Freedom Fighter

Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism, by William A. Link (St. Martin’s, 643 pp., $39.95)

WHY does Jesse Helms matter? To North Carolinians, who elected Helms five times to the U.S. Senate and made him the state’s most successful modern politician, that question makes no sense. Before his first Senate victory in 1972, Helms was a well-known television editorialist, news reporter, and local politician in the state capital of Raleigh. Helms was a constant presence on North Carolina’s airwaves from the 1950s until he left the Senate in 2003. Tar Heels loved him or hated him, but rarely ignored him.

About the Author

John Hood

John Hood is president of the John William Pope Foundation, a North Carolina-based grantmaker, and co-founder of Freedom Conservatism.

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Righteous Warrior: Jesse Helms and the Rise of Modern Conservatism, by William A. Link (St. Martin’s, 643 pp., $39.95)

WHY does Jesse Helms matter? To North Carolinians, who elected Helms five times to the U.S. Senate and made him the state’s most successful modern politician, that question makes no sense. Before his first Senate victory in 1972, Helms was a well-known television editorialist, news reporter, and local politician in the state capital of Raleigh. Helms was a constant presence on North Carolina’s airwaves from the 1950s until he left the Senate in 2003. Tar Heels loved him or hated him, but rarely ignored him.