"Senator Helms not only speaks for the tens of millions of Americans who don't trust the foreign-policy establishment, he also opens the door to a true national consensus behind important foreign-policy goals," Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in The New York Times.
As a staunch anti-Communist and opponent of Cuban President Fidel Castro, Helms sponsored the Helms-Burton Act in 1996, which extended the U.S. embargo of Cuba.
Helms also served on the Senate Agriculture Committee and on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Helms did not seek re-election in 2002, citing multiple health problems, including bouts with heart disease and prostate cancer.
Helms married the former Dorothy Jane Coble. They had three children and seven grandchildren.
ABC News' Russell Goldman contributed to this report.
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