DPA
Washington, July 4 (DPA) Former conservative Senator Jesse Helms, a staunch backer of racial apartheid and one-time chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, died Friday, a conservative think tank confirmed. Helms, 86, represented North Carolina in the Senate for 30 years. He led the resurgence of Republican conservatism in the US South as he opposed civil rights moves such as voting rights guarantees and the designation of Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday.

His death came July 4, the day Americans celebrate their independence from Britain.
DPA