Max Baucus - Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Early Life, Education, and Early Career

Baucus was born Max Sieben Enke in Helena, Montana, the son of Jean Baucus (née Sheriff), from a wealthy ranching family, and Stephen Enke, Ph.D., a demographer and economist. Baucus lived in California until he was two, when his mother left his father and returned to Helena. She later married John J. Baucus. His father, born in British Columbia, Canada, was of German and Scottish descent, and his mother had English and German ancestry. Baucus graduated from Helena High School in 1959. He attended Carleton College in Minnesota for a year before transferring to Stanford University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1964, and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After graduating, he attended Stanford Law School and graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1967.

After finishing law school, Baucus spent three years as a lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. He moved back to Montana in 1971 to serve as the executive director of the state's Constitutional Convention, also opening a law office in Missoula, Montana.

In November 1973, Baucus was elected to the Montana House of Representatives as a state representative from Missoula. In November 1974 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, and was re-elected in 1976.