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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.
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.
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.
Baker managed the president's 1984 re-election campaign which Reagan won with a record 525 electoral votes total (of 538
possible), and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Mondale's 40.6%. [1]. In the new
administration Baker "switched roles" with Secretary of the Treasury 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 and the Baker Plan to target international
debt.
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.
Bush administration
Baker arriving in Kuwait, 1991
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.
Post-cabinet career
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[2]. 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.
Baker's signature, as used on American currency
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 ballots were not counted due to problems with punch card
ballots. [3]. 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. [4] 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.'"[5]
N.Y. Post cover from Dec. 7, 2006
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.[6]
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.
Personal life
He and his wife, the former Susan Garrett, have six sons and two daughters. His first wife, the former Mary Stuart McHenry of
Dayton, Ohio, died of breast cancer in 1970.
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].
Baker is a brother of Phi Delta Theta at his alma mater the University of Texas.
Further reading
Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate, Robert Bryce, New York: Perseus Books Group,
2004.
" 'Work Hard, Study... And Keep Out of Politics!': Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life", James A. Baker III,
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2006.
"The Politics of Diplomacy", James A. Baker III, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995.
Footnotes
External links
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