Howard H. Baker Jr., 1925-
Political Summary:
Howard H. Baker, Jr. served three terms as a United States Senator from Tennessee (1967-1985) and was Tennessee's first popularly elected Republican Senator. He rose to national prominence during the Watergate Hearings of 1973-1974 as Vice Chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee, the highest ranking Republican on the Committee. He served as Minority Leader of the Senate from 1977-1981 and as Majority Leader from 1981 until he retired from the Senate at the end of this third term in January, 1985. He was a candidate for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination and served as President Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff in 1987-1988. For the next thirteen years he worked in several Tennessee law firms. In 2001 President George W. Bush appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Biography:
Howard Henry Baker, Jr. was born to Howard Henry Baker and Dora Ladd Baker on November 15, 1925 in Huntsville, Tennessee. His mother died when he was eight years old and his maternal grandmother, Lillie Ladd Mauser, helped raise him and his younger sister. When Howard Baker Jr. was eleven, his father married Irene Bailey. Howard Jr. attended primary and secondary public school in Huntsville before going to the McCallie School, a military preparatory school in Chattanooga, in 1941. He graduated from there in 1943 and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As a candidate in the Navy's V-12 officer training program, Baker studied electrical engineering at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and at Tulane University. During the summer and semester breaks he assumed naval duties. When his naval career ended Baker earned a law degree from the University of Tennessee Law School in Knoxville. During his senior year (1948-49) he served as student body president. After graduation he joined a law firm in Huntsville which had been started by his grandfather.
While practicing law, Baker was an active member of the Huntsville community. He was an active member of his church and belonged to a variety of civic groups. He also enjoyed several hobbies. Notably, Baker was an avid amateur photographer, and he remains one today. In 1950 he served as campaign manager for his father's successful bid for the United States House of Representatives. During his father's first term Baker met and began dating Joy Dirksen, daughter of Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen. Baker and Dirksen married in December, 1951. The couple established a home in Huntsville where Howard Jr. continued to practice law. The couple had a son, Darek, in 1953, and a daughter, Cynthia, in 1956. Baker's father served in the House until his death in 1963. After his father's death the people of Tennessee elected his stepmother, Irene, to complete the term.
As a young man Howard Baker Jr. did not have political ambitions. However, in 1964 he decided to run for the United States Senate in a special election to fill the vacancy created when Senator Estes Kefauver died. Baker narrowly lost this election to Democrat Ross Bass. In 1966 Baker ran again, this time winning fifty-six percent of the popular vote, making him Tennessee's first popularly elected Republican Senator.
During his first term Senator Baker helped pass legislation that enabled the federal government to share revenues with the states. He also helped draft the Clean Air Act and he played a key role in securing Tennessee as the location for the world's first nuclear breeder reactor power plant. Also during his first term he was twice narrowly defeated for Senate Minority Leader.
Tennessee's voters re-elected Baker in 1972. The Watergate Hearings occupied much of his time during the first half of his second term, and he was named to the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. Over the years Baker had become a friend and advisor to President Richard Nixon, yet he was determined to behave in an objective and non-partisan manner. During the nationally televised Watergate hearings Baker became best known for his repeated question "what did the President know and when did he know it?" Initially Baker believed Nixon to be innocent of wrongdoing, but as evidence to the contrary mounted Baker changed his mind. Although he angered some members of his party by contributing to the resignation of President Nixon, Baker's skill, style, and persistent search for the truth had earned him the respect of millions after the Watergate ordeal had ended.
Baker was the keynote speaker at the Republican convention in 1976, and was considered by Gerald Ford as a running-mate. In 1977 his Republican colleagues elected him Senate Minority Leader. During this time Baker helped revise the Clean Air Act, and he supported the Panama Canal Treaties. Baker won a third Senate term in 1978, and in 1980 he entered the presidential race. He withdrew from the race in March of that year and placed his support behind Ronald Reagan.
When the 1980 election gave control of the Senate to the Republican Party, Baker became Senate Majority Leader, a post he held until the end of his third term in 1985. Baker did not seek a fourth term. Baker remained a loyal member of the Republican Party throughout his Senate career. However, he was typically a moderate who did not hesitate to vote independent of party influence. For example, his support for the Panama Canal Treaty was opposed by many Republicans. Also, as majority leader he did not see eye-to-eye on some of President Reagan's proposals, such as Reagan's attempt in 1982 to cut federal social programs.
Baker returned to private life and law practice after he left the Senate, but in 1987 President Reagan asked him to become White House Chief of Staff. Baker accepted the position and served until July, 1988. He considered a second presidential run in 1988, but decided against it. For the next thirteen years Baker worked in several Tennessee law firms, including Vinson and Elkins; Baker, Worthington, Crossley, Stansberry, and Woolf; and Baker, Donelson, Bearman, and Caldwell. Baker lost his first wife, Joy, to cancer in 1993. On December 7, 1996, he married Kansas Senator Nancy Kassebaum. In 2001 President George W. Bush appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
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Contact Senator Baker
Honorable Howard H. Baker, Jr.
P.O. Box 600
Huntsville, TN 37756
423-663-9148
hbaker@bakerdonelson.com