Baker, Irene Bailey, 1901-1994

Edith Irene Bailey Baker (November 17, 1901 – April 2, 1994) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a United States Representative from Tennessee from 1964 to 1965. She was the widow of Howard Baker Sr. and the stepmother of Howard Baker Jr.

Born Edith Irene Bailey in Sevierville, Tennessee, she attended public schools in Maryville and Sevierville and studied music. She served in local government as a court clerk from 1918 to 1924, eventually becoming the deputy clerk and master in the chancery court in Sevierville. Her first husband died, and she was hired by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as an abstractor of titles in the early 1930s. She met Howard Baker, a widower, and they were married in 1935. Following his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1950 in an eastern Tennessee district which encompassed Knoxville, Irene worked in his Washington, DC, office.

After her husband's death in early 1964, the Tennessee Republican leadership chose Irene Baker to run in the March 10, 1964, special election. Baker pledged only to fill the remaining 10 months of her husband’s term, allowing GOP leaders to select a candidate for the fall 1964 elections. Irene Baker campaigned on her husband’s reputation. Elected with 55 percent of the vote, she served from March 10, 1964, to January 3, 1965. While in Congress, she served on the House Committee on Government Operations and advocated for a balanced federal budget. She also championed coal mining interests, the TVA, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission programs in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and cost of living increases in Social Security pensions. As one of ten Republicans from the South, she voted against the Civil Rights Act.

After leaving Congress in 1965, Baker became Director of Public Welfare in Knoxville, Tennessee, a position she held until 1971. Her stepson, Howard H. Baker Jr., continued the family political tradition by winning election in 1966 as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. He served from 1967 to 1985, becoming Senate Majority Leader in 1981. Irene Baker died in Loudon, Tennessee.