 1978.

But it was his two runs against Gantt, and the Republican takeover of both the House and Senate that occurred between those two elections, that vaulted Helms to political superstar status in many respects.

The 1990 contest against Gantt was billed by the Helms camp as a sort of referendum on affirmative action, characterized by a television spot showing two white hands crumpling a rejection letter as a voiceover said, "You were the best qualified for that job, but they had to give it to a minority."

Blunt talk on sensitive issues

His similarly blunt stances on social issues such as affirmative action, federal funding for the arts, abortion, homosexuality and school prayer made him a lightning rod for critics throughout his career even as they earned him the support of voters back home.

Helms has sought repeatedly to block funding for the National Endowment of the Arts, focusing his ire on anything of a sexually explicit nature made possible in whole or in part with federal money.

"Now, if artists want to go into a men’s room and write dirty words on the wall, let 'em furnish their own crayon and let 'em furnish their own wall. But I don't want the taxpayers to support it," he said in the midst of a blow-up over a Robert Mapplethorpe photograph a decade ago.

Helms fought in recent years against proposed laws that ban discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace and has often acted to block federal funds from being used to promote homosexuality.

"If the homosexuals would stop doing what they are doing, an end would be put to all future cases of AIDS," he once said.

Helms took over the committee chairmanship after the GOP took over both houses of Congress in 1994. He served as chairman from 1995 until this year, when control of the Senate reverted to the Democrats.

His longtime crusade against Communism -- focused on the aging Castro government in Cuba and the rapid emergence of the People’s Republic of China as a world power -- continued through his tenure in the Senate. He also forged odd friendships -- including a bond with U2 lead vocalist Bono, who approached Helms earlier this year to discuss retirement of Third World debt.

Helms aimed for President Clinton on numerous occasions, once telling CNN that Clinton "is not my commander in chief."

He told the Raleigh News and Observer in 1994 that Clinton "would need a bodyguard" should he choose to visit North Carolina. In a statement later, Helms said he was referring to Clinton’s low popularity ratings in the state. He did not, however, apologize.

Helms’ dislike of Clinton did not extend to many members of the Clinton administration. He forged a close friendship with Clinton’s second secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, and the friendship resulted in a close level of cooperation between the State Department and the Foreign Relations Committee on a host of international trade issues.

-- CNN.com writer Matt Smith contributed to this report.