Editor's note: Sen. Jesse Helms passed away July 4, 2008.

Republican senator Gordon Smith, a golfing buddy of William Weld, gently lobbied Sen. Jesse Helms on behalf of Weld's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Mexico. So did GOP senator John Ashcroft of Missouri. Two moderate Republican senators, Olympia Snowe of Maine and John Chafee of Rhode Island, sent Helms a letter endorsing Weld. The Massachusetts governor himself demanded that Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, step aside and let his nomination proceed. Thirty-six other governors echoed Weld. Meanwhile, the Weld camp recruited conservatives to whisper kind words about Weld in Helms's ear. One who did, a North Carolina banker, insisted Weld had been an effective U.S. attorney in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, when the State Department asked Helms to meet privately with the nominee, the senator declined. "Why should I subject myself to that?" he said. If Weld drops by anyway, Helms added, he'll point the now-former governor and his press claque down the hall, where they can gather for a press conference. And Helms will retreat to his office, shut the door, and chuckle.

The hullabaloo in Washington over his unflinching opposition to Weld has scarcely fazed Helms. He won't respond to Weld's public fulminations. The Foreign Relations Committee's spokesman, Marc Thiessen, handles that, time and again citing Weld's support for "medical marijuana" and weak record in prosecuting drug cases as Helms's grounds for refusing even to convene a confirmation hearing. "I'm staying out of it," Helms told me. "The media, they want a feud. And they are for Weld. But it'll serve no useful purpose to let them have one. I don't let these stakeouts by TV stations from Boston bother me. I just walk right by." Not always. When he encountered a press stakeout after a committee session on July 30, Helms engaged in some brief repartee with a Boston reporter who asked about Weld's status. "Did you take any Latin in school?" Helms inquired. Yes, the reporter said. "Res ipsa loquitur," Helms shot back, and walked on. The phrase means: "The thing speaks for itself."

Next to Ronald Reagan, Jesse Helms is the most important conservative of the last 25 years, and episodes like this help reveal that Helms is the most inner-directed person in Washington. He has his own set of priorities, and he doesn't waver. He has a style all his own, too. He's invariably straightforward (invoking a Latin idiom was an aberration). He never softpedals or dilutes his conservatism, even in private. On Weld, the easy course would be to let the nomination sail through, which it would absent Helms's objection. But Helms doesn't shy from tough, unpopular stands. Indeed, his relentless, unswerving application of conservative principles to practically every issue is precisely what has made him a major player in Washington and national politics. Helms follows a simple formula: Implacability equals strength. It works. He can't be buffaloed -- or ignored. Even acting alone, Helms has enormous sway, as Weld has had to learn.