white fear of encroaching black people particular turned everything into white fear of encroachi encroaching black people particularly among your daughters. he was good in this campaign including the one that got him into washington. the campaign pro who had run the expertly confederate race-based campaigns decided the best candidate he knew of to run for the next big open seat in north carolina would be himself. so he denounced frank porter graham s beloved unc as the university of negros and communists. he proclaimed the civil rights act of 1964 was the single most dangerous piece of legislation introduced in congress. he ran himself for the united states senate seat in north carolina. that was open in 1972. and that is how we got jesse helms. and jesse helms, senator helms, ultimately got to the senate too late to stop that hated voting
but there was no real uproar. and i couldn t help but remember another republican senator from the south celebrating another notorious republican senator just a few years back. when strom thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. we re proud of him. and if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we would haven t had all these problems over all these years, either. you will recall, that was followed by total outrage and rightly so, because strom thurmond ran for president on an explicitly segregationist ticket. well, jesse helms, i guess to his credit, never ran on an explicitly segregated ticket, but this is who jesse helms really was. helms was elected to the senate in 1972, opposing interracial marriage and integration. he was against the civil rights act, and called it, quote, the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the congress.
communists. in 1982, the voting rights act was reauthorized, despite a helms filibuster. in 1983, he led a 16-day filibuster against the creation of the martin luther king national holiday, which obviously ultimately overcame his racism. in 1990, helms ran the infamous hands ad against an african-american challenger, harvey gant. you needed that job and you were the best qualified, but they had to give it to a minority, because of a racial quota. in 1990, helms stayed away in protest when nelson mandela addressed a joint session of congress. and just in case you think this was posturing, no, which was jesse helms to the bone. care moseley braun, the only african-american woman ever elected to the united states senate offered this anecdote. she got into an elevator with senator helms and he started singing dixie, and helms says to senator orrin hatch, i m going to make her cry. i m going to sing dixie until she cries.
that would have gutted the justice department s ability to enforce busing. helms described the university of north carolina chapel hill as the university of negroes and communists. in 1982, the voting rights act was reauthorized, despite a helms filibustefilibuster. in 1983, he led a 16-day filibuster against the creation of the martin luther king national holiday, which obviously ultimately overcame his racism. in 1990, helms ran the infamous hands ad against an african-american challenger, harvey gant. you needed that job and you were the best qualified, but they had to give it to a minority, because of a racial quota. in 1990, helms stayed away in protest when nelson mandela addressed a joint session of congress. and just in case you think this was posturing, no, which was jesse helms to the bone. care moseley braun, the only african-american woman ever elected to the united states senate offered this anecdote. she got into an elevator with senator helms and he started
something nice about jesse helms, who lest we forget was a good southern democrat for many, many years before he became a good southern republican. holding those same views. but i think there are so many other individuals that ted cruz and many others in this party can speak to. everett dickerson, the conservative from illinois who championed the civil rights act. edward brooks, the first african-american elected but michael, this is the problem. there are no everett dirks in big events because that s not where the base is at. understood. and i think that s where the party needs to recognize it is and where it needs to move to. it needs to understand its history and put it in the proper context. you know, a hundred jesse helms or strom thurmonds in the united states senate does not broadening the party make. does not inclusion make. does not send the kind of message to not just folks who aren t in the tent with us, but to those who are already inside the tent, that you re not rea