LaMar Baker

LaMar Baker
U.S. RepresentativeforTennessee's 3rd congressional district
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1975
Preceded by	Bill Brock
Succeeded by	Marilyn Lloyd
Tennessee State Senator from Chattanooga
In office 1969–1971
Tennessee State Representative from Chattanooga
In office 1967–1969
Personal details
Born	(1915-12-29)December 29, 1915 Chattanooga, Tennessee,US
Died	June 20, 2003(2003-06-20)(aged 87) Nashville,Tennessee, US
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery inNashville,Tennessee
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Lipscomb University Harding University
Occupation	Businessman
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army Air Forces
Battles/wars	World War II

LaMar Baker(December 29, 1915 – June 20, 2003) was aTennesseebusinessman andRepublicanpoliticalfigure who served two terms in theUnited States House of Representativesfrom 1971 to 1975. Earlier, he had been a member of both houses of theTennessee State Legislature.

Biography

Born inChattanooga,Tennessee, Baker attended public schools there and then David Lipscomb College, nowLipscomb University,inNashvillefrom 1936 to 1938. In 1940, he received aBachelor of Sciencedegree fromHarding CollegeinSearcy,Arkansas.Both Lipscomb and Harding areChurches of Christinstitutions. DuringWorld War II,he served from 1942 to 1946 in theUnited States Army Air Forces,now theUnited States Air Force.

Baker was a successful Chattanooga-area businessman prior to his election in 1966 to theTennessee House of Representatives.In 1968, he was elected to theTennessee State Senate.In 1970, he received the Republican nomination for the Chattanooga-basedCongressionalDistrict to replaceBill Brock,who was elected to theUnited States Senate.He won a very close race in November, undoubtedly aided by coattails of Brock and the Republicangubernatorialvictor,Winfield Dunn.

Baker served two terms in Congress. He was reelected in the Republican landslide year of 1972, in whichPresidentRichard M. Nixonwon all but five of Tennessee's ninety-five counties. Baker was a delegate to the1972 Republican National Convention.In 1974, however, he was defeated for reelection byDemocratMarilyn Lloyd.

Two factors were involved in this defeat. One was the general unpopularity of Republicans in the wake of theWatergatescandal and Nixon's resignation earlier that year, which was played out in many usually competitive and marginally Republican districts throughout the country. The other was the fact that Marilyn Lloyd was the widow of Mort Lloyd, an anchorman atCBSaffiliateWDEF-TV,who had won the Democratic nomination to face Baker and who had then been killed in a light-airplaneaccident on his way to celebrate his primary victory; the Democratic Party then chose his wife to succeed him as the congressional nominee.

Baker lost badly in a rematch against Lloyd in 1976, whenJimmy CarterofGeorgiawon Tennessee'selectoral votes.From 1981 to 1985, during the administration of U.S. PresidentRonald W. Reagan,Baker served as the regional representative to theUnited States Secretary of TransportationDrew Lewis.Baker lived his later years inNashvilleand is interred in that city's Woodlawn Cemetery.

External links

• United States Congress."LaMar Baker (id: B000069)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.