NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM
Name: Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker
Born: 29 July 1932 Topeka, Kansas
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker (born July 29, 1932) formerly represented the state
of Kansas in the United States Senate, having served from 1978 to 1997. She was
the daughter of Alf Landon, who was the Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and
the 1936 Republican candidate for president. Landon won only in Maine and
Vermont, having also lost Kansas to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
She graduated from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1954 where she was a
member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She received her graduate degree from the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1956.
Baker, who went by Nancy Kassebaum while serving in the Senate, was the first
woman to serve in the Senate having neither been elected to serve first in the
House of Representatives, never having been elected to the political office of a
spouse, never having won a special election to win a senate seat, nor having
been appointed to fill out the remainder of a term from a husband after his
death while in office or another senator. She was also the first woman to
represent Kansas in the Senate.
She defeated eight other Republicans in the 1978 primary elections to replace
retiring Republican James B. Pearson and then defeated former Democratic
Congressman Bill Roy (who lost a previous election bid to Kansas' senior senator,
Bob Dole, in 1974) in the general election. She was re-elected to her Senate
seat in 1984 and 1990, but did not seek re-election in 1996.
Kassebaum, a moderate to liberal Republican, has often been noted for her health
care legislation co-sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat.
She is an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national
security and foreign policy.
Since 1996 she has been married to former U.S. Senator Howard Baker Jr., of
Tennessee.
Her son, Bill Kassebaum, is a former member of the Kansas House of
Representatives.
Name: Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker
Born: 29 July 1932 Topeka, Kansas
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker (born July 29, 1932) formerly represented the state
of Kansas in the United States Senate, having served from 1978 to 1997. She was
the daughter of Alf Landon, who was the Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and
the 1936 Republican candidate for president. Landon won only in Maine and
Vermont, having also lost Kansas to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
She graduated from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1954 where she was a
member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She received her graduate degree from the
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1956.
Baker, who went by Nancy Kassebaum while serving in the Senate, was the first
woman to serve in the Senate having neither been elected to serve first in the
House of Representatives, never having been elected to the political office of a
spouse, never having won a special election to win a senate seat, nor having
been appointed to fill out the remainder of a term from a husband after his
death while in office or another senator. She was also the first woman to
represent Kansas in the Senate.
She defeated eight other Republicans in the 1978 primary elections to replace
retiring Republican James B. Pearson and then defeated former Democratic
Congressman Bill Roy (who lost a previous election bid to Kansas' senior senator,
Bob Dole, in 1974) in the general election. She was re-elected to her Senate
seat in 1984 and 1990, but did not seek re-election in 1996.
Kassebaum, a moderate to liberal Republican, has often been noted for her health
care legislation co-sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat.
She is an Advisory Board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit
organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national
security and foreign policy.
Since 1996 she has been married to former U.S. Senator Howard Baker Jr., of
Tennessee.
Her son, Bill Kassebaum, is a former member of the Kansas House of
Representatives.