RightDataUSA


Howard Baker, Jr.

[Congressional biography]

Born: November 15, 1925 in Huntsville, TN
Died: June 26, 2014 in Huntsville, TN

Education:

  • Attended Tulane University
  • University of Tennessee, LL.B., 1949

Military Service:

  • U.S. Navy, 1943-1946

Career:

  • Chief of Staff to President Reagan, 1987-1988
  • U.S. Ambassador to Japan, 2001-2005

Other notes:

  • Son of Howard Baker, stepson of Irene Baker, son-in-law of Everett Dirksen, husband of Nancy Kassebaum


Election Results for Howard Baker, Jr.


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1964 38 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 Special Primary 1 93,301 84.9%
1964 38 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 Special 2 517,330 47.4%
1966 40 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 112,617 75.7%
1966 40 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 483,063 55.7%
1972 46 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 242,733 97.0%
1972 46 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 716,539 61.5%
1978 52 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 Primary 1 205,680 83.4%
1978 52 TN R U.S. Senate Class 2 General 1 642,644 55.5%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Howard Baker, Jr.


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1967 41 Senate 70 9 64 14 D 55 27 82 31 86
1968 42 Senate 76 6 72 4 D 35 40 74 25 77
1969 43 Senate 77 7 69 12 R 65 17 83 12 50
1970 44 Senate 75 10 76 11 R 71 19 82 12 74
1971 45 Senate 76 6 72 14 R 67 18 82 4 95
1972 46 Senate 57 3 58 3 R 63 4 51 0 75
1973 47 Senate 59 9 59 10 R 57 25 75 12 89
1974 48 Senate 77 10 72 14 R 63 20 83 14* 67
1975 49 Senate 70 5 68 10 R 70 14 82 13 59
1976 50 Senate 70 12 68 11 R 64 15 76 11 57
1977 51 Senate 82 11 71 19 D 55 35 91 16 57
1978 52 Senate 64 21 50 33 D 53 27 79 29 72
1979 53 Senate 55 16 43 19 D 33 26 62 40 59
1980 54 Senate 66 11 65 13 D 39 46 79 19 68
1981 55 Senate 89 6 90 6 R 89 10 97 20 67
1982 56 Senate 88 6 88 8 R 89 8 95 5 72
1983 57 Senate 84 9 79 16 R 81 9 94 22 33
1984 58 Senate 83 2 87 6 R 92 3 90 22 82
Lifetime conservative rating:   67%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.