A Letter from the Publisher: Sep. 14, 1981

Though the movement has become widely known as the New Right, the resurgence of conservative American politics draws much of its strength from some familiar—if not downright old-fashioned—values. For the three-man team that reported this week's cover story on conservative Senator Jesse Helms, the assignment involved a return to familiar ground as well. Atlanta Bureau Chief Joseph Boyce set out to reconstruct Helms' early political background by interviewing the Senator's friends and associates in the North Carolina capital of Raleigh and in Helms' boyhood home of Monroe. Boyce was well suited to assess the small-town rhythms of Monroe, with its old courthouse dominating the square and its passion for politics; he was reared in the very similar town of Danville, Ill., seat of the legendary Speaker of the House Joe Cannon. Says Boyce: "Politics aside, I could understand why those who knew Helms as a youth still speak of him with a pride that is only a touch vicarious. Conservatism is deeply rooted in towns like Monroe. For Helms to be other than he is would be to renounce his heritage."

Los Angeles Correspondent Joseph Kane was no stranger to Helms' home-grown style of politics either. Kane, who served as Atlanta bureau chief from 1970 to 1973, covered Helms during his first Senate campaign in 1972 and at the Republican convention last year. This time Kane spent five days with Helms at home and on the job and accompanied him to a Sunday-morning church service. Kane was treated to some BURNETT—CONTACT Southern hospitality when he joined the Senator and some of his cronies for shrimp jambalaya, poker and stories at the Raleigh antebellum mansion of North Carolina Superior Court Judge Pou Bailey. Kane found the evening "fun but unprofitable": he lost $1.10.

Senior Correspondent John Stacks spoke with Helms' colleagues on Capitol Hill and journeyed to Raleigh to profile the Congressional Club, his extraordinary money machine. Observes Stacks:

"What is most fascinating about Helms is the unique amalgam of the old and the new in American politics that he represents. His personal style, his elaborate politeness and his reactionary ideals are out of an earlier era of Southern politics. Yet his political apparatus is the very essence of the new, nonparty politics of high technology."