History Forum / General / What If / July 2008

With the recent passing of former Sen. Jesse Helms, I am surprised to
see no new WIs done
yet on the infamous North Carolina curmudgeon and "last segregationist
in the Senate". Helms
is no stranger to AH, having wound up as POTUS in a Steve Erickson
short story, and has
undoubtably come up in SHWI before.

So, I thought of my own POD regarding "Senator No":

Helms' Dem opponent, Congressman Nick Galiflinakis (D-Durham), defeats
Helms in
1972 for the Senate. Helms won by a 54-46 margin ; let's say that
Jesse's "He's one
of us" doesn't work, and that the McGovern campaign galvanizes
students in Chapel
Hill, Raleigh, and Durham to vote for Galiflanakis enough to offset
Helms' fame on
WRAL. Don't know much about Galiflanakis, but there's a pretty
interesting knock-on
here:

"The support of Jesse Helms, alongside Raleigh-based campaign
operative Tom
Ellis, was instrumental in Ronald Reagan winning the 1976 North
Carolina primary
and later presenting a major challenge to President Gerald Ford at the
1976
Republican National Convention. According to author Craig Shirley, the
two
men, after Reagan and Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, deserve the most
credit
"for breathing life into the dying Reagan campaign."[6]

Going into the North Carolina primary, Reagan lost all the opening
primaries of
the year, including in New Hampshire where he had been favored, and
was two
million dollars in debt with a growing chorus of Republican leaders
calling for his
exit. A massive grassroots effort formed by Ellis and backed by
Senator Helms
was able to deliver an upset victory in North Carolina, with Reagan
taking 100,984
votes (53.4%) to President Ford's 88,249 (46.6%.) Despite the
financial woes of
the national Reagan campaign, the momentum generated in North
Carolina
carried Ronald Reagan to primary wins in Texas, his home state of
California
and other critical states, throwing Ford back on his heels and forcing
undeclared
delegates to choose the nominee at the 1976 convention.

Despite the loss for Reagan at the 1976 Republican National
Convention, several
contend that the intervention of Senator Helms and Tom Ellis arguably
led to the
most important conservative primary victory in the history of the
Republican Party,
and was the victory that enabled Ronald Reagan to contest the 1976
Republican
Presidential nomination, and later to win the Presidential nomination
at the 1980
Republican National Convention and then the Presidency of the United
States.
According to Craig Shirley,

"Had Reagan lost North Carolina, despite his public pronouncements,
his
revolutionary challenge to Ford, along with his political career,
would have
ended unceremoniously. He would have made a gracious exit speech, cut
a deal with the Ford forces to eliminate his campaign debt, made a
minor
speech at the Kansas City Convention later that year, and returned to
his
ranch in Santa Barbara. He would probably have only reemerged to make
speeches and cut radio commercials to supplement his income. And
Reagan would have faded into political oblivion."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Helms

So, does no Helms as US Senator mean that Reagan exits the 1976 race
and with it, electoral politics? Any impact on Ford's campaign if
Reagan's
insurgent challenge gets shut down early? Could this be enough to get
Ford re-elected, as he wouldn't have to deal with a challenge from
within
his own party?

Is a loss for the Senate going to cure Helms of the political bug? The
only
position he'd previously held was on the Raleigh City Council.
Perhaps
Helms runs against Jim Hunt for governor in 1976 or against Jim Green
for Lieutenant Governor that same year? Or runs for the Senate to
fill Sam Erwin's seat in 1974? Any ideas?

Best
Stan B.

ObWI: The USSR shoots down KAL 015 (the plane carrying Helms to a
conference in South Korea) rather than KAL 007 (the plane just ahead
of it by 15 minutes) on September 1, 1983. Who does Governor Hunt
appoint to fill Helms' seat? Terry Sanford, perhaps?