Howard H. Baker Jr.

Howard Henry Baker Jr. (November 15, 1925 – June 26, 2014) was a politician from Huntsville. He was a lifelong Republican who served as U.S. Senate Majority Leader, President Ronald Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff, and Ambassador to Japan under President George W. Bush. He is perhaps best-known for his famous question during the Watergate hearings: “What did the President know, and when did he know it?”

Early life

Baker was born in Huntsville on November 15, 1925, the son of Howard Baker Sr. and Dora Ladd Baker. His father served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1951 until his death in 1964, representing Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District.

Baker attended The McCallie School in Chattanooga, and later Tulane University. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy and obtained the rank of lieutenant. He graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1949 and began his law career that same year.

Fun Fact: Baker’s grandmother, Lillie Mauser, was Tennessee’s first woman sheriff. Widely known as “Mother Ladd,” she was the first fraternity housemother of Lambda Chi fraternity at the University of Tennessee, and served as the sheriff of Roane County in the 1920s. She was appointed sheriff by the Roane County Commission after single-handedly capturing two escaped prisoners while her husband, Sheriff Chris Ladd, was hospitalized. Mother Ladd died in 1981 at the age of 101. Her daughter was Dora Ladd, who married Congressman Howard Baker Sr.

U.S. Senate

Baker’s political career began with a run for the U.S. Senate in 1964. He lost to Democrat Ross Bass in a race to fill the unexpired term of Estes Kefauver, who had died. He lost by only 4.7% — the closest a Tennessee Republican had ever come to being popularly elected to the Senate.

Two years later, Baker easily defeated Democrat Frank G. Clement, a former governor who had defeated Kefauver in the primary. He won by 11.5%, becoming the first Republican Senator from Tennessee since Reconstruction, and the first Republican ever popularly elected to the Senate from Tennessee.

Among Baker’s notable acts in the Senate: He voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, voted to confirm Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court, and sponsored legislation to establish the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area.

Baker was re-elected in 1972 and 1978. He was narrowly elected Senate Minority Leader in 1977, then served as Senate Majority Leader from 1981 to 1985, after the GOP captured a majority in the Senate.

Baker opted not to seek re-election in 1984, retiring from the Senate in 1985. He was succeeded by Carthage Democrat and future Vice President Al Gore.

More from the IH: Baker would be an outcast in today’s Washington

Watergate hearings

Baker played a central role in the Watergate investigation of President Richard Nixon. The two were political confidants; Nixon had considered Baker for a seat on the Supreme Court in 1971, before nominating William Rehnquist instead.

Baker was the ranking minority member on the Senate Watergate Committee, and in June 1973 asked the famous question, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” The question was given to him by his counsel and former campaign manager, U.S. Senator Fred Thompson. In latter years, Baker encouraged Thompson to run for President of the United States.

Baker was appointed to the Watergate committee by Sen. Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, the Republican leader of the Senate. It was widely believed that Scott appointed Baker as retaliation for Baker’s two attempts to unseat him as the Senate’s top Republican.

Presidential Campaign

After lobbying to be President Gerald Ford’s running mate in the 1976 election — and being passed over for Bob Dole after disclosing that his wife, Joy, was a recovered alcoholic — Baker ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1980. He finished third in the Iowa caucuses to George H.W. Bush and the New Hampshire primary to Ronald Reagan, then dropped out of the race. At the time, Gallup had him in second place in the race, at 18%.

Baker’s support of the 1978 Panama Canal Treaties was credited with helping to sink his presidential bid; it was an unpopular stance among Republicans, and may have been the key reason why Reagan chose Bush instead of Baker as his running mate in the 1980 election.

White House Chief of Staff

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan asked Baker to be his White House Chief of Staff. Baker served in that role for two years before resigning, and was credited with helping to right an administration that had been beset by scandals and controversies. Baker was also credited with helping mend the Reagan White House’s relationship with the U.S. Senate.

Before accepting the Chief of Staff offer, Baker was considered a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988.

Ambassador to Japan

In 2001, Baker was appointed by President George W. Bush as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. It was a position he held until 2005. In that role, he played a role in convincing Takahata to build its American manufacturing plant in Helenwood.

Later life

The University of Tennessee opened the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy on its Knoxville campus in 2008. Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech at the groundbreaking in 2005, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor assisted in the facility’s dedication in 2008.

Meanwhile, Baker joined former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole, Tom Daschle and George Mitchell to found the Bipartisan Policy Center in 2007. The non-profit think tank works to develop bipartisan policies. He continued to serve as a senior counsel at the law firm that his grandfather helped found, Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.

Personal life

Baker was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Huntsville and is buried at the Mossop Cemetery on the church grounds. He married Joy Dirksen, the daughter of former Senate Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen. Following her death of cancer in 1993, Baker married U.S. Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum in 1996.

Baker had two children with his first wife. There are conflicting stories of how the two met: one is that they met at a wedding in Washington, D.C. in 1951 and were married three months later. The other is that Baker’s sister, Mary Elizabeth Baker, introduced them at the National Cherry Blossom Festival ball. Mary had been crowned Miss Tennessee, and Joy had been crowned Miss Illinois.

Baker died on June 26, 2014, at the age of 88, from complications of a stroke that he had suffered several days earlier. He died at his home in Huntsville, with his wife, Nancy, by his side.