Was Helms’ oft-cited slap at UNC ‘a fabrication’?

“Did Jesse Helms ever call UNC the ‘University of Negroes and Communists’?

“That line has been attributed to the late longtime U.S. senator for many years by many sources. John Dodd, president of the Jesse Helms Center in Wingate, says it is ‘a fabrication.’ ”

— From “Jesse Helms and the ‘University of Negroes and Communists’ “ by Taylor Batten in today’s Charlotte Observer

 

3 thoughts on “Was Helms’ oft-cited slap at UNC ‘a fabrication’?”

  1. The answer is in the North Carolina Collection! The transcripts of Helms’s “Viewpoint” editorials are available for use in the reading room. I’ve spent some time with these over the years, and I don’t recall seeing this comment from Helms. It sounds more likely to have been something said by “Chub” Seawell, the Carthage lawyer who occasionally filled in for Helms on WRAL and was much more colorful in his denunciations. Many of his editorials were also transcribed and are in the same volumes in the NCC. Who wants to dig in and get to the bottom of this?

  2. Sounds just like Chub. He was my 3rd cousin. in the mid ’70’s at a wake he asked me what I was doing after being discharged from the Navy. Told him I had re-enrolled at Carolina. His response “guess you’re majoring in the 5 W’s (We Won’t Work Will We). Never got along with him anyway.

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