Kassebaum, Nancy Landon (1932–)

American politician and US senator. Name variations: Nancy Baker. Born Nancy Josephine Landon, July 29, 1932, in Topeka, Kansas; dau. of Alfred Mossman Landon (politician who ran against FDR for presidency, 1936) and Theo (Cobb) Landon; University of Kansas, BA, 1954; University of Michigan, MA, 1956; m. Philip Kassebaum, June 8, 1955 (div. 1979); m. Howard Baker (former US senator from TN), Dec 7, 1996; children: (1st m.) John Philip Kassebaum Jr.; Linda Josephine Kassebaum; Richard Landon Kassebaum; William Alfred Kassebaum.

US senator (R-Kansas), noted for both independence and consensus-building, who worked on legislation in foreign affairs, aviation, labor, welfare and health-care reform; worked as aide to US senator James Pearson (R-Kansas) and was a member of Executive Committee of Kansas Republican Party (1975); won election to Congress (1976), only the 4th woman in US history to be elected to a full 6-year Senate term and the 1st who had not followed a husband into politics; was assigned to Senate committees on Commerce, Science and Transportation, on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, on the Budget, and on the Special Committee on Aging, as well as to 6 subcommittees; reelected (1984); won 3rd term in a landslide (1990); served on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, and sponsored legislation to impose economic sanctions on the white-minority government in South Africa, warning Reagan that Congress would act if he would not; parted ways from Republicans to vote in support of economic sanctions against Iraq at a time when US was supporting the regime of Saddam Hussein (1990); became chair of Labor and Human Resources Committee (1994), the 1st woman to chair a full committee; was part of a small coterie of moderate Republicans who often deviated from their party line, especially on social issues; capped career in Senate by authoring health-care legislation guaranteeing that working Americans would have access to health insurance when they changed or lost jobs even if they or family members had preexisting health conditions (1996); announced retirement from Senate (1996).

See also Women in World History.