Baker, Irene Bailey (1901–1994)

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Baker, Irene Bailey (1901–1994)

U.S. Representative, Republican of Tennessee, 88th Congress, March 10, 1964–January 3, 1965. Born Edith Irene Bailey, in Sevierville, Tennessee, on November 17, 1901; died in Loudon, Tennessee, on April 2, 1994; married Howard H. Baker (Congressman 1951–1964); stepson Howard H. Baker, Jr., served as

U.S. senator from Tennessee (1967–1985) and as chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan (1987–1988).

Irene Baker grew up and was educated in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she also gained experience in local government, working as a court clerk. After her marriage to Howard Baker, she helped in his political campaigns and also chaired a state Republican committee to recruit new women voters. During her husband's seven terms in the House, she worked her way up in the party, serving as Republican National Committeewoman from Tennessee from 1960 to 1964.

After her husband's death in January 1964, Baker won Tennessee's Second District Republican endorsement as a candidate in the special election to determine his successor. With a campaign promise to continue her husband's work to balance the budget, protect jobs in the district's nuclear laboratories and coal mines, and support the Tennessee Valley Authority, she defeated her Democratic rival, Knoxville newspaperman Willard Yarborough.

During her tenure in the House of Representatives, Baker served on the Committee on Government Operations. She supported a Social Security cost of living increase and was critical of what she called the Democratic administration's excessive government spending.

When her term ended, Baker did not seek reelection, but returned to Knoxville, where she was director of public welfare from 1965 to 1971. Her stepson, Howard H. Baker, Jr., followed his parents into politics, serving as U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985, and as President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff from 1987 to 1988.