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Jesse Helms (born October 18, 1921Jesse Helms is a former five-term Republican U.S. Senator from North Carolina and a former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Helms was born in 1921 in Monroe, North Carolina, where his father, called "Big Jesse," served as chief of police. The younger Helms is married to the former Dorothy Jane ("Dot") Coble of Raleigh. He is the father of three children: Jane (Mrs. Charles R. Knox), Nancy (Mrs. John Stuart) of Raleigh and Charles of Winston-Salem, and has seven grandchildren.

Helms attended Wingate (NC) Junior College and Wake Forest College. He also holds honorary Doctor of Law degrees from many universities including, Bob Jones University, Grove City College, Campbell University, and Wingate University.

Helms's first full time job out of college was as a sports reporter with The News Observer's society reporter. They married in 1942. During World War II Helms served stateside as a recruiter in the United States Navy. After the war, he pursued his twin interests, journalism and politics (at this time, within the Democratic Party). Helms became the city news editor of The Raleigh Times, and would later move on to radio and television.

Helms began his career in politics as an unofficial researcher for conservative Democrat Willis Smith, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1950. After the election, Senator Smith hired Helms to be his administrative assistant in Washington. In 1952, Helms worked on the presidential campaign of Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr. of Georgia, who was seeking the Democratic nomination. From 1953 through 1960, Helms was Executive Director of the North Carolina Bankers Association. He went on to become the Executive Vice President, Vice Chairman of the Board and assistant Chief Executive Officer of Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting Company, from 1960 until his election to the Senate.

Meanwhile, Helms ran for and won a seat on the Raleigh City Council in 1957, serving for four years.

Helms became infamous as a conservative commentator through his daily editorials insulting blacks and others on Capitol Broadcasting Company's WRAL-TV and the Tobacco Radio Network. His editorials were broadcast by more than 70 radio stations in North Carolina and were reprinted regularly in more than 200 newspapers throughout the United States. These editorials are often cited as proof that Helms is prejudiced. For example, in one he calls the University of North Carolina the "University of Negros and Communists."

After working on the unsuccessful 1960 Democratic gubernatorial campaign of I. Beverly Lake, Sr., Helms left the Democratic Party to become a Republican.

In 1972, Helms ran for and won a seat in the United States Senate, defeating Nick Galifianakis. Benefitting from Richard Nixon's landslide re-election, Helms became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from North Carolina in the twentieth century. In 1978, he successfully defended his seat against state Insurance Commissioner John Ingram. In 1984, in one of the most expensive contests in North Carolina history, Helms narrowly defeated Governor Jim Hunt, thanks largely to Ronald Reagan's coattails. In 1990 and in 1996, Helms won against Harvey Gantt, who had been mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, thanks to a late-running ad appealing to racial tensions. Helms never won more than 53% of the vote, and he made no bones about the fact that he really only spoke for (or cared about) his older, conservative supporters.

As a senator, Helms became one of the leaders of the increasingly influential conservative movement within the Republican Party, giving Ronald Reagan crucial support in 1976 that paved the way for Reagan's presidential election in 1980. While representing North Carolina in Washington for more than 28 years, Helms was known for his constituent services. A consistent champion for North Carolina industry, Helms fought to protect declining industries such as tobacco and textiles and was an ally of growth industries such as banking and pharmaceuticals.

Helms became chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee in the 1980s, and was one of Big Tobacco's chief defenders in Congress. Tobacco companies such as RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris have supported him, including giving generously to his Jesse Helms Center at Wingate University. When Republicans regained control of Congress after the 1994 elections, Helms became chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In that role, he pushed for reform of the United Nations and blocked payment of U.N. dues by the United States. Particularly as he gained seniority and clout, Helms became known as "Senator No" because he would obstruct a variety of liberal bills and presidential appointments. But Helms had few legislative achievements of his own, due to his bridge-burning .

To many, Helms epitomized the idea of a Southern bigot, both for his public stances, such as opposing the Martin Luther King holiday, and for his personal behavior, such as his "humorous" habit of calling all black people "Fred." Helms' seemingly nostalgic remembrances of segregation also led many to call him racist. Even the sympathetic conservative magazine National Review admitted he was prejudiced.

Helms, who has had recurring health problems including heart disease, did not seek re-election in 2002. His Senate seat was won by Elizabeth Dole, the former Cabinet secretary and wife of former Senator Bob Dole. He is to date the longest-serving popularly elected U.S. senator in North Carolina history.

Since retiring from the Senate in 2003 in poor health. In September 2005, Random House published : Sam J. Ervin, Robert Morgan, John P. East, James T. Broyhill, Terry Sanford, Lauch Faircloth, John Edwards