NEWS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS)
Date: March 18, 2009
David Cazalet, 606-451-6756; david.cazalet@kctcs.edu
Statesman, senator, and author Howard Baker, Jr. to headline Fourth Annual Cooper Lecture Series at SCC
Former Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, Jr. will be the keynote speaker at the Fourth Annual John Sherman Cooper Lecture Series at Somerset Community College on Wednesday, March 25, beginning at 2 p.m.
The former chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan will be speaking in the Citizen's National Bank Community room located in the Harold Rogers Student Commons on the SCC Somerset Campus North.
"It is a great honor to have Senator Baker here at Somerset Community College," said SCC President and CEO Dr. Jo Marshall. "He is a statesman and true American hero."
The 84-year-old Baker has been a leading light of the Republican Party since he was first elected to the United States Senate in 1966. He is the son of the late Tennessee representative Howard Baker, Sr. The elder Baker was born in Somerset in 1902. He was the son of James F. and Helen K. Baker.
The Senator is the former son-in-law of the late Everett Dirksen. Dirksen was Senate Minority Leader during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. Interestingly, Dirksen defeated Kentucky's John Sherman Cooper by six votes to become the Senate Minority Leader in 1959. He was considered by his senate colleagues to be more conservative than Cooper.
In 1996 the widower Baker married former Kansas Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, the Republican candidate for President in 1936.
Baker was born, not far from Somerset, in Huntsville in Scott County, Tennessee on Nov. 15, 1925. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans and University of the South in Sewanee, TN. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Law College in 1949 and served in the United States Navy 1943-1946.
Baker was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1949. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the U.S. Senate in 1964, but was elected in 1966. He was reelected in 1972 and again in 1978. While in the senate he served a minority leader from 1977 to 1981 and as majority leader from 1981 to 1985.
Baker was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 1980. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on March 26, 1984 and he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2001 to 2005.
In addition to his other accomplishments, Baker is a noted photographer and author.
Previous John Sherman Cooper lecturers were Senator Mitch McConnell, who helped to initiate the lecture series, and the second was James Klotter, the Kentucky State Historian and Georgetown College faculty member. Al Cross, the Director of the University of Kentucky's Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and Assistant Professor at the UK School of Journalism and Telecommunications, was the third Cooper lecturer.
The public is invited to attend Baker's lecture and there is no charge for admission.
The annual John Sherman Cooper Lecture focuses on issues of public affairs.
"John Sherman Cooper was 20
th Century Kentucky most notable public figure," explained Dr. Roger Tate, the chair of the SCC Social Sciences Division. "The lecture series is a source of pride for everyone at SCC."
John Sherman Cooper was born in Somerset, Pulaski County, on Aug. 23, 1901. He graduated from public schools. He attended Centre College in Danville, but graduated from Yale College in 1923. Cooper attended Harvard Law School from 1923-25 and was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1928. He set up his law practice in Somerset.
Cooper was elected to the Kentucky Legislature in 1928. He served as judge of Pulaski County from 1930 to 1938. Cooper was a veteran. He served in World War II and rose to the rank of captain in the Army. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1946 and served until 1949. He was elected to the Senate a second time from 1952 to 1955. On Nov. 6, 1956 Cooper was elected a third time to the Senate where he was reelected in 1960 and 1966. His Senate service ended on Jan. 3, 1973 when he declined to run for reelection.
Cooper was also a member of the board of trustees of the University of Kentucky from 1935-1946, served as a delegate to the United Nations, was appointed Ambassador to India, Nepal and the German Democratic Republic. He died on Feb. 21, 1991 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Somerset Community College is a comprehensive two-year institution of higher education. SCC has campuses in Somerset and London, centers in Clinton, McCreary, Casey, and Russell Counties. The website is
www.somerset.kctcs.edu. Call for admission and registration information toll free at 1-877-629-9722.
KCTCS serves the Commonwealth through 16 community and technical college districts that form a seamless system of 62 campuses open or under construction. KCTCS colleges change lives by providing accessible and affordable education and training through academic and technical associate degrees; diploma and certificate programs in occupational fields; pre-baccalaureate education; adult, continuing and developmental education; customized training for business and industry; and distance learning. For more information, visit
www.kctcs.edu.
For most Kentuckians, higher education begins at KCTCS. Our statewide system of 16 colleges and 65 campuses provides citizens throughout the Commonwealth with a quality education that is both accessible and affordable.