Both were reared during the hard times of the Depression, served their country during World War II and forged high-profile careers in the Triangle.

Both came to be seen as elder statesmen -- even the state's grandfathers -- although usually not by the same set of people.

Helms was born in 1921, and Friday in 1920. They were reared about 55 miles apart: Helms in the Union County town of Monroe, Friday in the Gaston County town of Dallas. They even share the same biographer, William Link, a University of Florida historian.

Helms, the five-term U.S. senator (1973-2003) and conservative icon, passed away this month.

Friday, who was an influential president of the University of North Carolina system (1956-86), turned 88 this month.

In many ways, Helms and Friday were living embodiments of North Carolina's dual nature.

Helms was the voice of the state's past -- its rural independence, its small town conservatism, its traditional morality, and its old ways on race.

Friday represents the emerging North Carolina -- the more urban part of the state with its knowledge-based industries, its universities and its modern views on race.

Helms was often a critic of UNC, which he saw as the symbol of the state's liberalism. In the 1960s, Helms and Friday were on opposite sides of the Speaker Ban law, which banned Communist-connected speakers from UNC campuses. Helms supported it, while Friday opposed it.

They also lined up differently on one of the most traumatic elections in North Carolina history -- the 1950 Democratic Senate primary. Frank Porter Graham, a former UNC president and the South's leading liberal, was defeated by Raleigh attorney Willis Smith.

The race became infamous because of the race-baiting and red-baiting tactics used to defeat Graham. Helms backed Smith, and Friday was close to Graham.

One might have thought they would be bitter foes. But that was not the case. This is the South. And in the 1950s and 1960s, North Carolina was a smaller place, where the leaders all tended to know each other and made an effort to get along. Both had the gift of friendship and both were famous for writing personal notes and reaching out to people by telephone.

"We started a friendship as college freshmen at Wake Forest in 1937 and maintained that friendship through a lifetime," Friday recently recalled. "We didn't always agree, but Jesse always did what he could to help me and the university."

When Helms was doing commentaries on WRAL, he had Friday fill in for him in five episodes. Friday interviewed Helms on his public television program, "North Carolina People," which he continues to host.

"We knew where each other stood," Friday said. "There was no point in being antagonistic with one another."

Helms was essentially a working-class politician who rose to power with the votes of working people. Friday never ran for political office, although he was tempted in 1986 to run for the U.S. Senate. But Friday was a master of inside politics, able to move easily in the world of the state's movers and shakers to protect the UNC system, the state's crown jewel.

More than any other two individuals, Helms and Friday were the two faces of North Carolina.