LEARN NC

North Carolina History Digital Textbook Project

Brown versus Board of Education: Rhetoric and realities

By Kristin Post

1.3 Using the Jesse Helms interview

Introductory script

The following is a short excerpt from a 1974 interview between Jack Bass and North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. This interview took place during his first term. If you were to listen to the entire Jesse Helms and George Wallace interviews, you would find many similarities, even though they belong to different parties and serve different states. In the upcoming excerpt, you will hear the interviewer ask about “anti-busing” and state that critics believe it is used to agitate voters rather than address a serious issue. Listen closely to the wording Helms uses. Does his attitude appeal to you?

The recording

Play the Jesse Helms oral history excerpt. Running time: 59 seconds.

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Transcript

Jack Bass
You know, your critics—some of your critics say that when you bring up anti-busing, that in effect it’s arousing traditional Southern racial fears and antagonisms.
Jesse Helms
Baloney. They know they’re talking through their hats. It’s nothing Southern about it. They ought to see how the folks in New York feel about it, in the case they’re being bossed—bused. Boss is right too.
Jack Bass
Without the Southern part, how about their charge that it does arouse racial antagonisms and fears?
Jesse Helms
Well, baloney again, because the surveys show that 80—87 percent, isn’t it? 87 percent of the Negro parents polled objected to forced busing. I’ve not had one black to write to me saying that he wanted forced busing for his child. We have had many blacks to write to us saying, “Senator, I didn’t vote for you, but you’re right about this. I prefer my child to walk to school.”

Follow-up questions: Jesse Helms

  1. What similarities can you hear between Helms and Wallace, and their statements on busing?
  2. What logic does Helms use to debunk the idea that busing is a regional issue?
  3. What logic does he use to debunk the idea that it is a racial issue?
  4. What does Helms say is most important to the people who write him?
  5. Given what you know about Senator Helms, how do you interpret his argument in reference to support from “Negro parents”?