Opposition to Busing

In this 1974 interview, newly elected U.S. Senator Jesse Helms voiced his opposition to forced busing as a method of integrating schools in North Carolina.

In this interview, Helms denounced his critics who believed that his opposition to forced busing was racist. He argued that the courts and federal government were going about the issue the wrong way, and that forced busing was affecting the quality of schools in North Carolina. Helms believed that the courts and government were stripping away the right of parents to choose where their child went to school, and in the process were disrupting communities.

 

Credit text

Jesse Helms interviewed by Jack Bass, March 8, 1974. Interview A-0124. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.