Senator Baker’s surgery

Former Senator Howard Baker was at Baptist Hospital on August 30, to undergo double bypass and valve replacement surgery. The U.S. Ambassador to Japan, former U.S. Senator, and Reagan White House Chief of Staff was reportedly at Baptist Friday for a routine appointment with his primary care physician when irregularities in his heart were detected. In 1966, Baker became the first Republican from Tennessee popularly elected to the United States Senate. He won re-election by wide margins in 1972 and 1978 and received national recognition in 1973 as Vice Chairman of the Senate Watergate Subcommittee. From February of 1987 to June of 1988, he served as President Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff. Baker was a keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in 1976, Baker served as a delegate to the United Nations that same year, and was a candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 1980. He concluded two terms as Majority Leader of the Senate in 1985. Sen. Baker served on President Reagan’s Foreign Intelligence Board from 1985 to 1987 and again from 1988 to 1990. Baker has received numerous awards and medals including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, and the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Performed by an Elected or Appointed Official. After surgery, Baker rested comfortably with daughter Cissy and son Derek by his side. Baker plans to return to his post in Japan in October.