"What did the president know and when did he know it."

He's the reason I became a journalist.

Senator Baker was a rare jewel, a true statesman. He was such a statesman that he was one of the few people commonly referred to as such while still among the living.

Along with Pat Summitt, one of the few Tennesseans I know held in universal regard. R.I.P.

"Sen. Baker's body will lie in state from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday, June 30, in the Rotunda of the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Avenue, Knoxville.

His funeral will be held on Tuesday, July 1, at First Presbyterian Church in his hometown of Huntsville, Tennessee."

I know he was a very well respected statesman, but can't wrap my mind around the thinking behind this. There is very, very limited parking on campus right now, plus, just...well...no...

One of Senator Baker's many talents was photography. His first camera was a Univex Mercury that is on display at the Museum of Appalachia where he sat on the Board of Directors.

there is no basis of fact that Senator Baker grew to regret what the Republican Party is then or now.

Howard Baker offered thirteen rules for Senate success. Perhaps his last one is telling:

"Be civil, and encourage others to do likewise."

On reconsideration, I am quite certain you are confused.

(link...)

Yep.
I'm not as willing to canonize Howard Henry as some in this thread, but he'd never utter those kinds of crude slurs.

And Sandra is right. Baker was demonized by the right wing, which grew to hate him for being too moderate and for "giving away" the Panama Canal. That's just a fact. I'd bet my last nickel that he was appalled by the Tea Party.

opinion. Just reflect it as your opinion (as you correctly did) Do not present it as fact without proof of fact like Sandy did.

You think he supported Wamp over Haslam?

And I'm sure he was impressed with the Tea Party declaring war on Lamar Alexander.

Not.

A few other statements from the inbox...

Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero:

I’m very sad to hear of Sen. Baker’s passing. He was a giant in American politics and a world statesman whose first love was always East Tennessee.

I think of Howard H. Baker Jr. as a role model – for Republicans, naturally, but also for Democrats. He was a soft-spoken conciliator who believed all his life in respectful governing.

Today, we see so much gridlock in national politics. Sen. Baker was a consensus builder who was not afraid to walk across the aisle to the other political party. He brought people together to constructively work out their differences and solve problems.

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett:

Sen. Howard Baker Jr. was a great American statesman, one of Tennessee’s greatest sons and a longtime friend of my family. He proved that elected leaders can be both effective and maintain their integrity. Our state and our country are better off because of his service. His family is in my prayers.

TNDP Chair Roy Herron:

Senator Baker was partisan, but he was patriotic. And his patriotism rose above his partisanship.

Senator Baker earned the respect of Democrats as well as Republicans. He worked in a bipartisan way with presidents and colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Bill Haltom's forthcoming biography about Senator Baker is entitled "The Other Fella Might Be Right." That described Senator Baker's humble and honorable attitude toward his fellow Americans of both parties. I once wrote a book review of another biography of Senator Baker, and as I studied his life, my respect for him only grew. That two devout Democrats wrote so admiringly of this Republican leader says much about this great man.

One of the most enjoyable days of my life was participating in a program on political humor led by Senator Baker. "Votes and Jokes" was sponsored by the Baker Center at UT Knoxville. Democrats and Republicans together laughed until we cried. Today, Democrats and Republicans together cry at our great loss, but laugh with happy memories of this great Tennessean.

Obit and biographical profile from the U.T. Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy

and by proxy that would have carried over to Billy Haslam as well. Baker was smart in that he never got into Republican fights and turf wars prior to the general elections and he was always encouraging the Republican line.

The party that he encouraged and supported from those early days in the U.S. Senate, now controls the body politic in the State of Tennessee from Mountain City to Memphis and while it's not as firmly in control of Tennessee as one would think, it is truly hard to attract competent and qualified candidates into Tennessee politics on the Democratic side, particularly in East Tennessee, including Chattanooga. Really don't think that he is ashamed of the Republican Party like some longtime Tennessee Democrats are ashamed of their national party and their current leadership.

didn't support Wamp. They supported Ramsey (for the record) I am confident he doesn't support them declaring on Lamar! I always have and this year support Lamar! BTW, Missed you at the HQ opening on Saturday.

It was your friend Lloyd and whoever the other dude from Chattanooga was that had a fax machine. You can ask John K. King, Darrell Akins and probably even SRW. They can vouch for the fact that I have been on the Baker/Lamar side of the party.

My issue isn't with you or Sandra espousing your opinion on HHB,Jr and what you think his opinion may have been. It is with Sandra presenting it as fact. Because HHB, Jr. would not say anything negative. The party of Baker/Lamar/Duncan and I are big tent. Tea party ain't big tent folks.

(link...)

This is a great story, full of fascinating 'what ifs.'

What if he'd accepted Nixon's offer to be his running mate? He could have become the 38th POTUS, and there would probably never have been a President Jimmy Carter, which means there might never have been a President Ronald Reagan.

And who knew that Reagan had offered HHB a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court? And who knew that Baker waffled so long, and was so reluctant that by the time he accepted it, Reagan had already given it to Rhenquist?

This guy was right on the cusp of everything during the 70s and 80s. And he sure pulled Reagan's fat out of the fire when he reluctantly agreed to come in and straighten out the White House after Iran Contra.

Fascinating life.

that is so small minded. Go have a spell. Peace Out, Bean

I don't know what was in Howard Baker, Jr.'s heart or mind, but based on his public record I'm guessing Sandra's quote is spot on, and the quote of the day as far as I'm concerned.

According to some googled stories, he helped fight off the John Birchers in Davidson county who were trying to take over the TNGOP way back when. Sounds about right. I imagine he'd have about the same reaction to today's teanuts.

According to his bio at the U.T. Howard Baker Center, he helped Nixon (!) ram the Clean Air Act through Congress at great personal political risk in the South. So there's that.

My only major gripe with Baker over the years was that he also helped ram through the Tellico Dam project and weakened the Endangered Species Act in the process. (He may have even profited from it, but the details are long lost in the cobwebs of my aging mind.) I blame Jimmy Carter just as much, though, for signing the stealth, earmarked legislation that enabled all that. So there you go, bi-partisan disdain.

And for me, it was really just about trout fishing. Baker perhaps saw a bigger economic picture, but that picture unfortunately has never developed as far as I can tell.

And there's probably other stuff that if I knew about I'd be pissed off about. (I wasn't paying a lot of attention back then, except for trout fishing and other less relevant things.)

Anyway, judging from the outpouring of praise for Baker's bi-partisan statesmanship and effectiveness as a political leader, there's no question that he was an influential and remarkable man from Tennessee who adds to our state's reputation for producing statesmen and other historically significant figures.

RIP.

If it is opinion or your guess stipulate it. As you and Bean (who always has to make it nasty personal) have done in this thread

About the KNS story:

OK, this has been corrected.

First version said Howard Baker was the first popularly elected US senator from Tennessee since Reconstruction, not the first popularly elected Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee.

Kenneth McKeller was the first popularly elected senator.

I haven't been petty, it was Bean that took petty personal shots at me. Now, you are demanding me to "Shut up" well in America, we have first amendment right. If you are a co-owner of Knoxviews with Randy and the MrsRandy fine. Otherwise, peace out and take a .........

Another good story:

Baker wasn't an unalloyed hero in the Watergate hearings. He was close to Nixon and Ol' Fred was running up to the White House and leaking like a sieve to the president's men every night. Baker tried to help Nixon until it became impossible to do so anymore. And to his credit, he quit trying.

(link...)

I didn't know who Senator Baker was until I started organizing in Scott county. One doesn't spend much time in Scott county not knowing who Howard Baker is. We did a lot of work around surface mine reclamation, acid mine drainage, stuff like that. His name would come up when we met people who lived near the strip pits and elsewhere mostly in a positive manner although I recall a few hard men who didn't care too much for him... Long story short is that Sen. Baker was well thought of because for one he played a role in making sure that surface mining was regulated. There are some hard feelings about stripmining cutting more than two ways. Yet he actually introduced the bill. I later found out that he also played a role in the passage of CERCLA during the negotiation of which I think he earned his great compromiser badge. For those who have been around a while you may also recall Tennier Industries in Huntsville, TN which had DOD contracts making body bags etc back in the '80's. Being his hometown I suppose you could say that Howard brought home the bacon to the tune of $10 million per year. Those kind of jobs were a big fcking deal in Scott county. Social market economy Scott county style...
(h/t Eve Weinbaum's great book to move a mountain)
As far as comments made above by some regarding Republicans and whether he would or would not like the state of the current GOP I'd simply suggest to look at his record, especially his environmental record in regards to the legislation he played a major role in moving and ask oneself - would Howard Baker fit in today's GOP tent, whichever size and shape it may be? When I ponder that question, knowing what little I know about his record and the pork he brought home, I think the answer is a clear no. Here is a portion of what he said into the congressional record about strip mining back in the '70's. Does this fit in the tent, maybe the vestibule, in the back, damp corner with all the dirty underwear or in the burnpile?

Personally I really don't give a damn one way or the other. I just hope he gets the rightful credit he deserves for the work he did passing big time federal legislation protecting the mountains and people. Those laws sure as hell wouldn't pass now.

A strict reading of the OP can infer that we don't necessarily know whether Baker regretted what the GOP has become, but that he just lived long enough to regret it if he saw all the obvious contradictions to the principles he and his generation's party lived by. It strains credulity to believe he didn't regret much about it, including the invasion of Iraq. I'm just guessing he wouldn't have ignored Al-Qaeda and Richard Clarke's warnings prior to 9/11. Would he have sided with Powell or Cheney?

In my opinion, asking tough questions about Watergate was important, but pales in comparison to the lasting legacy of creating the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, a national treasure. Thanks to the Howard Baker Jr. and others it will be protected forever. It is one of my favorite places on earth and I sincerely appreciate Baker's work to protect it.

Funny (or sad) that this is a thread about a guy nicknamed the ‘Great Conciliator’.

Y'all knock it off. This discussion is about Howard Baker Jr., for good or ill.

I agree, for some reason a few people on here, like to hate on me. Jealous, I guess.

A general feeling of melancholy came with the news of Howard Baker's passing, and I thought I'd come to share my snapshot of him with like-minded people who also missed the nature of a time when statesmen still had a dominant voice in Washington. I was working at the Fox Theatre when I had my encounter, but after reading this thread it seems this clip

(link...) (also from my stint there)

is far more apropos than sharing my story. As with any good wake, I hope that Mr. Baker is looking down on this assessment, chuckling, while thinking up something diplomatic, charming and disarming to say. The man I met was a gentleman, and earned and deserved better than he's getting here.

I read through all the comments here, and while neither demonizing nor lionizing him, one thing I noticed absent in the discussion was Howard Baker's involvement in scrubbing/whitewashing/fixing the Reagan White House's involvement in the Iran Contra scandal when he was brought in as Reagan's Chief of Staff in 1987. This was an important chapter of the Baker story, imo. Also noteworthy was that he ran against Reagan for president in 1980.

I'm a Green Bay Packer fan and hating the Dallas Cowboys goes with that territory for children of the sixties. But I always liked Calvin Hill, Duane Thomas and Peter Gent. So it is with Howard Baker.

I suspect what went on within the Reagan Administration was far worse than current historians recognize, though, the connection with the Columbian Drug cartel is generally recognized within the intelligence community. It was first Howard Baker's, then George H.W. Bushes job to clean up the various messes that were dangerously close to spiraling out of control. Senator Baker did his job and provided stability to a nation that could well have been plunged into a revolutionary state had things been allowed to continue down the path they were going. Unfortunately Rumsfield, Cheney and several other players lived to make another run and still others achieved folk hero status. So it goes. G.H.W. Bush would be the last person the Republican party can claim as a statesman, putting country before personal gain from holding the office.

But I'm rambling. As a rule, I don't think much of Republicans. Generally, I've found that at the heart of their political philosophy is a deep rooted character flaw that tends to reveal itself with the acquisition of power. Howard Baker always struck me as the exception to that rule, a man who felt his path was the best for mankind in general, not just his own self interests.

Knock. It. Off. All y'all.

I stopped by today for a last viewing of the Senator. Found myself mourning a man and a party that no longer exists.

It also occurred to me that it must be a strange experience helping design your eponymous building with a "Rotunda" feature where you will one day be on display.

Sad.

I went by to pay last respects to Senator Baker today. I have always had the utmost respect for him. My family was originally from Scott County and my grandfather had land bordering Senator Baker's family, in fact over the years my grandpa had numerous land dealings with the Baker and Baker law firm, as I'm sure, many people did that lived in the area. but this was many, many years ago The Bakers owned a lot of land.

My brother became very ill during basic training, this was during the Vietnam era, Baker sent two large airplanes to Ft. Campbell to transport my brother in one of the planes and my parents in the other to Walter Reed Hospital in DC. My brother was just a private. When I learned of this, in my later years,it just gave that much more respect for him and I'm sure there are stories upon stories of the good deeds Senator Baker did throughout his lifetime.

I was really disappointed today when I heard that there were only 700 people to show up at the Baker Center to pay their respects. I was really expecting to stand in a long line to see him. I'm certain that the reason for it was tha Bakers time was many years ago and the current generation really didn't know anything about him. I don't know if others here share my sentiment but, I feel he would have made a great president. His sense of fairness would have made him a great leader. I can only imagine how that would have changed the country. I really think he may have been to good for the job though.

Senator Howard Baker Jr, may you rest in peace.