Senate Balks Helms Attack on Sanctions

The Republican-controlled Senate strongly signaled its determination today to approve limited sanctions against South Africa and its system of racial segregation, voting 88 to 8 to crush a brief, conservative-led filibuster.

The lopsided vote followed an unusually sharp attack by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), who accused Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), the filibuster leader, of “unwittingly (serving) the cause of communism” by his opposition to sanctions.

“If the senator from North Carolina had been in the Senate 122 years ago, he probably would have opposed emancipation (of American slaves) because it would throw 4 million slaves out of work,” Cranston added.

Helms offered no response to the accusation, an unusually blunt denunciation of one senator by another.

Severity the Issue

Senate leaders said the issue was not whether the measure would pass but the severity of the sanctions it would contain.

As drafted, the bill contained what Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, termed “relatively minor” provisions. It would ban sales of computer materials used to enforce the apartheid system of racial segregation as well as halt U.S. nuclear assistance and bank loans to the South African government.

Several liberal senators said they would seek stiffer penalties on the Pretoria government to protest its apartheid racial practices. But conservatives, led by Helms, said they were ready with several proposed changes to dilute the effect of the measure.

Helms began his filibuster on Monday, saying he preferred the Reagan Administration’s policy of “constructive engagement” to any economic sanctions.