Editing Jesse Helms (section)

=== National Endowment for the Arts ===
In 1989, the [[National Endowment for the Arts]] awarded grants for a retrospective of [[Robert Mapplethorpe]] photographs, some of which containing homosexual themes, in addition to a museum in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]], supporting an exhibition that featured an image by [[Andres Serrano]] of a crucifix suspended in urine.<ref name=NEA1991/> These images caused an uproar and marked the National Endowment for the Arts becoming "a favorite target for Mr. Helms and other conservative senators who have objected to the work of some of the artists who have received Government grants."<ref name=NEA1991>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/20/arts/senate-votes-to-limit-arts-grants.html|title=Senate Votes to Limit Arts Grants|date=September 20, 1991|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-18-ca-2388-story.html|title='NEA Four' Grant Denial Questioned : Arts: ACLU claims transcripts indicate grants were denied on political, not artistic, grounds.|first=Dennis|last=McDougal|date=September 18, 1991}}</ref> In September 1989, Helms met with [[John E. Frohnmayer]], President Bush's appointee for Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.<ref name=LATimes1989/> While neither spoke publicly about the meeting, Helms reportedly made it clear that he considered his opposition to certain N.E.A. grants to be an election issue, and his opposition would continue after the next election.<ref name=LATimes1989>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-22-ca-775-story.html|title=Government and the Arts : The Man Who Would Be Arts King|first=Allan|last=Parachini|date=September 22, 1989|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

In September 1991, Helms charged the National Endowment for the Arts with financing art that would turn "the stomach of any normal person" while proposing an amendment to an appropriations bill forbidding the usage of the grants for the N.E.A. in promoting material that would be deemed as depicting "sexual or excretory activities or organs" in an "offensive way".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/opinion/corn-porn-and-the-nea.html|title=Corn, Porn and the N.E.A.|date=October 27, 1991|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> On September 20, the Senate voted 68 to 28 in favor of the amendment.<ref name=NEA1991/> The same night, Helms withdrew another amendment that changed the financing formula of the N.E.A. to funneling over half of its grant money through states as opposed to the Washington headquarters and would see a reduction in the New York fiscal year appropriation from its 26 million to just over 7 million.<ref name=NEA1991/>