| Explore the life and times of Jesse Helms from his childhood through his 60-year career as a journalist and United State senator.
October 18, 1921
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr., is born in the small town of Monroe, N.C. to Ethel Mae Helms and Jesse Helms, Sr. The Helmses are fundamentalist Southern Baptists, and they teach young Jesse to take the Bible literally. With a fourth-grade education, Jesse Sr. struggles to support his family, working as a police officer and assistant fire chief of Monroe. The town is roughly one-third African American and completely segregated.
1928
Miss Lura Heath, daughter of a Confederate major, teaches Jesse and his fellow first graders that the Civil War was a matter of states’ rights rather than slavery.
1929
The stock market crashes in October, the same month Jesse celebrates his eighth birthday. A cotton-selling town, Monroe falls hard when the market price plummets from 45 cents to 5 cents a pound.
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