Interview with Walter A. Baker, July 26, 1995

Partial Transcript: Uh, when I wrote to you and when we talked on the phone...

Segment Synopsis: Baker highlights Cooper's political trajectory, including various campaigns for the Senate in the 1940s and 1950s.

[Audio distortion occurs until 1 minute 30 seconds into the recording.]

Keywords: 1939 gubernatorial campaign; 1946 Senatorial campaign; 1948 Senatorial campaign; 1952 Republican National Convention; 1952 Senatorial campaign; 1954 Senatorial campaign; 1956 Senatorial campaign; Alben Barkley; Assistant secretary of state; Attorney generals; Campaign managers; Charles I. Dawson; Congress; Congressional district chairman; Courthouses; Democrats; Dwight Eisenhower; Editors; Edwin P. Morrow; Elections; Family; Fathers; Federal judges; Governors; Harry Truman; John Foster Dulles; John M. Robsion Sr.; John Sherman Cooper; Lexington Herald; Political campaigns; Political candidates; Politics; Presidents; Republicans; Robert Taft; Senate; Senators; Simeon Willis; Thomas Dewey; Thruston Morton; Time Magazine; Tom Underwood; U.S. Ambassador to India; University; Virgil Chapman

Subjects: Adair County (Ky.); Childhood; Columbia (Ky.); Conservative; Correspondence; India; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Kentucky. General Assembly; Leaders; Logan County (Ky.); Louisville (Ky.); Nepal; Politicians; Prestonsburg (Ky.); Resignation; Speeches; United States. Department of State; Washington (D.C.); Washington and Lee University

Partial Transcript: I--I worked on Senator Morton's Senate office staff four summers. . .

Segment Synopsis: Baker recalls Cooper's 1956 Senatorial campaign alongside Thurston Morton, who was also running for the Senate. Baker describes his work as a summer intern in Senator Morton's Washington D.C. office during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Keywords: 1956 Senatorial campaign; Administrative assistants; Assistant secretary of state; Circuit judges; Civil Service Committee; Constituents; County judges; Democrats; Dwight Eisenhower; Earle Clements; Elections; Grants; John Foster Dulles; John Sherman Cooper; Kentucky Democrats; Lawyers; Leaders; Lee Nunn; Lyndon Johnson; Political appointments; Post offices; Richard Nixon; Senate; Senate Majority Leader; Senators; Summer interns; Thruston Morton; University; Votes

Subjects: Business; Capitol Hill (Washington, D.C.); Columbia (Ky.); Glasgow (Ky.); Harvard Law School; Harvard University; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Mail; Morton, Thruston Ballard, 1907-1982; Office management; Offices; Politicians; Postmasters; Staff; United States. Department of State; Washington (D.C.); Work

Partial Transcript: . . .C--Cooper had a reputation in Kentucky of never being on time. . .

Segment Synopsis: Baker characterizes Cooper's personality and habits that endeared him to constituents.

Keywords: Character; John Sherman Cooper; Letters; Letters to the editor; Louisville Courier-Journal; Mail; Mothers; Offices; Training; Writing

Subjects: Kentuckians; Kentucky; Politicians; Reputation; Staff; Testimony; Voting; Washington (D.C.)

Partial Transcript: . . .Finished law school and did you move to Glasgow to establish a law practice--?

Segment Synopsis: Baker illustrates his career as an attorney in Louisville and Barren County. Baker details his involvement in politics and how his political career developed, culminating in becoming a member of the Kentucky state legislature in the 1960s.

Keywords: 1964 Republican National Convention; 3rd congressional district (Ky.); Aunts; Clients; Congress; Court cases; Courthouses; Delegates; Elections; Fathers; Governors; Grandfathers; Harvard College Young Republican Club; Henry Heyburn; High schools; John G. Heyburn II; John Sherman Cooper; Kentucky Republican Party; Kentucky Republican Party Chairwoman; Law firms; Law practice; Law schools; Legislators; Lieutenant governors; Phi Beta Kappa; Political campaigning; Political campaigns; Politics; Presidents; Republican governors; Republicans; Summer interns; Thruston Morton; Votes; William McKinley; William Natcher; William O’Connell Bradley

Subjects: Barren County (Ky.); Columbia (Ky.); Glasgow (Ky.); Harvard Law School; Harvard University; Heritage; Inauguration Day; Jefferson County (Ky.); Kentuckians; Kentucky; Kentucky. General Assembly; Law partnerships; Lawyers; London (Ky.); Louisville (Ky.); Politicians; San Francisco (Calif.); Staff; Washington (D.C.); Watergate Affair, 1972-1974; Work

Partial Transcript: Well, Cooper was kind of a misfit in a way in the Republican Party.

Segment Synopsis: Baker considers Cooper's loyalty to the Republican Party despite having somewhat liberal views. Baker evaluates the impact of Cooper's experiences in World War II upon his political views.

Keywords: 11th congressional district (Ky.); 80th U.S. Congress; Allies; Beliefs; Bills; Bricker Amendment; Congressman; Connections; Democrats; Desegregation; Don C. Edwards; Family; Fathers; Franklin D. Roosevelt; Influence; Investigations; John M. Robsion Sr.; John Sherman Cooper; Legislation; Republican State Central Committee; Republicans; Robert Taft; Roscoe Tartar; Tax cuts; U.S. Constitution; Uncles; Votes; Voting rights; World War II; Worldview

Subjects: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka; Careers; Civil rights; Germany; Heritage; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Law; Military government; Philosophy; Politicians; Power; Travel; Trials; Washington (D.C.); World War, 1939-1945; Writing; Yale University

Partial Transcript: Cooper's brothers. . .

Segment Synopsis: Baker discusses Cooper's brothers and their lives. Baker also recalls Cooper's family and their apparent dislike for Richard Nixon as the Republican presidential candidate in 1960.

Keywords: 1960 Republican National Convention; Alcoholism; Alumni; Brothers; Christian Herter; Congressman; Connections; Delegations; Don Cooper; Dwight Eisenhower; Elections; General counsel; Gerald Ford; Harold Stassen; Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.; John F. Kennedy; John Sherman Cooper; Kentucky State Central Committee; Lawyers; Mothers; Political campaigns; Political nominations; Richard Cooper; Richard Nixon; Running mates; Sisters; Thruston Morton; University of Kentucky Board of Trustees; Vice presidents

Subjects: Grand Rapids (Mich.); Harvard Law School; Harvard University; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Louisville (Ky.); Michigan; New York (N.Y.); Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994; Politicians; Press; Somerset (Ky.); Speech; Washington (D.C.)

Partial Transcript: The--you know the drinking problem that he had. . .

Segment Synopsis: Baker talks of Thruston Morton and his issues with alcohol. Baker remembers some of the Senators he encountered while working as a summer intern in Senator Morton's office in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Keywords: 1962 Senatorial campaign; Democrats; Frank Church; Gordon Allott; Henry Dworshak; Herman Welker; John Sherman Cooper; Joseph McCarthy; Public life; Republicans; Senate; Senate gallery; Thruston Morton; Tom Jennings; William E. Jenner; Wilson Wyatt

Subjects: Alcohol; Alcoholism; Colorado; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Missouri; Morton, Thruston Ballard, 1907-1982; Politicians; Staff; Washington (D.C.)

Partial Transcript: And then was going up to Versailles to see Happy, Governor Chandler.

Segment Synopsis: Baker details the long-standing friendship between Cooper and Happy Chandler. Baker also talks of Cooper's social connections throughout Kentucky.

Keywords: Alben Barkley; Albert "Happy" Chandler; Brother-in-law; Congressional race; Connections; Democrats; Earle Clements; Feuds; Fundraising; George Norton III; Governors; John Sherman Cooper; Law practice; Louie Nunn; Offices; Political primaries; Re-election; Thruston Morton; World War II

Subjects: Bundles for Britain, Inc; Chandler, Happy, 1898-1991; Classmates; Friendship; Kentuckians; Kentucky; Lexington (Ky.); Louisville (Ky.); Politicians; Somerset (Ky.); Travel; Versailles (Ky.); Washington (D.C.); World War, 1939-1945; Yale University