Former Senator Jesse Helms dies at 86

By Tom Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jesse Helms, a die-hard anti-communist firebrand who championed a wide range of conservative causes in his 30 years in the U.S. Senate, died early on Friday, aged 86, his foundation said.

A blunt-talking product of the Old South, the lawmaker from North Carolina was known as "Senator No" for opposing just about anything that obstructed his conservative view of the world. He retired in 2003 after five terms in the Senate.

Helms died at 1:15 a.m. in Raleigh, North Carolina, according to a notice on the Web site of the Jesse Helms Center, a foundation established to promote his legacy.

"Laura and I are deeply saddened by the passing of our good friend and a great American," President George W. Bush said in a statement. "Jesse Helms was a kind, decent, and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called 'the Miracle of America.'"

The one-time radio commentator turned congressional power broker pursued an ideological agenda that was anti-communist, anti-liberal, anti-gay and anti-affirmative action. He also held a deep distrust of international organizations and many foreign governments.

"He was one of the giants of the '80s and '90s in the United States Senate," former Republican Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi told Fox News.

For years, Helms played a key role in U.S. foreign policy as chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, embracing a strong U.S. national defense and what he regarded as a moral foreign policy.

This made the Republican curmudgeon a hero to fellow American conservatives, yet a villain at home and abroad to those who saw him as a symbol of U.S. isolationism and a foe of social progress. His name became synonymous with social conservatism.  Continued...