Baker, Nancy Kassebaum, 1932-

<p>Nancy Landon was born July 29, 1932, in Topeka, Kansas, to Alfred M. and Theo (Cobb) Landon. Shortly after her birth, her father became the 26th governor of Kansas. Alfred Landon was the 1936 Republican nominee for president. Nancy Landon graduated from the University of Kansas and the University of Michigan with a master’s in diplomatic history. She married Philip Kassebaum in 1956. They raised four children.</p>

<p>Active in the family business and a member of the Maize school board, Kassebaum took a job in Senator James B. Pearson's office in 1975. When he chose not to seek reelection in 1978, Kassebaum entered the race and won a hard fought primary and general election. She was the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p>Senator-elect Kassebaum officially took office on December 23, 1978. She served as chairman of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources (104th Congress). Kassebaum was known for her work on health care and co-sponsored the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. She was reelected in 1984 and 1990. Senator Kassebaum chose not to seek reelection in 1996. On December 7, 1996, shortly before leaving office, she married former Tennessee senator Howard H. Baker, Jr.</p>

<p>Hailing from a distinguished Kansas political family, Nancy Landon Kassebaum made her own mark by winning election to the U.S. Senate, serving there for nearly two decades, and eventually becoming the first woman to chair a major Senate committee. As both chair of the Labor and Human Resources Committee and a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kassebaum earned a reputation as a determined and independent voice on issues ranging from Cold War policy to women’s rights.</p>

<p>Nancy Landon was born in Topeka, Kansas, on July 29, 1932, into a family that emerged as a Midwestern dynasty. Her father was Alfred Mossman Landon, a successful oil man, two-term Kansas governor, and the 1936 Republican presidential nominee. Her mother, Theo Cobb Landon, was an accomplished pianist and harpist. Nancy Landon was born into a world of privilege, and national political figures dotted her childhood memories, including William H. Taft and his family. “I enjoyed politics and public policy so much,” Kassebaum recalled years later, “that there were times in high school and college when I mused about becoming actively involved as a candidate.” She graduated from the University of Kansas in 1954 with a BA in political science and, in 1956, earned a MA from the University of Michigan in diplomatic history. While at the University of Michigan, Landon met Philip Kassebaum, who later pursued a law degree there. The couple married in 1956. They settled on a farm in Maize, Kansas, and raised four children: John, Linda, Richard, and William. Nancy Kassebaum served as a member of the school board in Maize. She also worked as vice president of Kassebaum Communications, a family-owned company that operated several radio stations. In 1975 Kassebaum and her husband were legally separated; their divorce became final in 1979. She worked in Washington, DC, as a caseworker for Senator James Blackwood Pearson of Kansas in 1975 and returned to Kansas the following year.</p>

<p>When Senator Pearson declined to seek re-election in 1978, Kassebaum declared herself a candidate for the open seat. Though she seemed a political neophyte, the decision was a considered one, as she later reminisced, “I believed I could contribute something, that I had something to offer.”3 Philip Kassebaum, with whom Nancy Kassebaum remained close, worked on her campaign and advised her: “You have to want it enough to have a gnawing in the pit of your stomach that won’t let you sleep. If you have that, then you can put up with the strenuous campaign.”4 Nancy Kassebaum proved to be a ferocious campaigner with a simple philosophy: “To be a good Senator, you need to be willing to work with people. You don’t need to be a professional politician.”</p>

<p>Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker (née Landon; born July 29, 1932) is an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, who was Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and the 1936 Republican nominee for president, and the widow of former Senator and diplomat Howard Baker. She was the first woman ever elected to a full term in the Senate without her husband having previously served in Congress. She is also the first woman to have represented Kansas in the Senate.</p>

<p>Baker was born in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Kansas First Lady Theo (née Cobb) and Governor Alf Landon. She attended Topeka High School and graduated in 1950. She graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1954, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. In 1956, she received a master's degree in diplomatic history from the University of Michigan, where she met her first husband, Philip Kassebaum. They married in 1956. They settled in Maize, Kansas, where they raised four children.</p>

<p>She worked as vice president of Kassebaum Communications, a family-owned company that operated several radio stations. Kassebaum also served on the Maize School Board. In 1975, Kassebaum and her husband were legally separated; their divorce became final in 1979. Kassebaum worked in Washington, D.C., as a caseworker for Senator James B. Pearson of Kansas in 1975, but returned to Kansas the following year.</p>