James Baker

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James Baker
67th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office February 4, 1985 – August 17, 1988
Under President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Donald T. Regan
Succeeded by	Nicholas F. Brady
61st United States Secretary of State
In office January 20, 1989 – August 23, 1992
Under President	George H.W. Bush
Preceded by	George P. Shultz
Succeeded by	Lawrence Eagleburger
Born	April 28, 1930 (age 76) Houston, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Susan Garrett
Profession	politician

James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration, Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988 in the second Reagan administration, and Secretary of State in the administration of President George H. W. Bush. He is also the founder of the James Baker Institute.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Early political career 3 Reagan administration 4 Bush administration 5 Post-cabinet career 5.1 1993-2000 5.2 Involvement with George W. Bush & the Iraq War 5.3 Other Activities 6 Personal life 7 Further reading 8 Footnotes 9 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Baker was born in Houston, Texas to James Addison Baker Jr. and Ethel Bonner Means.^[1] He attended The Hill School, a private college-preparatory school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and Princeton University where he was elected to receive membership of The Ivy Club. He received a bachelor's degree in 1952. He then served in the United States Marine Corps for two years as a lieutenant, after which he attended the University of Texas School of Law, where he became a member of Phi Delta Theta and received his Juris Doctor in 1957. Baker took a job with the law firm Andrews & Kurth, L.L.P., where he remained until 1975.

[edit] Early political career

Originally a Democrat, Baker switched to the Republican party and managed the ultimately unsuccessful Senate campaign of his longtime friend, George H.W. Bush in 1970.

He served as Undersecretary of Commerce under President Gerald Ford in 1975 and ran Ford's unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1976. Baker ran an unsuccessful race in 1978 to become State Attorney General of Texas.

[edit] Reagan administration

After serving as George H.W. Bush's campaign manager in the 1980 Republican primaries, Baker was named White House Chief of Staff by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. He served in that capacity until 1985. Baker is seen as wielding a high degree of influence over the successes and failures of the first Reagan administration, particularly in domestic policy.

After managing Reagan's wildly successful reelection campaign in 1984, Reagan appointed Baker Secretary of the Treasury in January of 1985 — he "switched roles" with the former Secretary of the Treasury, Donald Regan, who replaced Baker as Chief of Staff. While serving as Treasury Secretary, he organized the Plaza Accord of September 1985.

During the Reagan administration Baker also served on the Economic Policy Council, where he played an instrumental role in achieving the passage of the administration's tax and budget reform legislation package in 1981.

Baker served on Reagan's National Security Council, and remained Treasury Secretary through 1988, during which year he also served as campaign chairman for Bush's successful presidential bid.

[edit] Bush administration

George H.W. Bush appointed Baker Secretary of State in 1989. Baker served in this role through 1992 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. From 1992 to 1993, he served as Bush's White House Chief of Staff, the same position that he had held during the first Reagan administration.

[edit] Post-cabinet career

[edit] 1993-2000

In 1993 Baker became the founding chair of the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

He helped to construct the 34-nation alliance that fought alongside the United States in the Gulf War.

In 1995 Baker published his memoirs of service as Secretary of State in a book entitled The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace, 1989-1992 (ISBN 0-399-14087-5).

In March 1997 Baker became the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara[1]. In June 2004 he resigned from this position, frustrated over the lack of progress in reaching a complete settlement acceptable to both the government of Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. He left behind the Baker II plan, accepted as a suitable basis of negotiations by the Polisario and unanimously endorsed by the Security Council, but rejected by Morocco.

[edit] Involvement with George W. Bush & the Iraq War

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Baker served as chief legal adviser for George W. Bush during the 2000 election campaign and oversaw the Florida recount. He was instrumental in getting the Supreme Court to intervene in the Florida vote recount.^{[citation needed]} Over 200,000 votes were not counted due to problems with punch card ballots. [2]. He was until 2005 senior counsel to the Carlyle Group and is currently a senior partner at the law firm of Baker Botts.

In late 2003 he was drafted by the President to assist in the operations of the US-led occupation of Iraq. He is also a special envoy to the president to persuade other countries to relieve Iraqi debts.^{[citation needed]}

State of Denial, a book by investigative reporter Bob Woodward, says that White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card urged President Bush to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with Baker following the 2004 election.

On 5 January 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials.^{[citation needed]}

On 15 March 2006, Congress announced the formation of the Iraq Study Group, of which he is the Republican co-chair along with Lee Hamilton.

On 13 September 2006, a news report suggested that Baker is quietly involved with advising President George W. Bush on Iraq. [3] On October 8th, the Washington Post reported that Baker is "the Republican co-chairman of a bipartisan commission tasked by Congress with assessing U.S. options in Iraq," and quoted him as saying "our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of 'stay the course' and 'cut and run.'"[4]

On 8 October 2006 he said that there are alternatives in Iraq for the United States other than the stay-the-course-policy of President George W. Bush's administration.^{[citation needed]} Baker was co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, a high-level panel of prominent former officials charged by members of Congress with taking a fresh look at America's policy on Iraq. The panel, co-chaired by former Democratic Representative Lee H. Hamilton, examined a number of ideas, including one that would create a new power-sharing arrangement in Iraq that would give more autonomy to regional factions.[5]

On January 5, 2007, a rival "hawkish" report was released, titled Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq, by the so-called "Real Iraq Study Group" headed by neoconservative Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute. Kagan was said to have won-over the ear of President George W. Bush. [6]

[edit] Other Activities

Azerbaijan has formal involvement with James Baker as he serves on the Honorary Council of Advisers for the U.S. Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce.

[edit] Personal life

He and his wife, the former Susan Garrett, have eight children.

On June 15, 2002, Graeme Baker, the 7-year-old granddaughter of Baker, daughter of Nancy and James Baker IV, was the victim of suction entrapment[7].

[edit] Further reading

Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate, Robert Bryce, New York: Perseus Books Group, 2004.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• "What the Baker Commission is Ignoring"
• Profile in the Daily Princetonian
• Biography on Baker Botts LLP website
• Article in the Guardian
• Baker Institute for Public Policy
• James Addison Baker III SourceWatch Bio
• ""Work Hard, Study...and Keep Out of Politics!" Video of James Baker discussing his memoirs. November 4, 2006.
• Troops Out, Oil Companies In: The Baker Agenda? Huffington Post article discussing the possible oil agenda in Iraq.
• [http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=497 James Baker talks about his book Work Hard, Study . . .and Keep Out of Politics! video

Preceded by Jack Watson	White House Chief of Staff 1981–1985	Succeeded by Donald Regan
Preceded by Donald Regan	United States Secretary of the Treasury 1985–1988	Succeeded by Nicholas F. Brady
Preceded by George P. Shultz	United States Secretary of State 1989–1992	Succeeded by Lawrence Eagleburger
Preceded by Samuel K. Skinner	White House Chief of Staff 1992–1993	Succeeded by Mack McLarty

v • d • e Members of the Iraq Study Group
James Baker (Co-chair) • Lee Hamilton (Co-chair) Lawrence Eagleburger • Vernon Jordan, Jr. • Edwin Meese • Sandra Day O'Connor • Leon Panetta • William Perry • Chuck Robb • Alan Simpson Former members: Robert Gates • Rudy Giuliani

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