That’s Right Nate

It is perhaps one of the single most amazing moments in US history that on July 4, 1826 on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence that founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.  We can add two more patriots to the list of great patriots that died on July 4th with Jesse Helms and Larry Harmon.

Jesse Helms was a very influential Republican Senator.  For 25 years he acted as Senator from North Carolina where he followed in the footsteps of such conservatives as Barry Goldwater in the Conservative movement that brought Ronald Reagan to power.  He helped to bring many Southern Republicans into congress during his time in the Senate.

Jesse Helms was most noted for his support for the tobacco industry, his opposition to aids funding, his support of Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet and El Salvadoran hero and deathsquad leader Roberto D’aubisson whom Helms described as a “free enterprise man and deeply religious.”

Larry Harmon by contrast was an entertainer.   For over 50 years he acted as Bozo the Clown following in the footsteps of Pinto Colvig, Bozo’s originator.  He trained an army of over 200 Bozos to act as the clown locally.

Mr. Harmon became caught up in a minor controversy in 2004 when the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee took down a plaque honoring him as Bozo and formally cited Mr. Colvig with creating the role. Mr. Harmon denied ever misrepresenting Bozo’s history. He said he was claiming credit only for what he added to the character — “What I sound like, what I look like, what I walk like,” he said — and what he did to popularize Bozo.

Both men meant a great deal to this country and both men were famous for their sense of humor.  One story about Jesse Helms particularly showed his prankster side, “Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, “Watch me make her cry. I’m going to make her cry. I’m going to sing Dixie until she cries.” He then proceeded to sing the song about “the good life” during slavery to Mosely-Braun.” Bozo by contrast exhibited his prankster side in Chicago by playing tricks on his sidekick Cookie.

There was no word on the last words of either great America, but it seems to me that like Thomas Jefferson, it would have been fitting for Jesse Helms to expire with the epitath, “At least Bozo still lives.”