Robert Gene Baker was an American political adviser to Lyndon B Johnson, and an organizer for the Democratic Party.
18 Facts About Bobby Baker
1.
2.
Bobby Baker became the Senate's Secretary to the Majority Leader.
3.
The investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Bobby Baker investigation was later dropped after President Kennedy's assassination and Johnson's ascension to the presidency.
4.
Bobby Baker was born in Pickens, South Carolina, the son of the town postmaster, and lived in a house on Hampton Avenue.
5.
Bobby Baker attended Pickens Elementary and Pickens High School, until he was 14 years old, when he received an appointment as a US Senate page, with the help of Harold E Holder.
6.
In 1942, Bobby Baker became a page for Senator Burnet Maybank, and quickly became friends with several important Democrats.
7.
Bobby Baker was eventually promoted to Secretary to the Majority Leader in 1953, who at the time was a Democrat; this was his highest-ranking official position, and the position from which he would later resign.
8.
Bobby Baker resigned due to misconduct allegations and a well-publicized scandal involving government contracts.
9.
Bobby Baker later served 18 months in prison for tax evasion.
10.
Bobby Baker was a founder and eventual treasurer of the Quorum Club, located in the Carroll Arms Hotel adjacent to the Senate office building.
11.
Bobby Baker was married to a sergeant in the German Army, but stationed at their embassy in Washington.
12.
In 1962, Bobby Baker established the Serv-U Corporation with his friend, Fred Black.
13.
Bobby Baker was designed to provide vending machines for companies working for programs established under federal grants.
14.
Under increasing criticism, Bobby Baker resigned as Secretary to the Majority Leader on October 7,1963.
15.
Hoover successfully limited the Senate investigation of Bobby Baker by threatening to release embarrassing information about senators contained in FBI files.
16.
Thereafter, any investigation of Lyndon Johnson as part of the Bobby Baker investigation was dropped.
17.
Bobby Baker was convicted of tax evasion and spent 18 months in prison.
18.
In 2017, Bobby Baker died on his 89th birthday in St Augustine, Florida.