Topic: Foreign policy/Foreign affairs
Interview of Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, October 17, 2022
Interviewed by Deanell Reece Tacha
Nancy Kassebaum, still lively at age 90, recalled being a young girl in Topeka growing up with a famous father, Alf Landon. She described her motivation for entering a US Senate race in 1978 and turned to friends and the League of Women Voters in Wichita for help with that highly contested primary race. Kassebaum had a "special relationship" with the other Kansas Senator, Bob Dole. Her legislative interests in the U.S. Senate were foreign relations, Africa and apartheid, and a major health care bill she worked with Senator Ted Kennedy. Toward the end of Show Moreher senate career she married Tennessee senator Howard Baker, and went to Japan with him as wife of the Ambassador. After Baker's death she returned to the ranch in Burdick, Kansas where she still follows politics closely. Show Less
Interview of Deanell Tacha, April 12, 2023
Interviewed by Jim Concannon
Jim Concannon guides retired federal Judge Deanell Tacha through an interview that probes her background, reasons for becoming a lawyer, and then a judge on the United States Court of Appeals, and her career in public service as an administrator and professor of law. Tacha spoke about how women were treated in law school and during her early law practice. She advocated for the advancement of women in law and the workplace. Tacha credited Kansas' U.S Senator Bob Dole for her nomination to the federal Court of Appeals. She compared the federal system of selecting judges Show Morewith the Kansas merit selection system and prefers the Kansas nonpartisan system. Tacha explained how the federal judiciary is organized, focusing on the kinds of cases they hear. She related a story about a trip she took to Albania to assist with developing a new constitution for the country, discussed her experience as Dean of the Law School at Pepperdine University, and closed with an observation about "thoughtful, civilized discourse". Show Less