[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11280-11282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REMEMBERING HOWARD BAKER

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senators from Tennessee and I had 
an opportunity 1 week ago today to attend the funeral of Senator Howard 
Baker, who led the Senate Republicans for 8 years and was a truly 
wonderful American.
  Actually, it was just an honor to attend his funeral down in 
Huntsville, TN, a town of 1,248 souls that Senator Baker often referred 
to as the ``center of the known universe.'' It was a wonderful tribute, 
and it carried a lot of lessons about the work we do.
  Senator Corker was there too, and I am sure he felt the same way. 
Just before the funeral, he noted that Senator Baker was the kind of 
person who seemed to evoke ``wisdom in everything he did.'' I was glad 
to hear the two men got to spend some time together a few months before 
Senator Baker passed away.
  Anyway, a real highlight of the funeral for me was a magnificent--
absolutely magnificent--eulogy by Senator

[[Page 11281]]

Alexander. It captured not only the closeness of their friendship but 
also the qualities that made Senator Baker such an important figure. 
This morning I would like to take just a moment to thank Senator 
Alexander for those thoughtful words and at this point insert his 
eulogy into the Record. I ask unanimous consent that be done.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

          [Eulogy of Senator Howard Baker, Jr., July 1, 2014]

``Howard Baker, Jr.: Tennessee's Favorite Son and One of Our Country's 
                            Finest Leaders''

                          (By Lamar Alexander)

       On behalf of the Baker family and all of us Tennesseans, 
     let me welcome Vice President Biden, Senator Reid, Senator 
     McConnell, and Senator Danforth, who married Howard and 
     Nancy.
       It was August, 1960. Republican Day at the Illinois State 
     Fair. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen was warming up the 
     crowd of 30,000, explaining why Vice President Richard Nixon 
     should be president of the United States instead of Senator 
     John F. Kennedy.
       Seated on the platform behind him were Dirksen's daughter 
     Joy, and her husband Howard Henry Baker, Jr., a 34-year-old 
     lawyer from Huntsville, Tennessee, who looked about 24.
       ``Jack Kennedy is a nice young man,'' Dirksen was saying. 
     ``But all they can say he has ever done was serve on a PT 
     boat in World War II.''
       Turning toward his son-in-law with a flourish, Dirksen 
     said, ``Why, my own son-in-law, Howard Baker, Jr., was on a 
     PT boat in World War II, and I've never heard anyone suggest 
     that he was qualified to serve in any public office.''
       Four years later, instead of running for the safe 
     congressional seat that his father and stepmother had held, 
     Howard Baker, Jr., ran to become the first Tennessee 
     Republican popularly elected to the United States Senate. He 
     probably would have won if presidential candidate Barry 
     Goldwater hadn't stopped at the Knoxville airport a few days 
     before the election and promised to sell the Tennessee Valley 
     Authority.
       Howard ran again in 1966. I remember standing at that same 
     airport being embarrassed by his prediction to the media that 
     he would win by 100,000 votes, and then, a few days later, he 
     did just that.
       Behind Howard Baker's pleasant demeanor was a restless 
     ambition that would propel him to the heights of American 
     politics and government for forty years.
       He learned quickly. His maiden address in the Senate lasted 
     about an hour. Afterwards, he asked Senator Dirksen, the 
     Senate Republican Leader, ``How did I do?''
       ``Howard,'' Dirksen replied, ``perhaps you should 
     occasionally enjoy the luxury of an unexpressed thought.''
       In 1968, Howard and Congressman George Bush were runners-up 
     to Governor Spiro Agnew when Nixon picked a vice president. 
     In 1969, when Dirksen died, after only three years in the 
     Senate, he ran for Republican Leader, only to be defeated by 
     Senator Hugh Scott.
       In 1971, President Nixon asked him to be on the Supreme 
     Court. Howard declined, then called back and said he would 
     accept if the president insisted, but Nixon had already 
     appointed Bill Rehnquist.
       In 1973 came the Watergate hearings. Eight-five percent of 
     Americans saw those hearings, broadcast most days by all of 
     the only four television networks that then existed. And the 
     most famous words were Howard Baker's: ``What did the 
     president know and when did he know it?''
       Howard suspected that Senator Scott had made him Ranking 
     Republican on the Watergate Committee to ``get rid of me as a 
     competitor.'' He had run against Scott a second time for 
     Leader, and lost. But instead, the exposure made Baker a 
     national hero and, once again, runner-up in the vice-
     presidential sweepstakes in 1976 when Gerald Ford picked Bob 
     Dole instead of Howard.
       Senator Scott retired, and a few months later, in January, 
     1977, Howard was elected Republican Leader by one vote. He 
     served for eight years. When, in 1980, the Republican sweep 
     made him majority leader, he visited the wily Democratic 
     Leader Robert Byrd. First, Howard surprised Byrd by 
     suggesting that Byrd keep his ornate office.
       Having softened up Byrd, Baker then said, ``Senator Byrd, 
     I'll never learn the rules as well as you know them, so I'll 
     make a deal with you: I won't surprise you if you won't 
     surprise me.''
       Byrd replied, ``Let me think about it.'' The next day he 
     agreed. And they ran the Senate together for four more years.
       Baker then commandeered an additional set of offices next 
     to the Republican Leader's less-spacious quarters that are 
     today called the ``Howard Baker Rooms.'' He always said that 
     the view from the Howard Baker rooms was the second best view 
     in Washington. The best, of course, is from the White House, 
     which he also occupied--but not in the way he had planned.
       In late 1986, while the Bakers were vacationing in Miami, 
     the phone rang. Joy answered. It was President Reagan.
       ``Where's Howard?'' asked Reagan.
       ``At the zoo with the grandchildren,'' Joy said.
       ``Wait till he hears about the zoo I have planned for 
     him,'' the president said.
       Howard became White House chief of staff, helping to 
     cleanse the Reagan presidency of its Iran-Contra troubles.
       President Reagan and Howard Baker began each day telling 
     each other a little story. ``It got to be a lot of stories,'' 
     Howard said. I always felt a little better about our country 
     knowing we had two men at the top with such temperament.
       Joy died in 1993. In 1996, Howard married Nancy. Those of 
     us at the wedding were happy because we had never seen two 
     people so happy.
       In 1996, the two Senators Baker moved to Tokyo where Howard 
     became U.S. Ambassador to Japan. When he returned, he headed 
     the law firm that is a descendant of a law firm his 
     grandfather founded in Huntsville.
       What skills allowed Howard Baker to accomplish so much?
       He was an eloquent listener. He said in 2011, ``There is a 
     difference between hearing and understanding what people say. 
     You don't have to agree, but you have to hear what they've 
     got to say. And if you do, the chances are much better you'll 
     be able to translate that into a useful position and even 
     useful leadership.''
       He was called ``The Great Conciliator'' for his habit of 
     gathering disputing senators into one room, listening for a 
     while, and then his summary of the discussion would become 
     the senators' agreement.
       He demonstrated courage. He supported civil rights when 
     most southerners didn't. He and Senator Byrd found 68 votes 
     to ratify the Panama Canal Treaty. Several Republican 
     senators signed a letter asking Baker to resign as Leader 
     because of that.
       Roy Blount, Jr., says you start getting into trouble when 
     you stop sounding like where you grew up. Howard Baker never 
     stopped sounding like where he grew up. He always went home 
     to Huntsville, which he called the ``center of the known 
     universe.''
       He had an eye for talent. In 1969, he told me, ``You ought 
     to meet that smart young legislative assistant who works for 
     Senator Marlow Cook.'' That assistant was Mitch McConnell. 
     Howard mentored another Tennessee majority leader, Bill 
     Frist; Senators Thompson and Corker; and Governors Sundquist 
     and Haslam; Ambassadors Ashe and Montgomery; Congressman 
     Duncan--as well as many others in this congregation.
       With Bill Brock and Winfield Dunn, he kept the door open to 
     Republican primaries, attracting hundreds of thousands of 
     ``discerning Democrats'' and independents and creating the 
     majority status the Tennessee Republican Party enjoys today.
       Howard Baker knew how to make the Senate work. He 
     understood that the Senate's unique role is as a place for 
     extended debate and amendment on important issues until there 
     is a consensus. That is how he fixed Social Security with Tip 
     O'Neill and Ronald Reagan, how he passed the Reagan tax cuts 
     and the Clean Air and Water laws.
       One thing he did not do well was fundraising. He left that 
     to Ted Welch and Jim Haslam and Bill Swain. According to Jim, 
     ``Howard would not raise any money at all, until he started 
     raising money for the Baker Center and then he made every 
     call with me.
                                  ____

       In the new version of Lamar Alexander's Little Plaid Book, 
     there is this rule: ``When invited to speak at a funeral, 
     remember to mention the deceased at least as often as 
     yourself.''
       I have done my best to follow that rule today, but I hope 
     you understand how difficult that is for me, as it would be 
     for many of you.
       So let me just get it out all at once:
       For the last half century, Howard Baker has had more 
     influence on my life than anyone outside my own family. He 
     inspired me to help him build a two-party system. I babysat 
     for Darek and Cissy. I met Honey at a softball game between 
     the Baker staff and the John Tower staff. My favorite 
     photograph of her is one Howard took at the Baker home when 
     we were celebrating our marriage. Our daughter Leslee was 
     flower girl at Darek and Karen's wedding. I occupy the same 
     Senate office Howard once had in the Dirksen Senate office 
     building. My desk on the Senate floor was once his desk.
       As his legislative assistant, I wrote his speeches, 
     prompting him to tell the story at least 100 times of how I 
     once asked to see him privately to determine if there was 
     some problem with our relationship because I had learned that 
     he never said in his speeches any of the words that I had 
     written.
       ``Lamar,'' he replied, ``we have a perfect relationship. 
     You write what you want to write--and I'll say what I want to 
     say.''
       Occasionally a young person will ask me, ``How can I become 
     involved in politics?''
       My answer always is, ``Find someone you respect, volunteer 
     to help him or her do anything legal, and learn all you can 
     from them. That's what I did.''
       How fortunate we were to know, to be inspired by, and to 
     learn from Tennessee's favorite son and one of our country's 
     finest leaders, Howard Baker.

[[Page 11282]]

       Dan Quayle, when he was a senator, summed it up: ``There's 
     Howard Baker,'' he said, ``and then there's the rest of us 
     senators.''

  Mr. McCONNELL. I would like to share some of Senator Alexander's 
observations about Senator Baker because, as I said, I think they are 
important, timely lessons about the purpose and potential of our 
service.
  One of the things that stands out in all the tributes to Senator 
Baker, including Senator Alexander's, is the way in which he embodied 
the rare trait of taking himself lightly even as he took his duties 
seriously.
  I will give you an example. One of the time-honored traditions around 
here is for new Senators to labor over their maiden speeches as if 
Pericles himself were standing in judgment from the Presiding Officer's 
chair. Senator Baker was no exception. His maiden speech was long, 
thoughtful, and dense--so much so that when he asked his father-in-law, 
then-Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen, for his reaction, 
Dirksen is said to have remarked: ``Howard, Howard, perhaps you should 
occasionally enjoy the luxury of an unexpressed thought.''
  It was the kind of comment that might have stung a lesser Senator, 
but as Senator Alexander pointed out in mentioning that last week, 
Baker was a quick learner. About a week or so later, Howard rose 
again--this time to challenge one of his Democratic colleagues to a 
game of tennis. The Senator in question had just taken a swipe at the 
vigor of his Republican colleagues, particularly the new ones, and 
Senator Baker decided to rise to the challenge, tongue firmly in cheek.
  It was a star performance. The Senator that Baker challenged even 
interrupted him at one point to suggest that it was ``one of the best 
maiden speeches that has ever been delivered in this chamber.'' 
Evidently he had missed Baker's actual maiden speech. But Senator 
Baker's legendary ability to adapt was now firmly established and it 
set the tone for a two-decade run in which he would be called upon to 
deploy his many other talents and skills to defuse tensions, resolve 
conflicts, repair trust, build consensus, and, frankly, just to put 
people at ease--because sometimes in this business there is nothing 
more important than just that: to just keep the bearings oiled.
  We have all been recently reminded of how Senator Baker put his own 
ambitions aside to help rebuild the Reagan White House after Iran-
Contra. It was a great testament to his values and to his feel for 
priorities. What Senator Alexander reminded us last week was that these 
former political rivals--Baker and Reagan--started every day in the 
White House together telling each other a little story. They had no 
problem putting their past disputes behind them and building a close 
working friendship based on mutual respect, common purpose, love of 
country, and of course good humor. They were adults, busy about serious 
business, and they conducted that business with dignity and with grace.
  The larger point is that while people talk a lot about the importance 
of having political skill in Washington these days, the importance of 
temperament cannot be overstated. The way Senator Baker conducted 
himself here and in the White House is eloquent testimony of that.
  It is not that he was laid back. As Senator Alexander put it, behind 
Baker's pleasant demeanor was a restless ambition that would propel him 
to the heights of American politics and government for 40 years, but he 
could subordinate that ambition when he felt the moment or the country 
needed him to. He was persistent about achieving a result but never 
insisted that his way was the only way to do it. It is a quality that 
required an ability to listen. In Baker's case that meant being an 
eloquent listener, a trait Senator Alexander put above all the others 
in Baker's formidable arsenal.
  Here is how Senator Baker himself once put it:

       There is a difference between hearing and understanding 
     what people say. You don't have to agree, but you have to 
     hear what they've got to say. And if you do, the chances are 
     much better you'll be able to translate that into a useful 
     position and even useful leadership.

  Senator Alexander pointed out Howard Baker had courage. He helped 
round up the votes to ratify the Panama Canal Treaty even though he 
must have known it would not help him much in a Republican primary for 
President, to put it mildly. When the integrity of our politics was at 
stake, he did not hesitate to take on a President of his own party in a 
very public way--an impulse that one hopes lawmakers in both parties 
could muster today if the integrity of our system called for it again.
  But perhaps most important of all, Howard Baker was grounded. He had 
an important job to do, and he did it well, but he also kept a healthy 
distance from his work. His photograph of President Reagan's inaugural 
in January 1981 illustrates the point. Just behind the new President we 
can spot the Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill and the new Vice 
President George Bush. Then right there between them is a man holding 
up a camera to capture the moment. It is the new Senate majority leader 
standing there like an ordinary spectator with a very good seat. It was 
Howard Baker.
  Senator Alexander summed up Baker's groundedness this way: ``Howard 
Baker never stopped sounding like where he grew up.''
  Senator Baker was a fixture here for decades, but Huntsville was 
always home. Perhaps that is also why Senator Baker took his 
stewardship of the Senate so very seriously. He knew he was not going 
to be around forever and that meant he had a duty to make the Senate 
work and to preserve it as a place where disputes and disagreements are 
sifted and sorted out and where stable, durable solutions are slowly 
but surely achieved. It is how he earned the nickname ``the great 
conciliator.''
  When Dan Quayle was a Senator here, he used to say: ``There's Howard 
Baker, and then there's the rest of us.''
  Over the past week, we have been reminded of why that was, and I 
thank Senator Alexander for helping us remember why his friend and 
mentor meant so much to this country and this institution.
  May the memory of Howard Henry Baker inspire us to be our best selves 
and even better Senators.

                          ____________________