Jesse Helms, beacon of right wing, dies at 86

Helms’s former chief of staff, James W C Broughton, said the senator died at the Mayview Convalescent Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he had been living for the last several years. Helms had been in “a period of declining health” recently, Broughton said.

In a 52-year political career that ended with his retirement from the Senate in January 2003, Helms became a beacon for the right wing of American politics, a lightning rod for the left and, often, a mighty pain for presidents whatever their political leaning.

Ronald Reagan, a friend who could thank Helms for crucial campaign help, once described him as a “thorn in my side”. Helms was known for taking on anyone, even leaders of his own party, who strayed from his idea of ideological purity.

Perhaps his most visible accomplishments in the Senate came two decades apart. One was a 1996 measure that tightened trade sanctions against the Marxist Government of Fidel Castro in Cuba. The other, a 1973 amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act, prevented American money from going to international family planning organisations that, in his words, “provide or promote” abortion. He also introduced amendments to reduce or eliminate money for foreign aid, welfare programmes and the arts.

David A Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, said recently that Helms’s contribution to the conservative movement was “incredibly important”.

For one thing, Keene said, Helms was alert to technological change, especially the importance of direct mail, and readily signed fund-raising letters that helped conservative organisations get started.

Helms was also instrumental in keeping Reagan’s presidential campaign alive in 1976 when it was broke and limping after a series of defeats in the Republican primaries.