Long-Time Senator and Watergate Investigator Howard Baker Dies at 88    

Former U.S. Republican senator Howard Baker, who became a household name during the 1973 Watergate hearings, has died at 88 following a stroke.

Baker was admired by politicians from both parties as a plain-speaking moderate.

He was elected to the Senate from Tennessee in 1966 and remained relatively obscure until he was appointed vice chairman of the hearings investigating the Watergate scandal — where the Nixon White House was accused of covering up knowledge of the break-in at Democratic headquarters.

Baker’s cool demeanor appeared daily on millions of televising sets, asking witnesses the key question: “What did the president know and when did he know it?”

The Watergate scandal led to Presider Richard Nixon’s resignation.

After a failed run for the presidency in 1980, Baker served as Senate Majority Leader, President Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff, and U.S. ambassador to Japan.

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