North Carolina may never have another figure like Jesse Helms, the hard-shell conservative editorialist who became the state's most popular politician before retiring from the U.S. Senate six years ago. He rose to fame as a race-baiter, became the first legislator to address the United Nations, exploited social issues and then teamed with a rock star to expand global AIDS funding.

UNC-TV airs a review of his remarkable career, "Senator No: Jesse Helms," tonight at 9 p.m. An excellent Web site is at www.unctv.org/senatorno.

A 90-minute documentary on the state's longest-serving U.S. senator (1972-2002), it traces his life from childhood in Monroe to his election as the state's first Republican senator in the 20th century and his rise as the leader of the New Right before making a course adjustment at the end of his career.
I spoke with John Wilson, the independent filmmaker who produced the documentary. Here's some of what he had to say:
Q. How did this documentary come about? When I was making "Dr. Frank" (about the late U.S. Sen. and UNC President Frank Porter Graham) in the mid 1990s, I became especially interested in Helms because of his role ... in the 1950 Senate campaign. He first agreed to an interview and then he said, I know you plan to be objective but so many people (in the media) have told me that and they lied through their teeth, so I'm not going to. You can call (newspaper editor) Hoover Adams for anything you need. ...
After "Dr. Frank" aired, Hoover Adams called me and said Sen. Helms had called him and said it was very fair and accurate. I asked him to call Helms back and see if he would let me make a film on him ... and lo and behold, he agreed to cooperate. ... I sort of got the feeling we may have approached him at the right time.
Q. Do you think Jesse Helms was thinking about his image when you interviewed him? Rob Christensen says in the documentary that Helms became very concerned at the end and he didn't want to be remembered as a race-baiting, gay-baiting politician. My only problem with saying that he was becoming conscious of his image (in 1995) is that it may have been too early. ... But I just sort of got a sense that was the beginning of the period in which Helms was becoming more conscious.
Q. What surprised you? I was surprised Helms agreed to the meeting with (U-2 rock star) Bono and that he made the limited changes he did on international AIDS funding. ... His initial feeling was, "Who is this guy? Why should I meet with him?" And his staff told him to go home and ask his grandchildren. ...
The dramatic story that both of those men told about their interaction, how something happened in that room between the two of them ... (to focus on AIDS funding) I found fascinating. How could the same Jesse Helms who as recently as 1995 was saying that AIDS was caused by deliberate, disgusting behavior publicly say (in 2002) that he was ashamed about how he handled the international AIDS epidemic?
Helms made it clear he did not have any change of heart about homosexuals and AIDS. ... He made it clear he thought homosexuals were responsible for the spread of the AIDS virus in the United States.
Q. What was your impression about Sen. Helms when you started? From the outset my goal with this film was to make it engaging and informative for people regardless of their prior feelings about Helms ... to keep Helms lovers and Helms haters watching this film from end to end. ... I've heard some people who love Helms say, "Now I understand why some people hate him." And I've heard the same thing from the other side, Helms haters who say they see why some people loved him.
There are a lot of shades of gray in Jesse Helms' story. It's not all black and white. ... His personality, his charisma in dealing with individuals around the U.S. Capitol and in his office and on the campaign trail really are remarkable. ... I had heard about that but until I experienced it firsthand I don't think I was able to appreciate that.
Q. What's your take on whether he really changed? Helms was pretty linear up to 1999. He hadn't changed on the race issue, he had never changed on AIDS. But there are limited signs of change from 2000 through 2002 that I found fascinating. ...
There are those who'll say it was Helms polishing his image for the history books. ... As he says in the film, "Perhaps I'm too conscious of going to meet my maker."
I'm not trying to interpret what that meant, but I am trying to present in as accurate a way as possible what happened.
Q. What was the most interesting part of this for you? Comparing the accounts of Helms, (campaign adviser Tom) Ellis and (director of the National Congressional Club Carter) Wrenn about the strategies and tactics of the Congressional Club and the campaigns, hearing Helms' explanation for the manner in which race was repeatedly a factor in his campaign, not for any deliberate reason to hear Helms tell it, and then for Wrenn to say that it was deliberate.
We wanted at every possible juncture to give Helms the opportunity to speak for himself ... and in so doing attempting to be fair and ultimately more revealing. ...
Jack Betts