1980

Now the largest political action committee in the country, the Congressional Club gives almost $5 million to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign.  The 1980 Republican platform contains over 30 Helms amendments and is the party's most conservative since 1964.  Reagan wins decisively over Jimmy Carter and Republicans take control of the Senate for the first time in 25 years.  A Helms/Congressional Club candidate named John East, an ultra-conservative East Carolina University professor who has never held political office, defeats incumbent Democratic Senator Robert Morgan for North Carolina’s junior seat.

1981

Helms opposes confirmation of Caspar Weinberger as Reagan’s secretary of defense claiming that Weinberger would not be tough enough on the Soviets.  

As the new chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Helms endorses Reagan's $2.3 billion cut from the $12.4 billion food stamps program, which the committee oversees, and later proposes doubling the cuts.  He angers Senate colleagues by advocating deep cuts in dairy and grain price supports while favoring tobacco price supports. 

1982

North Carolina Senators Helms and East reluctantly support the Senate version of the landmark $99 billion tax increase even though it doubles the cigarette tax from eight to sixteen cents a pack.  Though they oppose the final bill, they are labeled "the Tobacco Tax Twins" by opponents in North Carolina.

All five Congressional Club candidates running in November are defeated, the Club’s first net loss.  After the election, North Carolina Congressman Charles Rose accuses the Congressional Club of improperly funding conservative candidates, prompting an F.E.C. investigation.

1983

Polls show Helms trailing Democratic Governor Jim Hunt by almost 20% in a hypothetical 1984 matchup for Helms’s Senate seat. 

Helms leads opposition in Congress to the proposed Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Though only three senators from the old Confederacy join him in voting against the holiday, his opposition significantly raises his poll numbers.

1984

With the help of Ronald Reagan, who receives 62% of the 1984 North Carolina presidential vote, Helms wins a four-percentage-point victory over Jim Hunt.  It is the most expensive non-presidential campaign in American political history, with combined spending exceeding $25 million.

1985

Helms and the Congressional Club launch Fairness in Media, which mails a million letters asking conservatives to buy shares of CBS, which Helms deems the most liberal network.  Though the takeover effort fails, it is a fundraising bonanza for Helms and the Congressional Club.

Helms opposes sanctions on South Africa’s white, apartheid government, claiming that black leader Nelson Mandela is a Communist. 

1986

Helms angers the Reagan administration by visiting Chile and defending military dictator Augusto Pinochet at the same time the administration is pressuring Pinochet to cede power because of human rights abuses. 

Helms exercises his seniority to become ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  He controls the minority staff and budget, consults on hearings, is included in White House briefings, and is in line to take the gavel the next time Republicans regain the Senate.

The Congressional Club pays a $10,000 fine after the F.E.C. determines the Club has provided Republican candidates with the equivalent of illegal campaign contributions.

1989

Helms criticizes the National Endowment for the Arts for supporting the work of artists like Andres Serrano, who photographed a crucifix in urine, and Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs included homoerotic images.  Helms proposes an amendment to prevent the NEA from sponsoring “obscene or indecent” art.