baker put skills to use when his home state of tennessee first elected him to the senate in 1966. he was described as affable, friendly, courteous and popular with lawmakers in both parties. he ascended to the position of minority leader in the late 70s. first he launched a bid for the presidency. i m going to redouble my efforts to become the republican nominee and i m going to do everything that i possibly can to accomplish that purpose. baker wound up dropping out early on, but took the position of senate majority leader after the republicans took over the senate post-1980. as leader he continued to use his power to try to bring the two parties together. unless we can arrive at a full bipartisan consensus on how to address the acknowledged problem of social security, that it will be the most contentious. in 1984 president reagan awarded baker the presidential medal of freedom and three years later he named him white house chief of staff. baker is credited with helping