Baker, Bobby, 1928-2017

Bobby Baker, born Robert Gene Baker, (1928-2017) was a onetime Senate page who, through his close ties to Lyndon B. Johnson and others, became one of the most influential nonelected men in the American government of the 1950s and early 1960s, only to be investigated for and eventually convicted of tax evasion and other crimes.

Baker was an American political adviser to Lyndon B. Johnson, and an organizer for the Democratic Party. He became the Senate's Secretary to the Majority Leader. In 1963, he resigned during an investigation by the Democratic-controlled Senate into Baker's business and political activities. The investigation included allegations of bribery and arranging sexual favors in exchange for Congressional votes and government contracts. The Senate investigation looked into the financial activities of Baker and Lyndon Johnson during the 1950s. The investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Baker investigation was later dropped after President Kennedy's assassination and Johnson's ascension to the presidency.