Jesse Helms Oct. 18, 1921 - July 4, 2008

In this file photo from 1976, Ronald Reagan (left) confers with Sen. Jesse Helms before speaking at the Benton Convention Center. Helms backed Reagan in his run for the Republican nomination in 1976.

'A national force ... for his constituents'

RALEIGH (Winston-Salem Journal) - Jesse Helms, a conservative icon who wielded political power in North Carolina and in Washington across 60 years, died of natural causes yesterday morning.

Helms, 86, rose out of a small, cotton-farming town to become a sharp-tongued commentator and five-term U.S. senator capable of making or breaking presidents.

In editorials and on the Senate floor, he railed against civil rights, government spending, abortion, homosexuality, pornography and communism.

He died of natural causes early yesterday morning at the Raleigh convalescent home where he had lived for the past several years.

"He was very comfortable," said former chief of staff Jimmy Broughton.

Funeral services are planned for Tuesday at Helms' longtime church in Raleigh.

"It's just incredible that he would die on July 4, the same day of the Declaration of Independence and the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died, and he certainly is a patriot in the mold of those great men," said former North Carolina GOP Rep. Bill Cobey. He is now the chairman of The Jesse Helms Center in Wingate.

At times, Helms would stand alone for causes he believed in, earning such nicknames as "Senator No," a "knight in shining armor" and the "Prince of Darkness."