I watched with interest last night’s broadcast of the UNC-TV documentary Senator No. Though it was, in my opinion, a sympathetic view of Jesse Helms, I promise it was fascinating viewing no matter your political affiliation.
In today’s world of cable news, You Tube and the blogosphere, it comes almost as a shock to be reminded that Helms, with his media background, was the first politician to truly master the use of television to get his message across to the people of North Carolina and, eventually, the nation. Even before he was elected to the Seante, his often vitriolic ‘Viewpoint’ commentaries on WRAL were considered groundbreaking, explained N&O political writer Rob Christensen:
It was a great risk at the time. Television was still in its early pioneering stage. Nobody knew if the Federal Communications Commission would permit people to come on every night and give their opinions, in Helms’ case, very strong opinions.
Helms would go on to break new ground in campaign advertising with his negative ads during the historic run against Gov. Jim Hunt in 1984. Helms was running behind Hunt until he unleashed a series of attack ads late in campaign. By the same token, though, is it unreasonable to believe that, despite what polls were saying, that Helms would have won no matter what, considering Ronald Reagan’s landslide victory that year?
I’d also totally forgotten about Helms’ infamous five-page letter urging conservatives to buy stock in CBS so that Helms could “become Dan Rather’s boss.” Although there was little chance the effort would ever succeed, it is amazing to think how history would be altered had Helms indeed become Rather’s boss.
Then there’s the infamous white hands ad during Helms’ 1990 run against Harvey Gantt. Interestingly enough, Helms, in a later interview, came right out and admitted that the ad played to white fears against affirmative action policies. He did not believe that blacks should be chosen for jobs because of their race, he said. But, he added, he also did not believe that they should be denied jobs because of their race.
Other fascinating points in the film include a clip of Helms’ appearance on the old Phil Donahue show, where Helms tells Donahue that “he’s not going to be anybody’s ‘yes man,'” not even Reagan’s, not to mention political expert Larry Sabato’s view that Helms’ Congressional Club tranformed the Republican party into the “party of small money” and the Democratic party into the “party of big money.” I realize that the majority of liberals would rather watch O’Reilly than a somewhat sympathetic (again, in my opinion) view of Jesse Helms. But trust me on this one: It’s worth your time should UNC-TV run it again.
