JESSE HELMS

What This Book Covers

1. Chapter One - The Man in the Red Tie
2. Chapter Two - Carolina Roots
3. Chapter Three - The Mic and the Message
4. Chapter Four - The Democrat Who Became a Republican
5. Chapter Five - The First of His Kind
6. Chapter Six - Mr. No
7. Chapter Seven - Cold Warrior
8. Chapter Eight - AIDS, Art, and the Culture Wars
9. Chapter Nine - The Longest Filibuster
10. Chapter Ten - Friends in High Places
11. Chapter Eleven - The Chairman
12. Chapter Twelve - Unapologetic to the End
13. Chapter Thirteen - The Line He Drew
14. Chapter Fourteen - After the Fire

Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE The Man in the Red Tie WASHINGTON KNEW WHAT was coming when Jesse Helms walked in. He never rushed. He never whispered. He never checked the wind before speaking. He just walked. Stiff, deliberate, and with the confidence of a man who had already decided the answer was “no.” No to foreign aid. No to abortion. No to gay rights. No to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No to every new expansion of federal power that dared to touch the America he believed in. The Senate, already a chamber of endless rules and delayed decisions, had never seen anyone use inertia like Helms did. He didn’t just obstruct. He weaponized delay. Parliamentary holds. Filibusters. Anonymous blocks. He turned...