Richard Allan Baker (born March 18, 1940) was the first
Historian of the United States Senate
The Historian of the United States Senate heads the United States Senate Historical Office, which was created in 1975 to record and preserve historical information about the United States Senate. The current Historian of the Senate is Betty K. Ko ...
, serving through August 2009. He directed the
United States Senate Historical Office
The Historian of the United States Senate heads the United States Senate Historical Office, which was created in 1975 to record and preserve historical information about the United States Senate. The current Historian of the Senate is Betty K. Ko ...
from the time of its creation in 1975.
He wrote a weekly column on Senate history for a Washington newspaper (''The Hill'') and is the co-author (with
Neil MacNeil
Neil MacNeil (January 3, 1923 in the Bronx, New York, NY – June 7, 2008 in Bethesda, MD) was an American journalism, journalist.
Career
He began in journalism as a local reporter on The New York Times. In 1949, after graduating from Harv ...
) of the D.B. Hardeman Prize-winning ''The American Senate: An Insider's History'', published in 2013, a history of Senate rules and customs.
Education
Baker graduated in 1962 from the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...
, and received master's degrees from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in 1968 and
Michigan State University in 1965. He also obtained a Ph.D. in history from the
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
in 1982.
Historical Minutes
Beginning in 1997, at the request of Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle, Baker routinely opened the weekly luncheon meetings of the
Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate
The Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate, sometimes referred to as the Democratic Conference, is the formal organization of all senators who are part of the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. For the makeup of the 117th Cong ...
with a brief historical anecdote or ''minute''. These short essays were wide-ranging in topic and highlight recurring
themes in the Senate's institutional development. In 2009, at the time of Baker's retirement, Senate Republican Leader
Mitch McConnell initiated a similar program for his party's members. Both Democratic and Republican programs are currently active, relying on presentations by the Senate's Historian and Associate Historian.
Authorship
* "Conservation Politics: The Senate Career of
Clinton P. Anderson
Clinton Presba Anderson (October 23, 1895 – November 11, 1975) was an American politician who represented New Mexico in the United States Senate from 1949 until 1973. A member of the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Party, he pr ...
" (University of New Mexico Press, 1985)
* "The Senate of the United States: A Bicentennial History" (Krieger, 1988)
* "First Among Equals: Outstanding Senate Leaders of the Twentieth Century" (Congressional Quarterly, 1991) (coeditor)
* "200 Notable Days: Senate Stories 1787 to 2002" (Government Printing Office, 2006
* "The American Senate: An Insider's History" co-authored with Neil MacNeil (Oxford University Press, 2013)
External links
Saving Senate History via pbs.org November 25, 2002
via New York Times August 8, 2009
*
C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Baker, June 12, 2005C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Baker, September 27, 2009C-SPAN "Q&A" interview with Baker, July 7, 2013
1940 births
Living people
Employees of the United States Senate
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
Columbia University alumni
Michigan State University alumni
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
Historians of the United States Senate
American male non-fiction writers
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