This book investigates Jesse Helms’s pivotal role in advancing the conservative movement of the 1950s and 1960s, first as editor of the Tarheel Banker and then as vice president of WRAL television. Before his 1972 election to the Senate, Helms was a significant figure in U.S. political history for two reasons. First, he forged a new form of southern conservatism that made it possible for movement conservatives, grounded in the South and the Republican Party, to win power. He rooted conservatism in private enterprise as the vanguard of a modern, progressive society—one that could simultaneously ... More

This book investigates Jesse Helms’s pivotal role in advancing the conservative movement of the 1950s and 1960s, first as editor of the Tarheel Banker and then as vice president of WRAL television. Before his 1972 election to the Senate, Helms was a significant figure in U.S. political history for two reasons. First, he forged a new form of southern conservatism that made it possible for movement conservatives, grounded in the South and the Republican Party, to win power. He rooted conservatism in private enterprise as the vanguard of a modern, progressive society—one that could simultaneously provide prosperity and maintain traditional values. Avoiding discussions of “race mixing,” Helms made white supremacy “safe” for conservative campaigning. Second, Helms pioneered the attack on the “liberal media” and, critically, the building of conservative media. During Helms’s time as vice president of WRAL-TV in Raleigh, his commentaries and news department undermined Democrats, advanced conservatism, and challenged the forces advocating change. WRAL helped him become something new—a conservative TV personality. Helms intended to use WRAL’s influence to elect conservatives. His commentaries anticipated Fox News’s barely disguised conservative advocacy. Risking WRAL’s broadcast license, he defied the Federal Communication Commission’s Fairness Doctrine on behalf of the conservative movement. His work at WRAL-TV helped channel the 1960s anti-liberal backlash in North Carolina into a powerful voter coalition supporting conservative Republicans. In 1972 Helms left WRAL to run for Senate. As senator, Helms advocated an unbending conservatism that recognized no moderates and preferred stalemate to governing.