KNOXVILLE (AP) — Mourners are paying their respects to former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. at the University of Tennessee center in Knoxville that bears his name.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that people began lining up outside the Baker Center well before the doors opened Monday for visitors to view the flag-draped casket of the onetime Senate majority leader.

Baker cut to the core of the 1973 Watergate hearings when he asked, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" He died Thursday at age 88.

Baker in the Senate won widespread respect from Republicans and Democrats alike, rising to the post of majority leader. He also served as President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff.

His funeral is set for Tuesday in Baker's hometown of Huntsville, Tennessee.