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LaMar Baker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| U.S. Representative forTennessee'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 |
| 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 aTennessee businessman andRepublicanpolitical figure who served two terms in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1975. Earlier, he had been a member of both houses of theTennessee State Legislature.
Born inChattanooga, Tennessee, Baker attended public schools there and then David Lipscomb College, nowLipscomb University, inNashville from 1936 to 1938. In 1940, he received aBachelor of Science degree fromHarding College inSearcy,Arkansas. Both Lipscomb and Harding areChurches of Christ institutions. 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-basedCongressional District 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 Republicangubernatorial victor,Winfield Dunn.
Baker served two terms in Congress. He was reelected in the Republican landslide year of 1972, in whichPresidentRichard M. Nixon won 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 theWatergate scandal 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 that Marilyn Lloyd was the widow of Mort Lloyd, an anchorman atCBS affiliateWDEF-TV, who had won the Democratic nomination to face Baker and who had then been killed in a light-airplane accident 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 Carter ofGeorgia won 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 inNashville and is interred in that city's Woodlawn Cemetery.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromTennessee's 3rd congressional district 1971-1975 | Succeeded by |
