Editing Jesse Helms (section)

==Fifth Senate term (1997–2003)==
[[File:Joe Biden and Jesse Helms.jpg|thumb|right|Helms with [[Joe Biden]] in 1999]]

===Weld ambassadorial nomination===
The summer of 1997 saw Helms engage in a protracted, high-profile battle to block the nomination of [[William Weld]], Republican [[Governor of Massachusetts]],<ref name="Controversial Pivot">{{cite book |title=The Controversial Pivot |url=https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe |url-access=registration |last=Ornstein |first=Norman |editor-first=Rafael Fernández |editor-last=de Castro |year=1998 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0-8157-6923-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/controversialpiv00robe/page/97 97] |chapter=The New Congress }}</ref> as [[United States Ambassador to Mexico|Ambassador to Mexico]], refusing to hold a committee meeting to schedule a confirmation hearing. Although he did not make a formal statement of his reason,<ref name="Controversial Pivot" /> Helms did criticize Weld's support for [[Medical cannabis|medical marijuana]],<ref name="Bill and Jesse">{{cite news |first=William F. |last=Buckley |author-link=William F. Buckley, Jr |title=Bill and Jesse |work=[[National Review]] |date=September 1, 1997 }}</ref><ref name="Insulting the Crocodile">{{cite news |first=Maureen |last=Dowd |author-link=Maureen Dowd |title=Insulting the Crocodile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/30/opinion/insulting-the-crocodile.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 30, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> which Senate conservatives saw as incompatible with Mexico's key role in the [[War on Drugs]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Steven Lee |last=Myers |title=Helms to Oppose Weld as Nominee for Ambassador |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/04/us/helms-to-oppose-weld-as-nominee-for-ambassador.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 4, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> Weld attacked Helms's politics, saying, "I am not Senator Helms's kind of Republican. I do not pass his litmus test on social policy. Nor do I want to."<ref>Link (2008), p. 447</ref> This opened Helms to counter on Weld's positions on [[abortion]], [[gay rights]], and other issues on which he had a liberal position.<ref name="Bill and Jesse" /> Other factors, such as Weld's noncommittal position on Helms's chairmanship during his [[United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1996|1996 Senate campaign]] and Weld's wife's donation to the Gantt campaign,<ref>{{cite news |first=Scot |last=Lehigh |title=$199 Gift to Helms's Rival May Cost Weld Lots More |work=[[The Boston Globe]] |date=August 5, 1997 }}</ref> made the nomination personal and less cooperative.<ref>Link (2008), p. 446–7</ref> Held up in the committee by Helms, despite Weld resigning his governorship to concentrate on the nomination and a petition signed by most senators,<ref name="Insulting the Crocodile" /><ref>{{cite news |first=Sara |last=Rimer |title=It's Mexico or Bust as Restless Massachusetts Governor Resigns |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/us/it-s-mexico-or-bust-as-restless-massachusetts-governor-resigns.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 29, 1997 |access-date=July 9, 2009}}</ref> his nomination died.

=== Cuba ===
In January 1998, Helms endorsed a legislative proposal by the Cuban-American National Foundation to provide $100 million worth of food and medicine so long as Havana could promise the assistance would not be allocated to government stores or officials of the Communist Party.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/31/world/food-aid-for-cubans-backed-by-helms.html|title=Food Aid for Cubans Backed by Helms|date=January 31, 1998|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> In the same statement, Helms said Pope [[John Paul II|John Paul II's]] visit to Cuba had "created a historic opportunity for bold action" in the country.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/02/01/helms-backs-aid-to-cuba-proposed-by-exile-group/becccb36-8b65-40fb-9184-91c544dd25d0/|title=Helms backs aid to cuba proposed by exile group|date=February 1, 1998|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> On May 15, Helms announced a proposal of $100 million aid package for Cuba that would provide food and medical assistance to the Cuban people by the Roman Catholic Church and politically independent relief organizations. Helms stated the proposal would hurt Castro's regime if he either accepted or rejected it and the proposal was endorsed by more than twenty senators from both parties.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/15/world/helms-plans-100-million-aid-package-for-cuba.html|title=Helms Plans $100 Million Aid Package for Cuba|date=May 15, 1998|first=David|last=Stout|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> In his memoir, Helms stated the only reason Castro was able to maintain leadership in Cuba was the direct result of the Clinton administration not making his removal an objective of its foreign policy.<ref name=Helms265 /> He asserted the administration should have worked to develop strategies to undermine Castro and instead spent years "wasting precious time and energy on a senseless debate over whether to lift the Cuban embargo unilaterally".<ref name=Helms265>{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=265–266|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}</ref>

Helms saw the Bush administration as "understanding of the nature" of Castro and his crimes and stated his hope that an American president would eventually be able to visit Cuba at a time when the latter country and the United States could welcome each other as friends and trading partners.<ref name=Helms265 />
In May 2001, Helms cosponsored legislation with Connecticut Democrat [[Joe Lieberman]] granting $100 million in aid to both government critics and independent workers in Cuba during the period of the following four years and said the aim of the bill was to provide financial assistance to domestic opponents of the Cuban government so that they could continue their work.<ref name=CubaMay2001 /> The legislation was "the first major legislative proposal by hard-line critics" since the Helms–Burton Act and Helms promoted its enactment in a statement by saying it would see the United States government "move beyond merely isolating the Castro regime" which could be undermined "by finding bold, proactive and creative programs to help those working for change on the island".<ref name=CubaMay2001>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/16/world/helms-and-lieberman-seek-to-aid-dissidents-in-cuba.html|title=Helms and Lieberman Seek to Aid Dissidents in Cuba|first=Christopher|last=Marquis|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 16, 2001}}</ref> In July, President Bush announced his intent to waive a portion of the Helms–Burton Act authorizing lawsuits against businesses operating in Cuba for six months in the national interest of the US and to aid administration efforts to "expedite the transition to democracy in Cuba". Helms released a statement defending Bush, saying "it would be wise to consider the other salutary initiatives that the president is putting into force" before criticizing the decision and credited Bush with "taking a very tough line which is certain to make Fidel Castro squirm".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/07/16/bush.cuba/index.html|title=Bush waives controversial portion of Helms-Burton law|date=July 16, 2001|publisher=CNN}}</ref>

===Final Senate years===
[[File:President George W. Bush Signs Iraq Resolution.jpg|thumb|right|Helms watches [[President of the United States|President]] [[George W. Bush]] sign H.J. Resolution 114 authorizing the use of force against Iraq in 2002.]]
In January 1997, during the confirmation hearings for Secretary of State nominee [[Madeleine Albright]], Helms stated President Clinton's first term had left adversaries of the United States in doubt of their resolve and that "a lot of Americans" were praying she would issue in a change during her tenure.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/01/09/at-albrights-confirmation-hearing-differences-are-smoothed-over/1c515f9e-86d5-4005-b1cc-ba5d217acdce/|title=At Albright's Confirmation Hearing, Differences Are Smoothed Over |first=Thomas W.|last=Lippman|date=January 9, 1997|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Two months later, after being confirmed, Albright traveled with Helms to his boyhood home and the Jesse Helms Center for discussions on the treaty to ban chemical arms, Helms afterward saying the pair would not have any issues if they continued being able to cooperate but stressed that the treaty would not assist with protecting Americans.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/03/26/albright-peace-mission-takes-her-to-helms-turf/|title=Albright Peace Mission Takes Her To Helms' Turf|first=David S.|last=Cloud|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> In a March 1998 letter to Albright, Helms stated his opposition "to the creation of a permanent U.N. criminal court" and the United Nations becoming "a sovereign entity", Helms spokesman Marc Thiessen confirming concerns of the senator "that a permanent tribunal will turn into a petty claims court that will spend its time taking up complaints about the United States" and thereby serve the function of the General Assembly.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/27/world/helms-vows-to-make-war-on-un-court.html|title=Helms Vows To Make War On U.N. Court|first=Barbara|last=Crossette|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 27, 1998 }}</ref>

In September 1997, amid the Senate voting to repeal a $50 billion tax break for the tobacco industry, Helms joined [[Mitch McConnell]] and [[Lauch Faircloth]] in being one of three senators to vote against the amendment.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/11/us/senate-repeals-tax-break-for-the-tobacco-industry.html|title=Senate Repeals Tax Break For the Tobacco Industry|first=Lizette|last=Alvarez|date=September 11, 1997|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>

In January 1998, President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky became public. Helms found the revelation "damning", having little patience for sexual transgressions and said anyone that would advocate President Clinton's "should be excused, already announced their total lack of character".<ref name=Link443>{{harvnb|Link|2008|p=[https://archive.org/details/righteouswarrior00link_0/page/443 443]}}</ref> In remarks the following month, Helms stated the scandal had left him saddened for the United States and President Clinton's daughter [[Chelsea Clinton|Chelsea]]. Helms exercised caution on the impeachment issue, refraining from announcing his vote until right before Clinton's Senate trial in January of the following year.<ref name=Link443 /> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' noted Helms as the only one of the nine senators who had by then served a quarter century to vote in favor of Lewinsky making an appearance before the chamber.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/journal020599.htm|title=Thurmond Leads in a Resounding 'No'|first=David Von|last=Drehle|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> In his memoir, Helms stated that his vote against Clinton was not personal and that he understood "the fallibility of every human, and the power of Grace", but that he was unwilling to deny the Constitution not allowing "gradients of wrongdoing" since Clinton was proven to have lied under oath.<ref name=Helms197>{{cite book|title=Here's where I Stand: A Memoir|pages=197–198|first=Jesse|last=Helms|year=2005|isbn=978-0375508844|publisher=Random House}}</ref>

In March 1998, after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to add Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Helms predicted the resolution would pass overwhelmingly in the full chamber and said the vote was a testament to "confidence in the democracies of Eastern Europe".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/04/world/key-senate-panel-passes-resolution-to-expand-nato.html|title=Key Senate Panel Passes Resolution to Expand NATO  |first=Steven|last=Erlanger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 4, 1998 }}</ref>

In May 1998, while delivering remarks to Therma, Inc. employees, President Clinton listed Helms as one of the senators who had aided the intent of [[Partnership for Peace]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1998-book1/html/PPP-1998-book1-doc-pg653-2.htm|title=Remarks at a Roundtable Discussion With Employees of Therma, Inc., in San Jose, California|date=May 1, 1998|first=Bill|last=Clinton|author-link=Bill Clinton|publisher=Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States}}</ref>

While the United States cast one of four votes against the [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]], adopted by a 120 to 4 vote in July 1998, President Clinton signed the Statute for the United States. However, Helms was strident in his opposition and let it be known that any attempt to have the Senate ratify the Statute would be "dead on arrival" at the Foreign Relations Committee. He also introduced the [[American Service-Members' Protection Act]], adopted by Congress in 2002 "to protect United States military personnel and other elected and appointed officials of the United States government against criminal prosecution by an international criminal court to which the United States is not party".

In June 1999, after President Clinton nominated [[Richard Holbrooke]] for [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations]], the Clinton administration expressed concerns with Helms's silence on whether he would allow a vote on Holbrooke's nomination.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/17/world/helms-has-white-house-worried-about-its-un-nomination.html|title=Helms Has White House Worried About Its U.N. Nomination|first=Philip|last=Shenon|date=June 17, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> In a June 5 statement, Helms announced the date of the four hearings and that Holbrooke would be questioned regarding his career, specifically his mediating role in negotiations of the Bosnia accords with [[President of Yugoslavia]] [[Slobodan Milošević]]. Helms added that he could not "recall another Cabinet-level nomination sent to this committee with so much ethical baggage attached to it".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/05/world/crisis-balkans-senate-helms-start-four-hearings-holbrooke-june-17.html|title=Crisis in the Balkans: The Senate; Helms to Start Four Hearings On Holbrooke On June 17|date=June 5, 1999|first=Philip|last=Shenon|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> During the confirmation hearings, Helms stated that Holbrooke had violated the law repeatedly. In response, Holbrooke apologized and admitted to his "misconceptions" regarding ethics, Helms afterward expressing optimism toward the nomination as a result of Holbrooke's remorse.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/18/world/helms-prods-holbrooke-and-receives-a-concession.html|title=Helms Prods Holbrooke And Receives A Concession|first=Philip|last=Shenon|date=June 18, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> Three months later, after President Clinton nominating former Senator [[Carol Moseley-Braun]] for [[United States Ambassador to New Zealand]], Helms released a statement saying the "nomination comes to the Senate with an ethical cloud hanging over Ms. Moseley-Braun" and questioned if her record had even been examined by the Clinton administration. An article published around the same time as the statement by ''[[Roll Call (newspaper)|Roll Call]]'' indicated Helms would prevent the nomination unless Moseley-Braun "amends for past slights" such as her opposition to the renewal of the emblem for the Daughters of the Confederacy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/10/18/senate-foreign-relations-committee-chairman-jesse-helms/|title=Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms...|date=October 18, 1999|newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> Helms subsequently demanded documents relating to Moseley-Braun's ethical charges and delayed confirmation hearings until receiving them. On November 9, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to endorse Moseley-Braun 17 to 1, Helms being the lone vote against the nomination.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/09/world/senate-panel-clears-moseley-braun-appointment-as-ambassador.html|title=Senate Panel Clears Moseley-Braun Appointment as Ambassador|date=November 9, 1999|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref> When the Senate voted to confirm Moseley-Braun, Helms was joined by [[Peter Fitzgerald (politician)|Peter Fitzgerald]], who defeated Moseley-Braun in her re-election bid, in being the only two senators to vote against her.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/11/11/senate-oks-new-title-for-former-colleague/|title=Senate Oks New Title For Former Colleague|date=November 11, 1999|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|first=Mike|last=Dorning}}</ref>

In 2000, [[Bono]] sought out Jesse Helms to discuss increasing American aid to Africa. In Africa, AIDS is a disease that is primarily transmitted heterosexually, and Helms sympathized with Bono's description of "the pain it is bringing to infants and children and their families".<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Time |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187308,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060529110536/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1187308,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 29, 2006 |title= Bono |date=April 30, 2006 |first=Jesse|last=Helms}}</ref> Helms insisted that Bono involve the international community and private sector, so that relief efforts would not be paid for by "just Americans".<ref>{{cite news|work= [[The Charlotte Observer]]|first= Charles|last= Hurt|title= Helms Brings Hollywood to the Hill|url= http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm|date= March 14, 2002|access-date= August 29, 2008|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080906203351/http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm|archive-date= September 6, 2008}}</ref> Helms coauthored a bill authorizing $600 million for international AIDS relief efforts. In 2002, Helms announced that he was ashamed to have done so little during his Senate career to fight the worldwide spread of AIDS, and pledged to do more during his last few months in the Senate. Helms spoke with special appreciation of the efforts of [[Janet Museveni]], first lady of [[Uganda]], for her efforts to stop the spread of AIDS through a campaign based on "biblical values and sexual purity".<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Wagner |title=Helms admits 'shame' over inaction on AIDS |url=http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm |work=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, NC |date=February 21, 2002 |access-date=August 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080906203351/http://bellsouthpwp.net/w/a/watts4u2/bono_and_jesse_helms.htm |archive-date=September 6, 2008 }}</ref> Helms also was a proponent in trying to dissolve the United States Agency for International Development.<ref>Brainard, et al, 2003, The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account, Washington DC: Brooklings Institution and Center for Global Development, p.187</ref>

In January 2001, Helms stated he would support an increase in international assistance on the condition that all future aid from the United States be provided to the needy by private charities and religious groups as opposed to a government agency, and endorsed abolishing the [[United States Agency for International Development]] and concurrently transferring its 7 billion in annual aid to another foundation which would give grants to private relief groups.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/politics/helms-wants-religious-groups-to-funnel-foreign-aid.html|title=Helms Wants Religious Groups to Funnel Foreign Aid|first=Eric|last=Schmitt|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 11, 2001 }}</ref>

In March 2002, Helms and Democrat [[Joe Biden]], in their positions as the ranking members of their parties on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, submitted a letter to the Bush administration demanding the Senate receive any nuclear arms reductions with Russia as a formal treaty.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/17/world/senators-insist-on-role-in-nuclear-arms-deals.html?mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=7DB969DD2F0B8CA1FA53D7463FE1DDA9&gwt=pay|title=Senators Insist on Role in Nuclear Arms Deals|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 17, 2002}}</ref>

===Retirement===
Because of recurring health problems, including bone disorders, prostate cancer and heart disease, Helms did not seek re-election in 2002. His Senate seat was won by Republican  [[Elizabeth Dole]].