LaMar Baker Collection 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

            LaMar Baker (1915-2003) was a Tennessee businessman and Republican political figure.  Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Baker attended high school at David Lipscomb (1936-1938) and received his Bachelor of Science degree at Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas (1940).  He served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II from 1942 to 1946.

          Baker was a successful Chattanooga businessman prior to his election to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1966.  In 1968, he was elected to the Tennessee State Senate, and in 1970, he received the Republican nomination for the Chattanooga-based Congressional District to replace Bill Brock, who was elected to the United States Senate. 

          Baker served two terms in Congress and won reelection fairly easily in the Republican landslide year of 1972 (in which President Nixon won all but five of Tennessee’s 95 counties).  He was also a delegate to the Republican National Convention that year, but in 1974, he was defeated for reelection by moderate Democrat Marilyn Lloyd.  He lost a rematch against Lloyd in 1976.  From 1981 to 1985, he served as the regional representative to the United States Secretary of Transportation Drew Lewis.  He lived the remainder of his years in Nashville, Tennessee.