Howard Baker

Howard Henry Baker, Jr. (born November 15, 1925) is a former Republican Senator from Tennessee and a distinguished American statesman. He was appointed United States Ambassador to Japan by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Related Topics:
November 15 - 1925 - Republican - Tennessee - American - Statesman - Ambassador - Japan - President - George W. Bush - 2001

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Known in Washington as the "Great Conciliator," Baker is often regarded as one of the most successful Senators in terms of brokering compromises, enacting legislation, and maintaining civility. A story is sometimes told of a reporter telling a senior Democratic senator that privately, a plurality of his Democrat colleagues would vote for Baker for president. "You're wrong" the senator is reported to have said. "He'd win a majority."

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Baker was born in Huntsville, in Scott County, Tennessee. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans and later the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. He served in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and graduated from the University of Tennessee Law College in 1949. That same year, he was admitted to the Tennessee bar and commenced his practice.

Related Topics:
Huntsville - Tulane University - New Orleans - University of the South - Sewanee, Tennessee - University of Tennessee - 1949

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Baker's father, Howard H. Baker Sr., served as a member from Tennessee in the United States House of Representatives from 1951 until 1964. The younger Baker began his own political career in 1964, when he lost an election to fill the unexpired term of the late Senator Estes Kefauver to Ross Bass. In the 1966 Senate election, Bass lost the Democratic primary to former Governer Frank G. Clement. In the general election, Baker capitalized on Clement's failure to energize the Democratic base, specifically Tennesse labor, and won. He thus became the first Republican Senator from Tennesse since Reconstruction.

Related Topics:
Howard H. Baker Sr. - United States House of Representatives - Estes Kefauver - Ross Bass - Frank G. Clement

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Baker was reelected in 1972 and again in 1978, and served from January 3, 1967, to January 3, 1985. For the last eight of those years, he led the Senate Republicans, with two terms as Senate Minority Leader (1977-1981) and two terms as Senate Majority Leader (1981-1985). Baker was also the influential ranking minority member of the Senate committee, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin, that investigated the Watergate scandal. He is famous for having asked aloud, "What did the President know and when did he know it?," a question given him to ask by his counsel and former campaign manager, future U.S. Senator Fred Thompson.

Related Topics:
Senate Minority Leader - 1977 - 1981 - Senate Majority Leader - 1985 - Senate committee - Sam Ervin - Watergate - Scandal - Campaign manager - Fred Thompson

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Baker also made a brief run for President of the United States in 1980 for the GOP nomination, dropping out when the dominance in the Republican primaries of Ronald Reagan made it impossible for Baker or any other candidate to be able to continue to raise the amount of funds necessary to contest the race further.

Related Topics:
1980 - Primaries

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He did not seek reelection in 1984, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the same year. However, as a testament to his skill as a negotiator and honest and amiable broker, Ronald Reagan tapped him to serve as Chief of Staff during part of his second term (1987-1988). Many saw this as a move to mend relations with the Senate which had deteriorated somewhat under Baker's predecessor, Donald Regan. (Baker had complained that Regan had become a too-powerful "Prime Minister" inside an increasingly complex Imperial Presidency.)

Related Topics:
1984 - Presidential Medal of Freedom - Ronald Reagan - Chief of Staff - 1987 - 1988 - Donald Regan - Prime Minister - Imperial Presidency

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Since 1996, Baker has been married to former U.S. Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum. His late first wife, Joy, who died of cancer, was the daughter of former Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen. Reportedly, Baker dated current North Carolina United States Senator Elizabeth Dole (then Elizabeth Hanford) in the 1970s.

Related Topics:
1996 - Nancy Landon Kassebaum - Cancer - Everett Dirksen - North Carolina - Elizabeth Dole - 1970s

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In December 2004 Ambassador Baker announced his intent to retire as soon as his successor could be confirmed. J. Thomas Schieffer was nominated by President Bush to replace Baker on January 21, 2005 and confirmed by the Senate on March 17.

Related Topics:
December 2004 - J. Thomas Schieffer - January 21 - 2005 - March 17

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In March 2005, he joined Citigroup as a advisor to senior management on international matters.

Related Topics:
March 2005 - Citigroup

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