Bobby Baker

Robert Baker, known as Bobby Baker, was born 1929, in Pickens, South Carolina. Baker took a job as a pageboy in the United States Senate when he was fourteen years old. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson eventually befriended Baker and hired him onto Johnson's staff as personal secretary and political advisor.

Related Topics:
1929 - Pickens, South Carolina - United States Senate - Lyndon B. Johnson

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In the early 1950s, Baker was involved with Intercontinental Hotels Corporation's casino operations in the Dominican Republic. Among Baker's associates were Ben Siegelbaum and Ed Levison, an associate of Meyer Lansky and Sam Giancana.

Related Topics:
1950s - Casino - Dominican Republic - Ben Siegelbaum - Ed Levison - Meyer Lansky - Sam Giancana

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Baker was also involved with underworld figures in a scheme to profit from vending machines for federally granted programs.

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Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy investigated Baker and discovered that Baker was linked to Mafia bosses. Also surfacing were rumors of corruption implicating Vice-President Johson in the award to Texas-based General Dynamics, of a $7 billion contract for a fighter plane, the TFX. On October 7, 1963, Baker was forced to leave his job and eventually Secretary of the Navy Fred Korth also resigned over the TFX contract.

Related Topics:
Robert F. Kennedy - Mafia - General Dynamics - TFX - October 7 - 1963 - Fred Korth

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