Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate and a champion of bipartisan compromise, died Friday at 94. She served 18 years in Washington and became the first woman to chair a major Senate committee.
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate and one of the most respected independent voices of her era in Washington, has died at the age of 94. Her family confirmed the news Friday, remembering a woman who spent 18 years in the Senate and a lifetime serving her home state.
Kassebaum Baker broke barriers that most of her colleagues never had to think about. When she took her seat in 1979, she carried a famous Kansas name and an underdog's story that turned into one of the most dominant political careers the state has ever seen.
Born July 29, 1932, in Topeka, Kassebaum Baker grew up in the shadow of one of the most famous names in Republican politics. Her father, Alf Landon, served as governor of Kansas and carried the GOP presidential nomination in 1936, losing in a landslide to Franklin Roosevelt.
She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas and a master's degree in diplomatic history from the University of Michigan before starting her political life close to home on the Maize school board. In 1978, she stunned the establishment by defeating eight Republicans in the primary for the seat of retiring Sen. James Pearson.
Her campaign slogan said it all: "A Fresh Face: A Trusted Kansas Name." She won the general election with 53 percent of the vote, then cruised to reelection in 1984 and 1990 with more than 70 percent each time.
In Washington, Kassebaum Baker built a reputation for doing things her own way. She became the first woman to chair a major Senate committee, taking the helm of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, and she was the second woman ever elected to the Senate without a spouse who had previously served in Congress.
Her fingerprints are all over some of the most significant laws of the 1990s. She was a driving force behind the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the landmark 1996 bill better known as HIPAA, working across the aisle with Sen. Edward Kennedy to get it signed into law.
She supported the Equal Rights Amendment, backed abortion rights, voted for a ban on assault weapons, and championed the end of apartheid in South Africa. She was also among the Senate leaders who pushed to create a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Her path was never easy. Her own father doubted she could win, rolling his eyes with the rest of the family when she announced her run. Sen. Robert Dole, the Kansas Republican who died in 2021, helped persuade skeptics that she was the real deal, and he later called her one of the most popular politicians in the state's history.
After deciding not to seek a fourth term, she married Howard Baker, the former Senate majority leader from Tennessee, in 1996. The ceremony was performed by former Missouri Sen. John Danforth. The couple later lived in Japan for four years while Howard Baker served as U.S. ambassador under President George W. Bush. He died in 2014.
Kassebaum Baker spent her final years on a ranch in Morris County, Kansas. She had four children from her first marriage to John Philip Kassebaum.
Even in retirement, she never stopped speaking her mind. In 2022, at a program at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, she admitted she doubted she could win office in the modern political climate. "I know full well I could not be reelected today," she said. "It's not that I've changed so much."
Her family said she cherished the support of friends and family her entire life. "For 94 years she relished the support of family and friends from all over the world," they said in a statement. "Her years were filled with remarkable successes, challenges and above all a deep love for Kansas."
The family plans a private memorial service. In lieu of flowers, donations are directed to the Capper Foundation and the Kansas 4-H Foundation.
Kassebaum Baker leaves behind a legacy that reshaped what was possible for women in American politics and a standard of independence that her home state still talks about today.
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate and a champion of bipartisan compromise, died Friday at 94. She served 18 years in Washington and became the first woman to chair a major Senate committee.
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