Book Review: Jesse Helms's "Here's Where I Stand"
Jesse Helms's "Here's Where I Stand" (2005)
Fitz E. Barringer
2005-10-01
The task of writing one's memoir must be daunting . At once, a memoir forces its author to confront his own mortality and condense his life into a few pages. Long cherished memories must be omitted while unpleasant events from the past must be relived one last time. The process should be much easier, however, when one has lived such a principled and engaging life as Senator Jesse Helms.
Unlike many of America's current politicians (read: Bill Clinton), Helms's memoir does not offer a platform to defend immoral actions or justify self-serving motives. Instead, "Here's Where I Stand" is a refreshing account of the hard work and dedication to conservative convictions that allowed Helms to serve the people of North Carolina on a truly global scale.
Time and again Helms points out how his duty as a senator was to uphold the conservative principles for which he was elected. Personal gain and fame were simply not on his agenda. "It has always been my contention," he writes, "that there is no sense in being in office if you don't have the courage to do what is right, even if it is the most unpopular position in the world."
In fact, the conservative senator seems to thrive on the criticism from the liberal press. Early in his political career, Helms remarks, he decided not to debate his critics in the media. Instead, he collected all the critical political cartoons he could get his hands on. These cartoons, which he hung behind his desk in Washington D.C., reminded him that he was doing something correct.
As it quickly becomes clear in "Here's Where I Stand," Helms was often doing the correct things. The early chapters of the book recount his formative years, growing up in Monroe, North Carolina. Through hard work -- he worked at a local newspaper starting at age 9 -- Helms earned a spot at Wingate College and, later, Wake Forest College to study journalism.
Helms did not graduate from either school because he was offered a reporting position at the News and Observer in Raleigh. There, he distinguished himself as a reporter and met his wife, Dot. Soon thereafter, Helms joined WRAL-FM and created a popular 15-minute local news program. By 1958, he was the host of a local television show known as "Facts of the Matter."
Even with these autobiographical sections, however, "Here's Where I Stand" is more than a narrative of Helms's life. In fact, the second half of the book is largely a collection of Helms' memories and views of the events, issues, and people that have shaped America's political history for the last thirty years. With aptly titled chapters like "Ronald Reagan," "Hot-Button Issues," and "Snapshots from the Senate" Helms leaves no corner of the American political scene unexamined.
Helms, for instance, offers an insightful interpretation of Ronald Reagan's presidency. He praises Reagan's tax cuts and aggressive policy toward the Soviet Union. But even Reagan could not always please Helms. He remarks with regret that Reagan's vice presidential choice, George H.W. Bush, was a selection designed to appease moderate Republicans. Realizing that even Reagan might have to occasionally violate conservative principles, Helms said that from that moment on, he decided to "stay to the right of the President's right and make it easier for Reagan to be Reagan."
Passages like this reveal that Helms clearly doesn't mind setting an example. He also expresses the hope that more politicians would join him on the conservative right. Indeed, despite the Republican majorities enjoyed in both houses of Congress, the senator worries that there are not enough conservative lawmakers to stop the always-present tide of liberalism. Many Republican lawmakers, he says, now assign categories to their beliefs -- i.e. "fiscal conservative" or "social conservative." To Helms, these positions are not conservative enough. "To put it in the plainest terms," he writes, "people who need to qualify their brand of conservatism may not be conservatives at all."
A sizable portion of "Here's Where I Stand" is also devoted to Helms's experiences on the Senate Foreign Relations committee. He writes about the importance of reforming foreign policy -- which, in his mind, hit a low point when the United States gave away the Panama Canal in 1978 -- through conservative principles. Specifically, Helms tells of how he and fellow committee members recommitted the Senate to foreign relations, fought to maintain American relations with Taiwan, and worked to reform the United Nations.
Helms' most colorful opinions, however, are expressed in the "Hot-Button Issues" chapter. With clear conviction and dedication to his principles, Helms comments on his efforts to "derail the freight train of liberalism" and protect the American people from the radical actions of a few. He writes candidly, for example, about his efforts to prohibit the federally funded National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from sponsoring "works of art" that offend the great majority of Americans -- like submerging a model of the crucifix into a pool of human urine, to use Helms' example. When the media and some fellow senators expressed outrage at Helms's efforts to block the NEA's funding, the senator remained firm. "No artist, no citizen," he writes, "has a right to demand that the taxpayers subsidize his 'artistic' endeavors. Period."
Despite these steadfast convictions, Helms is never arrogant. In fact, "Here's Where I Stand" is largely a testament to Helms' genuine humility and desire to help others. Time and again, he exhibits that hard work, dedication to his principles, and a strong Christian faith -- not his own personal superiority -- are the keys to his success. The people of North Carolina and the United States are fortunate to have had such a remarkable man serving on their behalf for thirty years.
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Publisher: Random House
Pages: 336
Purchase: Here's Where I Stand: A Memoir.