Link is the author of Jesse Helms: Modern Conservatism and the Politics of Opposition. He will discuss his new book with Western Carolina University political science professor Christopher Cooper and The Assembly’s John Drescher at 6 p.m. on April 21 at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. These excerpts are published with permission from UNC Press. In early January 1973, Joe Biden, a newly elected, 30-year-old U.S. senator from Delaware, was sworn in along with Jesse Helms and 10 others.