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[[image:Howard baker jr.jpg|thumb|255px|Sen. Howard H. Baker, Jr.]]

'''Howard Henry Baker, Jr.''' (born [[November 15]], [[1925]]) is a former [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Tennessee]] and a former [[United States]] [[Ambassador]] to [[Japan]].

Known in [[Washington, D.C.]] 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 Party (United States)|Democratic]] senator that privately, a plurality of his Democratic colleagues would vote for Baker for [[President of the United States]]. The senator is reported to have replied, "You're wrong. He'd win a majority."

==Family history==
Baker was born in [[Huntsville, Tennessee|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.

Baker's father, [[Howard Baker, Sr.|Howard H. Baker Sr.]], served as a member from Tennessee in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1951 until 1964. 

==Political career==
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 Governor [[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.

Baker was re-elected 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 Watergate Committee|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]]. 

Baker also made a brief run for President in [[U.S. presidential election, 1980|1980]], dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination when the dominance in the Republican [[primary election|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.

He did not seek re-election 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, 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 the previous Chief of Staff, [[Donald Regan]]. (Baker had complained that Regan had become a too-powerful "[[Prime Minister of the United States|Prime Minister]]" inside an increasingly complex [[Imperial Presidency]].)

In [[2001]], President [[George W. Bush]] appointed him as U.S. Ambassador to Japan.  In [[December 2004]], Baker announced his intention to retire as soon as his successor could be confirmed.  [[J. Thomas Schieffer]] was nominated by Bush to replace Baker on [[January 21]], [[2005]] and confirmed by the Senate on [[March 17]].

In [[March 2005]], Baker joined [[Citigroup]] as an advisor to senior management on international matters.

In 2001, the [[Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy]] was set up at the University of Tennesee, Knoxville (UTK) in honour of the former senator. Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech at the 2005 ground-breaking ceremony for the Center's new building.

==Personal life==
Baker has been married to the daughters of two prominent Republicans. Since [[1996]], he has been married to former U.S. Senator [[Nancy Landon Kassebaum]], the daughter of the late [[Kansas]] Governor [[Alfred M. Landon]], who was the Republican nominee for president in 1936. Baker's late first wife, Joy, who died of [[cancer]], was the daughter of former Senate Minority Leader [[Everett Dirksen]].

==External links==
*[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000063 Congressional Biography]
*[http://bakercenter.utk.edu/aboutbaker.html Biography from the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee]
*[http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/15/cheney.ap/ CNN Report on the Baker Center protest against Dick Cheney]
*[http://www.newsfromrussia.com/world/2005/11/16/67765.html News from Russia reports the Baker Center protest against Dick Cheney]

==Further reading==
*Annis, James. ''Howard Baker: Conciliator in an Age of Crises''. Lanham, MD: Madison Books, 1994
*U.S. Congress. Senate. ''Tributes to the Honorable Howard Baker, Jr., of Tennessee in the United States Senate, Upon the Occasion of His Retirement from the Senate''. 98th Cong., 2d sess., 1984. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1984.

== Copyright ==
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 22, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Howard_Baker&action=history Here]."

[[Category:Watergate figures|Baker, Howard]]