Nancy Kassebaum Baker Obituary, KANSAS — Nancy Kassebaum Baker, the pioneering Kansas Republican who served 18 years in the U.S. Senate and became the first woman elected to the chamber without previously having a husband serve in Congress, has died at the age of 94. She died Friday of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum.
Kassebaum Baker represented Kansas in the Senate for three terms after winning election in 1978. During her nearly two decades in office, she developed a reputation as an independent-minded Republican who was willing to break with her party when she believed circumstances demanded it. Her son said she loved Kansas, its people and the opportunity to represent them in Washington.
Her 1978 election marked an important milestone for women in American politics. While other women had previously served in the Senate, several had initially entered political life by succeeding their husbands. Kassebaum Baker won her seat based on her own political credentials, establishing herself as a significant figure in the changing role of women in national government.
During her Senate career, Kassebaum Baker became known for working across party lines. One of her most notable legislative achievements came through her partnership with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy. Together, they helped produce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, widely known at the time as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, which established major federal protections concerning health insurance coverage and portability.
Kassebaum Baker also became the only woman chairing a Senate committee during the period when she was preparing to retire from public office. She headed the Labor and Human Resources Committee and represented a moderate Republican approach that was becoming less common in Washington. She occasionally differed with conservatives on major issues, including her support for the federal assault weapons ban championed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Born July 29, 1932, Kassebaum Baker was the daughter of Alf Landon, who served two terms as Kansas governor and was the Republican presidential nominee in 1936. She earned a political science degree from the University of Kansas and later received a master’s degree in diplomatic history from the University of Michigan. Before entering the Senate, she worked as a radio station executive, spent about a year working for Kansas Sen. James Pearson and served on the school board in Maize, a Wichita suburb.
Kassebaum Baker had four children with her first husband, Phil Kassebaum, including Bill Kassebaum, who later served a term in the Kansas House of Representatives. The couple divorced in 1979. She was elected to the Senate despite beginning her 1978 campaign with limited financial resources, later recalling that she considered herself at the bottom of the field. She ultimately served until early 1997 and became one of Kansas’ most recognizable political figures.
In 1996, shortly before leaving the Senate, Kassebaum Baker married former Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, who had served as Senate majority leader and later as White House chief of staff under President Ronald Reagan. He died in 2014. Nancy Kassebaum Baker remained involved in public service after leaving elected office and continued to be respected in Kansas. Her death marks the passing of a pioneering senator whose career helped shape the growing role of women in American national politics. Condolences go to her children, family, friends and all those who remember her life and years of public service.