Here are quotes from Sen. Jesse Helms from throughout his career, as found in the Post’s paper archive:
– In a 1976 collection of essays defining his beliefs:”Atheism and socialism ó or liberalism, which tends in the same direction ó are inseparable entities: When you have men who no longer believe that God is in charge of human affairs, you have men attempting to take the place of God by means of the Superstate. The all-provident government is the modern-day version of Baal.”
– At the Salisbury Elks Lodge, during his first run for the Senate in 1972:”I am not a politician, but I am doing so well it frightens me. But as I’ve said before, pre-election polls are not worth a doodle.”
– On the Panama Canal Treaty, during an October 1977 visit to Salisbury:
“What kind of mentality it it that would cozy up to Castro, and to that dictator in Panama? The kind of crowd that would legalize marijuana and ban saccharin.”
– At 1981 Masonic picnic in Mocksville:
“Our forefathers were able to do what they did because they are not afraid to get down on their knees and pray.”
– On being asked in 1982 if he planned to run for re-election in two years: “I’m running for the kingdom of heaven. Hope I make it.”
– To Livingstone College students protesting his visit to the college in 1984:
“Just the same, I love you. Hang in there.”
– On opposition to American Marines’ peace-keeping presence in Lebanon, in 1984:
“What peace? How do you get them out once you get them in? In this case, I don’t know what it is they could win.”
– On debating Democrat Jim Hunt in his 1984 campaign for re-election: “No, I don’t need to prepare. My daddy taught me a long time ago if you tell the truth you don’t have to worry about remembering anything.”
– Comments on the Iran-Contra scandal to the Senate in 1987:
“I say to you, Mr. President, that if Franklin Roosevelt had been required to prosecute World War II under the same conditions and handicaps and obstructionism that Ronald Reagan faces every day of his life, the French people would have been making vichyssoise today out of sauerkraut because they would have lost the war.”
– On out-of-state contributions to Democrat Harvey Gantt’s campaign in 1990:”I’m amazed by Mr. Gantt’s campaign and why the liberal media thinks there’s nothing wrong in financing it with money from the liberals and homosexuals and the artsy crowd. It tells something about what his intentions are all about.”
– On gays in the military, in 1993:
“There will not be any compromise. … These people are the cause of the AIDS crisis in this country.”
– On a 1993 complaint by Sen. Carol Mosely-Braun, who is black, that Helms sang “Dixie” when he encountered her on a Senate elevator:”The devil makes me do things.”
– On further complaints from Braun about her treatment by Senate colleagues: “She says she has a constitutional right not to be insulted. I’ve read the Constitution pretty much. I’ve consulted some constitutional lawyers. They say there’s no such provision.”
– On Newt Gingrich, then speaker of the House, in a 1995 interview:
“I tell you, Mr Gingrich is about as articulate as any fellow I ever saw, but anybody who talks nonstop is going to make a mistake now and then, and he made a few.”
– On opposition to AIDS funding in 1995:
“Taxpayers’ money is ben used to proselytize a dangerous lifestyle.”
– On farm subsidies, in 1995:
“The USDA was not intended to be a welfare agency.”
– Upon winning re-election in 1996 by defeating Gantt again: “I can guarantee you one thing, there will be six more years of torment for Ted Kennedy and all those other liberals.”
– On his 1999 effort to eliminate two vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals, saying they aren’t needed:”There’s not any space between right and wrong.”