The One True Thing: What Is Worthy of Your Lifelong Devotion?
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Every human yearning at its core is a desire for God, a...)
Every human yearning at its core is a desire for God, and God is calling out to us through our daily scrambles to control life. The pursuit of God is the one true thing that simplifies and integrates all other things.
In this small book that addresses the largest of themes, the author uses great writers of the past and biblical stories to guide us through three stages of pursuing God: seeking, choosing, and ultimately valuing Him above all else.
Images of Greatness: An Intimate Look at the Presidency of Ronald Reagan
(A former official White House photographer presents a col...)
A former official White House photographer presents a collection of portraits spanning more than five years of Ronald Reagan's presidency, covering both historical events and private moments.
Soul Keeping: Ancient Paths of Spiritual Direction
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Spiritually dry times occur for a reason: They give us ...)
Spiritually dry times occur for a reason: They give us a thirst for the living water that only God can provide and allow us to experience the futility of losing our soul to this world, so that we will get serious about keeping it to life eternal.
Rediscover life in the kingdom of God as practiced by saints and martyrs, prophets and psalmists. The paths they walked are for the weary and worn-out, the bruised and battered, the disillusioned and despairing, the hurting and the hopeless.
• Includes discussion questions
Howard Baker was an American lawyer and politician who gained national prominence as the moderate senator from Tennessee and the senior Republican on the Senate Watergate committee that investigated (1973–74) the 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
Background
Howard Henry Baker Jr. was born on November 15, 1925, in Huntsville, Tennessee. The Bakers were a politically active family. Baker's father, Howard Baker, Sr. , served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Tennessee from 1951-64. Baker's stepmother was also a Republican congresswoman, and Baker's grandfather was a judge.
Education
Baker attended the University of the South (in Sewanee) and Tulane University. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve and was discharged as a Lieutenant, junior grade, after serving in World War II.
He studied law at the University of Tennessee and earned an LL. B.
Career
For 15 years Baker practiced law in Knoxville, Tennessee, and held other business and financial interests as well. He first ran for the United States Senate in 1964, on a conservative Republican platform, but he lost to a moderate Democratic opponent. He learned a lesson from the defeat and revised his stance to a more moderate platform before making his second attempt at the Senate in 1966. This strategy worked. He won the 1966 senatorial election in Tennessee. He was the first Republican to be elected from that state since the Civil War. Additionally he earned the distinction as the first Republican Senator elected by popular vote in Tennessee. Observers sometimes criticized his moderate political philosophies and suggested that he lacked decisiveness. In retrospect it is clear that despite Baker's moderate approach to politics, he demonstrated a consistent platform on each specific issue, and he upheld these policies throughout his career.
Baker was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He favored the development of anti-ballistic missiles (ABM), and the Trident missile program. While he opposed the withdrawal of troops from southeast Asia during the late 1960s and early 1970s, he sternly opposed the bombing of Cambodia and Laos in 1973. Watergate Baker gained national recognition in 1973 as the co-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Activities. The committee was formed to investigate the notorious Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, under threat of impeachment. The Watergate investigation involved the discovery of numerous cover-ups by Nixon's White House aides during the campaign to re-elect President Nixon in 1972. President Nixon's closest advisers and confidants were indicted for involvement in the conspiracy. Some were convicted, and they spent time in prison. Baker was a close ally of Nixon and was actively involved in Nixon's first successful campaign for the presidential candidacy in the late 1960s, yet Baker remained impartial during the investigation. In doing so he garnered approval from Democrats and Republicans alike. They praised him for his handling of the politically charged probe. Baker was not only impartial but thorough in delving into the mysteries of the Watergate affair. Given the conspiracy nature of the charges, the close relationship that once flourished between Baker and Nixon, and the powerful position that Baker held as chairman of the committee, it was exceptional to think that Baker refused to abet the cover-up and searched for the truth instead. Not all of Washington approved of Baker's impeccable honesty and investigative skill, however. Conservative Republican factions in Washington were dismayed when Baker, on a separate occasion, served on a similar panel to investigate the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Baker's role in the CIA probe, combined with his non-partisan scrutiny of the Watergate affair, did not sit well with some of his colleagues. New Political Challenges In 1969 and again in 1971, Baker failed in his first two bids to be elected to the minority leadership of the Senate. He ran successfully in 1977, however, after the Republican debacle over the Watergate scandal: President Nixon had since resigned under threat of impeachment, and the Republicans lost the presidential election of 1976. The party needed an unspoiled image to help the public to forget the unpleasant days of the Watergate hearings. Baker provided that image. His tenure as minority leader lasted four years, from 1977 until 1981. In 1979 Baker made a bid for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination. As a perennial opponent of big government, he ran on a platform of limited government controls. He promoted a four-year plan to cut income taxes, and he staunchly opposed wage and price controls for industry. He favored cutbacks in federal spending and the imposition of spending limits for the federal government, and he supported a "windfall profits" tax for oil companies to pay on excessive profits. By March of 1980 it was clear that former actor and California Governor Ronald Reagan would win the Republican nomination, but Baker was under consideration as a vice-presidential candidate on the Reagan ticket. He never did receive the vice-presidential nomination, but a landslide victory by Ronald Reagan in the election of 1980 brought with it the added benefit of a Republican majority in the Senate. Baker won reelection as the Republican Party leader, to become the Senate Majority Leader in 1981. Two years later he was elected once again. He served as Majority Leader of the Senate until he retired from the legislature in 1985.
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Every human yearning at its core is a desire for God, a...)
Views
Baker's conservative views were evident in matters of the courts, and he strongly endorsed military spending and initiatives to strengthen the national defense. On other issues he took a liberal standpoint.
Quotations:
Baker publicly criticized Reagan's opponents and accused them [of] "voting with their money . .. voting the wrong way . .. playing a dangerous game. .. "
Personality
Baker has a good nature and sense of humor.
Quotes from others about the person
Baker's stepmother said that "Howard is like the Tennessee River. He flows right down the middle. "
Connections
Baker eventually married Joy Dirksen, the daughter of former Senate Minority leader Everett Dirksen. Baker was widowed in 1993 when Joy Baker died of cancer. In December of 1996 he married Nancy Kassebaum, a retired Republican Senator from Burdick, Kansas. The extended family of Baker and Kassebaum combined includes six children and 12 grandchildren.