EDIT: If I'd seen the earlier diary, I probably wouldn't have posted this. That said, this is not in the same tone as the other diary. I feel bad for his family; death is never an easy thing to deal with even when it's been expected for some time and as painful as it has been with the dementia. However, there are things about his life, career, and actions that make him very unAmerican and unpatriotic. Therefore, it's highly ironic he should die on the Fourth of July -- not appropriate that he should die today.
AP reports Helms has died.
I wish his family well.
The same for his friends if he truly had any. I don't know, so I won't speculate:
My legacy will be up to others to describe," he added.
OK, I will speculate then, since he himself has given me permission.
After 30 years of racist, anti-Americanism, I doubt the history books will be kind.
Helms opposed the Martin Luther King Day bill in 1983 on grounds that King had two associates with communist ties, Stanley Levison and Jack O'Dell.
Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery to Mosely-Braun (Gannett News Service, 9/2/93; Time, 8/16/93).
As a supporter of Pinochet, his politics prove he didn't deserve the freedom he purportedly believed in:
"Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?" Helms wrote in a 1959 editorial that foretold his political style.
He hated Castro, but did nothing to stop the more brazen:
Helms had close ties to the rightist Salvadoran death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson and was considered a main sponsor of D'Aubuisson's political party.
As a bully who threatened President Clinton with harm, he is the worst kind of politician.
In 1994, Helms created a sensation when, on the anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination, he told broadcasters Rowland Evans, Jr., and Robert Novak that Clinton was "not up" to the tasks of being commander-in-chief and suggested Clinton, "better not show up around here [Fort Bragg] without a bodyguard."[13] Helms said Clinton was so unpopular and said he hadn't meant it as a threat.
May god have mercy on his soul.