Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001, he had a major voice in foreign policy. Helms helped organize and fund the conservative resurgence in the 1970s, focusing on Ronald Reagan's quest for the White House as well as helping many local and regional candidates.
Jesse Helms
Advice from Jesse A. Helms Sr., to his son; Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, North Carolina
U.S. Senator Richard Russell Jr. of Georgia told Helms in 1952 that he hoped Helms would one day become a senator; Helms achieved this 20 years later, but Russell did not live to see it.
Helms c. 1973
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign aid programs; arms sales and training for national allies; and holding confirmation hearings for high-level positions in the Department of State. Its sister committee in the House of Representatives is the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Refusing to give the lady [Peace Treaty of Versailles] a seat—by Senators Borah, Lodge and Johnson
Committee chairman Senator J. William Fulbright (left) with Senator Wayne Morse during a hearing on the Vietnam War in 1966
1976 publication of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the occasion of its 160th anniversary
![Refusing to give the lady [Peace Treaty of Versailles] a seat—by Senators Borah, Lodge and Johnson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Refusing_to_give_the_lady_a_seat_--Treaty_of_Versailles.jpg/558px-Refusing_to_give_the_lady_a_seat_--Treaty_of_Versailles.jpg)
