James Baker

This article is about the politician. For other uses, see James Baker (disambiguation), James A. Baker (disambiguation), and James Addison Baker (disambiguation).

James Baker
Official portrait, 1989
10th & 16th White House Chief of Staff
In office August 24, 1992 – January 20, 1993
President	George H. W. Bush
Deputy	Robert Zoellick
Preceded by	Samuel K. Skinner
Succeeded by	Mack McLarty
In office January 20, 1981 – February 3, 1985
President	Ronald Reagan
Deputy	Michael Deaver
Preceded by	Jack Watson
Succeeded by	Donald Regan
61st United States Secretary of State
In office January 25, 1989 – August 23, 1992
President	George H. W. Bush
Deputy	Lawrence Eagleburger
Preceded by	George Shultz
Succeeded by	Lawrence Eagleburger
67th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office February 4, 1985 – August 17, 1988
President	Ronald Reagan
Deputy	Richard G. Darman M. Peter McPherson
Preceded by	Donald Regan
Succeeded by	Nicholas F. Brady
United States Under Secretary of Commerce
In office August 2, 1975 – May 7, 1976
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	John Tabor
Succeeded by	Edward Vetter
Personal details
Born	James Addison Baker III (1930-04-28) April 28, 1930 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican (since 1970)
Other political affiliations	Democratic (before 1970)
Spouses	Mary Stuart McHenry ​ ​ (m. 1953; died 1970)​ Susan Garrett ​ (m. 1973)​
Children	5
Relatives	Rosebud Baker (granddaughter)
Education	Princeton University (BA) University of Texas at Austin (LLB)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1952–1954 (active) 1954–1958 (reserve)
Rank	Captain

James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House chief of staff and 67th United States secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan and the 61st U.S. secretary of state before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President George H. W. Bush.

Born in Houston, Baker attended the Hill School and Princeton University before serving in the United States Marine Corps. After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, he pursued a legal career. He became a close friend of George H. W. Bush and worked for Bush's unsuccessful 1970 campaign for the United States Senate. After serving briefly as Under Secretary of Commerce, Baker ran President Gerald Ford's failed 1976 campaign following the ouster of campaign chairman Rogers Morton. Baker considered running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Houston and did run a failed 1978 campaign for Texas Attorney General, but he otherwise remained in appointed positions for his career.

Baker ran Bush's unsuccessful campaign for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, but after Bush joined the Republican ticket under Ronald Reagan, Baker became an asset to the incoming president. Reagan appointed Baker as his White House chief of staff, and Baker remained in that position until 1985, when he became Secretary of the Treasury. As treasury secretary, he arranged the Plaza Accord and the Baker Plan. He resigned as treasury secretary with some trepidation to manage Bush's successful 1988 campaign for president. After the election, Bush appointed Baker to the position of secretary of state. As Secretary of State, he helped oversee U.S. foreign policy during the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union, as well as during the Gulf War. After the Gulf War, Baker served another stint as White House chief of staff from 1992 to 1993 to help orchestrate Bush's re-election bid.

Baker remained active in business and public affairs after Bush's defeat in the 1992 presidential election. He served as a United Nations envoy to Western Sahara and as a consultant to Enron. During the Florida recount following the 2000 presidential election, he managed George W. Bush's legal team in the state. He served as the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, which Congress formed in 2006 to study Iraq and the ongoing Iraq War. He's served on the World Justice Project and the Climate Leadership Council. Baker is the namesake of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Since the death of Henry Kissinger in 2023, he is currently the oldest living former United States secretary of state, as well as the earliest serving.

Early life

James Addison Baker III was born at 1216 Bissonnet Street in Houston. Baker's mother, Bonner Means Baker, was a Houston socialite. His father, James A. Baker Jr, was a partner of Houston law firm Baker Botts, which was founded by Baker's great-grandfather in 1871.

Baker's father was a strict figure who used corporal punishment, becoming known as "The Warden" by Baker and his friends. He offered Baker the aphorism which Baker knew as the Five Ps: "prior preparation prevents poor performance." Baker referred to this mantra as a gift he thought about "almost every day of [his] adult life." The Warden also forbade Baker from getting involved in politics, believing that it was unseemly. Baker named his memoir Work Hard, Study...and Stay Out of Politics after this worldview, expressed by both his father and grandfather.

While Baker was growing up, his father vehemently opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, believing Roosevelt a class traitor who unduly burned wealthy Americans. Despite the sentiment, Baker's father and grand-father were still Democrats in the one-party state of Texas.

Baker was born eighteen months before his only sibling, his sister Bonner Baker Moffitt. Moffitt struggled with schizophrenia and a tumultuous marriage with Houston Chronicle reporter Donald Moffitt. She predeceased Baker in 2015.

Education and pre-political career

Baker attended the private preparatory academy the Kinkaid School in Houston, where his father was chairman of the board, until 1946. For his final two years of school, Baker attended the Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania attended by his father and late uncle.

After boarding school, Baker attended Princeton University.Though his grades were middling, his father was a Princeton alumnus and wrote to the school more than a year before Baker applied to lobby for his admission. While at Princeton, Baker, by his own admission, "went wild" and joined multiple drinking societies, including the 21 Club and the "Right Wing Club" (named because members would use their right arms when drinking). In 1952, Baker completed his history degree with a 188-page senior thesis, titled "Two Sides of the Conflict: Bevin vs. Bevan," under the supervision of Walter P. Hall.

During the Korean War, Baker served for six months on the USS Monrovia (pictured) in the Mediterranean Sea.

Soon after the outset of the Korean War, while at Princeton, Baker joined a U.S. Marine officer training program to avoid being drafted before he finished college. Baker went on active duty with the Marines from his graduation in 1952 to 1954. After months of basic training, he was originally assigned to lead an infantry platoon which may have taken him to the front in Korea. Baker instead requested to be assigned as a naval gunfire spotter. Baker received the assignment and served for six months in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the USS Monrovia as first lieutenant. Baker remained in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1958, rising to the rank of captain.

After his mandatory two years of active duty service, Baker began attending the University of Texas School of Law, his father's alma mater. He considered attending law school in the northeast, but chose the University of Texas due to his family connection and greater compatibility with a Texas-based law career. At the urging of his father, he joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and underwent severe hazing rituals:

"I went through hell. I had these young kids that were five and six years younger than I was telling me, ‘Sit on that ice block in burlap,’ and they would drop raw eggs down my throat. I did all that for my dad. He wanted me to do it.”

In November 1953, while enlisted, Baker married his first wife and sired his first child soon after. While he received a dispensation from the army under the G.I. Bill, Baker also received a monthly allowance from his father to help him support his wife and child while in school.

After law school, Baker intended to join the family firm Baker Botts, which was among the largest in the state. The firm had implemented a no-nepotism rule, which would have prevented Baker from working there while his father still did. Baker and his father requested an exception, but the partners of the firm voted against admitting Baker. After his tenure as Secretary of State ended in 1993, Baker returned to Baker Botts, which had revised its rule to allow for Baker and his descendants to join.

Baker was not able to join the family firm Baker Botts due to a policy against nepotism.

From 1957 to 1980, he practiced law at Andrews, Kurth, Campbell, & Bradley. Baker's work at the firm largely involved helping clients draft by-laws, advising on mergers and acquisitions, and otherwise providing guidance as needed. The firm's business primarily lied in the prosperous oil and gas trade in Texas, with its most important client being the eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes, though Baker himself never worked with Hughes in any detail. Baker's clients included Petro-Tex Chemical Corporation, Con Edison, and the oil-rich heirs of Shanghai Pierce.

While at Andrews, Kurth, Baker worked six to seven days a week and considered himself a "workaholic." He wrote in his memoir that his only significant breaks from work would be for tennis—he won back-to-back doubles tournaments at the Houston Country Club club with future president George H.W. Bush—and occasional hunting trips. Though he had a consistent, relatively high salary as a lawyer at a blue-chip firm, Baker's father continued to support him financially, providing money for his first house, for parts of his children's education, for Baker to buy a station wagon, and as assistance in the construction of a new house.

When Baker wanted to buy a parcel of poorly developed South Texas land in 1968, his father refused to put up his money, feeling that the property offered little value. Since Baker's father was, at that point, struggling with Parkinson's disease, his mother decided to grant Baker the money over his father's objections. Baker named the land "Rockpile Ranch" in deference to his father's doubts.

Early political career

In his twenties and thirties, while working at Andrews Kurth, Baker considered himself apolitical. He was a registered Democrat in one-party Texas, but he wrote in the memoir that he consistently voted for the Republican presidential candidate. Baker attended the first inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower after receiving tickets while he was in training at Quantico.

Baker's first wife, the former Mary Stuart McHenry, was active in the Republican Party, coming from a family of Ohio Republicans. After their marriage, she continued to act as a Republican booster, supporting the Congressional campaigns of George H. W. Bush. In addition, Baker's growing closeness with his tennis partner Bush and his conservative father—who supported Bush's father's political career and donated to Bush's first campaigns—influenced Baker's political preferences.

In his first foray into electoral politics, Baker helped his friend George H.W. Bush (pictured) run for the Senate in Texas.

Baker supported Bush socially during his failed 1964 Senate campaign against Ralph Yarborough and in his successive successful House campaigns, but not actively. In the lead-up to the 1970 Senate campaign, Bush decided to forgo re-election for the House of Representatives—due to Texas's resign-to-run statute—to run again for the Senate against Yarborough. Bush encouraged Baker to run as his replacement in the House. Baker strongly considered the opportunity for some weeks, since he had grown bored with routine and would have an almost certain safe seat. He decided not to run to avoid campaigning as his wife's cancer grew worse. She died in February 1970, shortly after Baker decided not to run.

In the aftermath of her death, Bush encouraged him to assist in the Senate campaign. Baker chaired Bush's operation in Harris County, fundraising and coordinating support. Bush lost in 1970 to conservative Democrat Lloyd Bentsen—who had defeated the more liberal Yarborough in the Democratic primary—53 percent to Bush's 47 percent.

During and after the campaign, Baker continued to work at Andrews Kurth as he reoriented his family life following his wife's passing. By the time of Richard Nixon's re-election campaign in 1972, Baker returned to politics as Finance Chair for Texas. After Nixon's victory, he considered multiple appointments. Bush lobbied Texas Senator John Tower to submit Baker for nomination to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Though that effort failed, Baker considered joining the executive branch with a scheduled interview for the same day as the sudden departures of John Dean, H.R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman in 1973. He received and rejected an offer to be the assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, due to the continuing Watergate Scandal.

Ford administration (1975-1976)

Baker continued to work at Andrews Kurth before he received an appointment as Under Secretary of Commerce under Rogers Morton. Morton chose Baker after a trip to China where he spoke with Bush—then the U.S. Ambassador to China—who strongly recommended Baker for the role. Baker was confirmed by the Senate in August 1975.

Under Secretary of Commerce

In the role, Baker attended the White House as the department representative in discussions surrounding the economy. Baker was a key figure in pushing for protectionist policy toward Chinese textiles, over the objections of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In a campaign event in Oklahoma during Ford's primary campaign against Ronald Reagan, Baker also caused a mild controversy when he declared to anti-Kissinger conservatives that Ford would replace him should he win re-election. White House Chief of Staff Dick Cheney, sternly reprimanded Baker, who apologized to Kissinger.

Baker was an occasional resource for political judgment in the campaign, including in the lead-up to Ford's loss to Reagan in the Texas primary. After the untimely death of political operative Jack Stiles, Morton—who was then running Ford's campaign—appointed Baker to be Ford's "delegate wrangler" during the 1976 Republican National Convention.

Baker led the floor fight at the 1976 Republican National Convention for Ford, which the campaign button (above) depicts.

In Kansas City, Baker and his team narrowly won the floor fight for Ford, with the count of 1,187 to 1,070. According to his biographers, among Baker's strengths in the role were consistently accurate delegate estimates, especially compared to the fluctuating numbers offered by Reagan's representative, John Sears. Baker was hailed in a profile from The New York Times as a "Miracle Man." His floor team included future campaign manager Paul Manafort.

Ford 1976 campaign chairman

Shortly after the convention, Baker replaced Morton as campaign chairman. Morton departed after publicly criticizing Ford's prospects following the Reagan challenge. Cheney and political consultant Stuart Spencer chose Baker partly due to his success at convention and the belief, as Cheney put it to Newsweek, that he had the energy to "take a dead organization and turn it around." Morton's wife had requested that Baker reject the promotion to reduce her husband's embarrassment, but Baker did not. He told his biographers that taking over in those circumstances was one of the "toughest' moments in his political career.

Among Baker's strategies in the campaign was the decision to agree to the first televised presidential debates since the 1960 election. Ford and Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter met for three debates. Though polling indicated that Ford fared well in the first debate, he fared poorly in the second debate, partly due a gaffe where he claimed that there was "no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration." Televised debates have been held in each of the subsequent American presidential elections.

Baker (left) participated in a 1976 campaign strategy session with President Gerald Ford (fourth from left) and others in Vail, CO.

In the days before the election, Baker controversially wrote to black clergymen to call attention to provocateur Clennon King's criticism of Carter, an integrationist, for the de facto segregation of his Plains, Georgia church. Ford denounced the action internally as an apparent dirty trick he would disavow. It also strengthened the connection Baker had tried to sever between Carter and black supporters, as prominent figures such as Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King rallied to support him.

Ford lost the popular vote to Carter by two percentage points and fell in the electoral college by small margins in two states. Despite the defeat, Baker received credit for improving Ford's chances and for closing the deficit, which was as large as 13 percent when Baker began. Other members of Ford's campaign team, including Stuart Spencer, strongly criticized Baker for failing to spend all of the campaign funds ($21.8 million) allotted to each of the candidates. Baker had declined to spend the surplus money (about $1 million) for concerns about encroaching on post-Watergate propriety.

Candidacy for Texas Attorney General (1978)

Baker campaigned against Mark White, the Democratic nominee for Attorney General, but lost by an 11-point margin in November 1978. White later went on to be elected Texas governor.

After the 1976 election, Baker returned to Andrews Kurth, but he intended to re-enter politics. In a conversation with his friend George H.W. Bush, he asked for advice about running for state office in Texas. Bush recommended challenging Governor Dolph Briscoe, but Baker decided to run for Attorney General, expecting to face Price Daniel Jr., son of the former governor and descendant of Sam Houston. Baker concluded that Daniel would be an easier candidate to defeat than Briscoe, as a pedigreed liberal in a state that was shifting toward conservative Republicans like Reagan.

Daniel ran for the Democratic primary, but lost to former Texas Secretary of State Mark White by 4 percentage points. Baker himself ran unopposed in his primary.

In the general election, Baker ran as a moderate, telling advocacy group LULAC that he would support civil rights protections, even as Republican nominee for governor, Bill Clements, did not. Baker did maintain the Republican orthodoxy on preventing taxpayer-funding of abortions, instituting harsher mandatory sentences for some criminals, and supporting the death penalty. National Republicans, including Reagan, Ford, 1976 Vice Presidential nominee Bob Dole campaigned on Baker's behalf in the race.

Baker's ran on the slogan "Texas needs a lawyer, not a politician, for attorney general." The Houston Chronicle political reporter Jim Barlow, who led the Chronicle's coverage of the race, told Baker's biographers that "he was the worst retail politician" that he had encountered over a 15-year career. The Chronicle editorial page endorsed White over Baker, leading Baker to resent his hometown newspaper.

Baker lost the Attorney General race to White with an 11-point deficit. In the same year, Clements defeated Democratic governor nominee John Hill, becoming the first Republican to be elected Texas governor since the Reconstruction era. Republican Senator John Tower also defeated Democratic challenger, Bob Krueger.

1980 Presidential election

Bush, who was serving as chairman of the First International Bank following the end of the Ford presidency, requested Baker's help in running for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980. As early as December 1978, Baker had already checked former President Ford to confirm that Ford would not seek the nomination himself, to prevent any conflicts for Baker as Ford's previous campaign manager. Baker and Bush also spoke with Reagan, a previous high performer in the Republican primaries, to inform him of their intention to run.

Bush 1980 presidential primary campaign

Baker and Bush chose a strategy for the primaries that then-incumbent Carter pioneered in his 1976 campaign. To compete with party heavyweights like Reagan and former Texas governor John Connally, Baker's argued that the campaign would need a superior organizations, arguing that "primary elections are won by organization!—almost regardless of candidate."

Reagan campaign operative Senator Paul Laxalt (left) speaks with Baker (center) and George Bush during Bush's 1980 campaign for the Republican nomination.

Baker and Bush's campaign strategy resulted in a Bush victory over Reagan in the Iowa race, 31.6 percent to 29.5 percent. Bush lost significantly in the New Hampshire primary—Reagan's 50.2 percent to Bush's 23—following the victory in Iowa. In that primary contest, Bush and Baker engaged in a controversial debate performance hosted by the Nashua Telegraph that hurt his electoral prospects.

Over the successive months, Baker led the Bush campaign to a handful of victories, including in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Maine. Despite some success, Baker felt Bush was unlikely to defeat Reagan. Without conferring with his candidate, Baker hinted to The Washington Post in early June that Bush would soon wind down his campaign. When they eventually met in Texas to discuss prospects going forward, Baker encouraged Bush to end his campaign, arguing that they lacked funds and that continuing would jeopardize the possibility of Reagan naming him Vice President nominee. Bush didn't want to abandon his organization and expressed ambivalence toward the Vice Presidency, but he acceded to Baker's advice to end his campaign.

Reagan campaign

In the months between Bush's withdrawal and the 1980 Republican National Convention, Baker lobbied the Reagan campaign to choose Bush as Vice Presidential nominee in the name of party unity. Despite misgivings over his "Voodoo economics" criticism and moderately pro-choice views, Reagan eventually picked Bush for the nomination. Baker was offered, but rejected, the chance to run Bush's Vice Presidential campaign, feeling it was below him. Instead, he worked on the Reagan campaign in managing the debates.

As debate negotiator, Baker worked with Democrat Robert Strauss and the League of Women Voters to decide on how many debates to hold and when. Though there were three debates scheduled, only the last featured Carter and Reagan on the same stage. In his memoir, Carter advisor Stuart Eizenstat credited Baker as "outfox[ing]" the Carter camp in scheduling the debate so soon before the election, leaving little potential for damage control.

Debategate

In 1983, Baker faced controversy, known as "Debategate," upon the revelation that Baker's debate team had received a binder with Carter's debate preparation and strategy. In a letter Baker wrote to Congressman Donald Albosta, he claimed:

It is my recollection that I was given the book by [Reagan campaign chairman] William Casey with the suggestion that it might be of use to the debate briefing team. [...] It is correct that, after seeing the book, I did not undertake to find out how our campaign had obtained it."

Casey denied Baker's recollection, but Congressional investigators found Baker's explanation to be more credible.

Whether Baker's use of the Carter briefing books has itself been a matter of debate. Though the book was used by Reagan's opponent in the mock preparatory debate as a reference, Baker claimed to his biographers that they weren't "worth a damn." Carter himself remained convinced that his material had been unethically used against him in the debate, but felt that Baker's upright reputation excused him from any of Carter's ill will.

Reagan administration

White House Chief of Staff (1981–1985)

On October 29, 1980, the night after Reagan's successful performance in the debate, Reagan campaign consultant Stuart Spencer proposed to Reagan that Baker should be his chief of staff, should he win. Supported by Nancy Reagan and Reagan aide Michael Deaver, Spencer felt that Baker would be a less provocative choice than hardliner Edwin Meese, who had worked with Reagan throughout his campaigns and governorship. Reagan agreed, announcing Baker as his choice the morning after his election victory.

"The Troika" (from left to right) Chief of Staff James Baker, Counselor to the President Ed Meese, Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver at the White House, December 2, 1981

The Troika

Shortly after the election, Baker and Meese met to arrange their division of responsibilities. chief of staff in an informal agreement that has been referred to as the Troika: Baker would be chief of staff, in charge of day-to-day issues of access to the president and negotiations; Meese would be Counselor to the President, in charge of directing policy and long-term initiatives; With Deaver, who would be in charge of the administration's image, they made up "The Troika" of senior White House officials.

The Troika, under Baker's guidance, significantly restricted automatic access to Reagan to only family, Bush, and certain White House support staff. Other callers would have to receive Troika approval. Among other influences, the Troika had effective veto power over hiring and firing. Though Reagan was the ultimate decider, he only acted on unanimous consent from the Troika, often preferring not to fire people if possible.

Despite the power-sharing principle behind the Troika, Baker is considered to have had a high degree of influence over the first Reagan administration. Reagan biographer Max Boot argued that the arrangement let Baker "run circles around Meese," whom Baker privately derided as "Pillsbury Doughboy." Lou Cannon, who covered the administration for The Washington Post, referred to Baker as being the "key" to the proper functioning of the Troika. Ford and Bush advisor Brent Scowcroft referred to Baker as "co-president, in a way," under Reagan. In 1992, Washington Post columnist Marjorie Williams referred to Baker as "the most powerful [chief of staff] in political memory."

Reagan assassination attempt

In March 1981, John Hinckley tried to shoot Reagan while he was leaving an AFL-CIO conference in Washington. Baker wasn't in his entourage and learned of the shooting as Reagan was in the hospital. Baker and Meese joined Deaver at the hospital, where Reagan was in critical condition. Baker, Meese, and White House Political Director Lyn Nofziger decided amongst themselves whether to use the provisions of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to make Bush the Acting President while Reagan's status was in flux.

Baker, Senator Paul Laxalt, and President Ronald Reagan in George Washington University Hospital 10 days after the attempt on Reagan's life by John Hinckley.

The group of advisors decided, without asking Bush, to avoid any temporary transition. Baker himself worried that such an action would feed into conservatives' existing distrust toward both him and Bush. With Baker's authorization, his deputy Richard Darman actively stopped White House discussion—by White House Counsel Fred Fielding and Secretary of State Alexander Haig, among others—of any transition by taking the transition documents they had drafted and putting it in his office safe. According to his biographers, Baker consciously restricted access to Reagan during his recovery period, fearing that it would cast doubts on his overall competence if the country knew his poor health in the immediate aftermath.

Conservative criticism

Members of the conservative movement publicly criticized Baker for his support of Sandra Day O'Connor and apparent inaction on conservative priorities. In Spring 1982, Baker confronted conservative writer Robert Novak for the negative coverage he felt he received over multiple Evans & Novak columns. Shortly after Baker's outburst at Novak, long-time Reagan booster Clymer Wright of Houston wrote a letter to Republicans in an unsuccessful effort to convince Reagan to dismiss Baker. Wright claimed that Baker, a former Democrat and a Bush political intimate, was a "usurper" who undermined conservative initiatives in the administration.

Reagan directly rejected Wright's request in a letter, at Baker's request. Reagan wrote that he himself was in charge and that Baker was following Reagan's own initiative. Despite the rebuttal, conservatives continued to distrust Baker. Former administration official Lyn Nofziger wrote a letter to conservative Republicans in late 1982 to express concern that the 1984 race would be a "Bush-Reagan," rather than a "Reagan-Bush," campaign. Baker and Reagan both called Nofziger directly to ask him to retract the sentiment. In January 1983, Interior Secretary James G. Watt pioneered the slogan "Let Reagan be Reagan," a barb about Baker and Bush, which became a common refrain among activists and columnists.

Three years into the administration, Baker became heavily dispirited and tired due to the weight of his job; according to his wife, Baker was "so anxious to get out of [his job]" that he gave some consideration to the prospect of becoming Commissioner of Baseball. Despite having no strong baseball fandom, Baker reached the last level of consideration to replace Bowie Kuhn before losing out to Peter Ueberroth. Reagan offered to appoint Baker as Secretary of Transportation in 1983, but Baker believed that his rival Meese had pushed the plan. At Bush's suggestion, he also strongly considered trying to become CIA Director.

National Security Advisor

In October 1983, Baker attempted to replace William Clark as National Security Advisor. Clark left for the Interior Department, partly out of feeling frustrated by what he perceived as Baker, Deaver, and Nancy Reagan's undue influence over the president. Baker planned for Deaver to be his replacement as Chief of Staff. Reagan initially agreed to the arrangement and had a drafted press release announcing the change. According to his biographers, Baker agreed that Reagan should inform the National Security Council before a press announcement, but did not attend the meeting himself.

Baker (right) speaking with National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane (left) and John Poindexter.

After a long lunch with Baker ally George Shultz, Reagan was late to the NSC meeting, so Clark came up to the Oval Office to retrieve him. Upon seeing the press release announcing the changes, Clark organized the NSC's conservative bloc— Clark, Meese, Casey, Weinberger—to reject the reshuffle.

The conservative bloc wanted to appoint UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, an anti-Soviet hardliner, as Clark's replacement instead. Baker, Deaver, and Shultz rallied to reject Kirkpatrick as unacceptably extreme. Reagan eventually chose Robert McFarlane, who was later convicted of crimes stemming from the Iran-Contra affair, as Clark's replacement. In his memoir, Reagan referred to the decision not to appoint Baker as a "turning point" in his presidency.

1984 campaign

Baker began plan Reagan's expected re-election bid beginning in Autumn 1982 Though Reagan did not officially announce his campaign until late January 1984—which the planning committee itself decided—Baker and his informal group—which included Deaver, Stuart Spencer, and Republican pollster Robert Teeter—believed his candidacy was a foregone conclusion. The meetings ran weekly in the Madison Hotel until late 1983.

As the Chief of Staff, Baker was not officially in charge of the campaign operations, but exerted extensive power over it. As such, Baker conflicted repeatedly with Senator Paul Laxalt, who was the official 1984 campaign chairman. Baker informally chose Laxalt's deputy, campaign manager Ed Rollins, and the question of who Rollins reported to spurred some minor internecine conflicts. Early in the campaign, Laxalt directly complained to Reagan that Baker had assumed de facto control over the campaign. Reagan confirmed Laxalt's authority, leading to Baker accusing Rollins of "sandbagging" him in the campaign. Laxalt also dismissed Baker as "the hired help" when they were at odds over campaign direction.

During the campaign, Baker continued to work as a member of the cadre of senior advisors with his deputy Darman, Spencer, Deaver, Stockman, Rollins, and Laxalt. Baker received credit for empowering conservative Republicans of the New Right—led by Representative Newt Gingrich—to decide much of the 1984 party platform, believing that Reagan would run on his actions as president more than specific policy proposals. Baker and Spencer did reject an attempt by platform-drafters to forswear any future tax hikes. Instead, they had Reagan make his stance not that he would promise not to raise taxes, only that he had "no plans" to raise taxes. The latter would allow Reagan to avoid upsetting anti-tax conservatives while allowing that taxes could be necessary to reaching a balanced budget without major cuts to Medicare or Social Security.

Baker (third from right) and Reagan (third from left) on Air Force One, celebrating at the end of the president's successful re-election campaign.

Reagan's won the election with a record 525 electoral votes total (of a possible 538), and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Walter Mondale's 40.6%.

The campaign overall was optimistic about their chances throughout the process. A widely shared sentiment among Baker and senior aides was the one expressed by Stuart Spencer, that their goal was to not "screw up" their otherwise excellent chances. Baker himself earned praise for minimizing campaign conflicts by directing conflicting aides toward Rollins, who would then adjudicate disputes before they boiled over. Unlike in the 1976 and 1980 campaigns that Baker was involved in, there were no major staffing changes throughout the Republican campaign.

Baker managed Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign in which Reagan polled a record 525 electoral votes total (of a possible 538), and received 58.8% of the popular vote to Walter Mondale's 40.6%.

Secretary of the Treasury

President Ronald Reagan announcing the nomination of James Baker to be Secretary of the Treasury and the appointment of Donald Regan as White House Chief of Staff on January 8, 1985, a job-swap to which both Baker and Regan agreed.

In 1985, Reagan named Baker as United States Secretary of the Treasury, in a job-swap with then-Secretary Donald Regan, a former Merrill Lynch executive who became Chief of Staff. Regan suggested the change to Baker, feeling that the White House position would grant him greater power. For his part, Baker relished the prestige of the Treasury Department and considered it a "stepping stone" to further prominence. Reagan had little role in the plan, immediately approving it after his appointees suggested it.

Baker's departure from the White House came at the same time as others from Reagan's first term, including Meese, Deaver, Stockman, Rollins, and Baker's deputy Darman, who went with him to the Treasury Department. Baker's departure in particular marked a "turning point" in Reagan's presidency, according to Reagan biographer Lou Cannon. After Regan replaced Baker, administration "blunders [became] more frequent and damage control [was] lacking."

Baker was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury on January 29, 1985 with a unanimous 95-0 vote in the Senate.

Baker brought his long-time aide Darman to the Treasury Department as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. Darman was considered to be essential to Baker's agenda, as a detail-oriented and aggressive complement to Baker's more politic style. According to Wall Street Journal reporters Alan S. Murray and Jeffrey Birnbaum, stakeholders considered the Baker tenure to really be the Baker-Darman Treasury, with "Darmanesque" tactics representing anything particularly "sneaky and conniving." Darman chafed at the outsized credit Baker received and resented being known as a "Baker aide" rather than his own entity.

Baker's signature, which was featured on U.S. currency from his confirmation as Treasury Secretary in 1985 to his departure in 1988.

Besides Darman, Baker also brought Margaret Tutwiler and John F.W. Rogers from his White House staff to the Treasury department, as Assistant Secretary For Public Affairs and Assistant Secretary for Management respectively.

Tax Reform Act of 1986

The immediate priority of the Treasury under Baker was a plan to overhaul the tax code. Baker, as Chief of Staff, had placed a promise to "study" tax reform in the beginning of 1984, as a sop for the election year political climate. Regan's plan (known as Treasury 1) was released toward the beginning of 1985. It would have removed many tax loopholes preferred by Reagan's business-friendly base. Though Democrats, including former presidential nominee George McGovern, spoke highly of the plan, Baker received questions during his confirmation hearings from Senators concerned for their local industries. Some Republican donors also returned pins they had received for large donations to the party, as a gesture of dissatisfaction with the reform.

Donald Regan (right), who preceded Baker (center) as Treasury Secretary, and Baker addressed Reagan (left) shortly after their new appointments. Baker conducted a major overhaul of Regan's tax proposal throughout 1985 and 1986.

Over the course of four months, Baker and his staff drafted their own plan to present to Congress. Baker worked clandestinely on discussions between White House representatives and the offices of Senators Howard Baker (R-TN), Bob Dole (R-KS), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill (D-MA). The goal was to develop a compromise that avoided controversy, which Baker consciously modeled off of the 1983 Social Security reforms.

The powerful House Ways and Mean Committee chairman Dan Rostenkwoski did not participate in Baker's preliminary negotiations, feeling it would cede Congressional authority if he joined an executive branch proposal. When Reagan announced the proposal—which he referred to as a "second American Revolution"—in May 1985, Rostenkowski broadcast his own response to clarify areas of difference.

Following the announcement in May, Baker continued to work with Rostenkowski and other members of Congress. In this process, one of Rostenkwoski's aides noted that he "really played Rostentowski like a cello," by treating him with excessive regard.

The four "bedrock principles" Baker felt were necessary for reform were that it be revenue-neutral, would "reduce the top income tax rate for individuals to no higher than 35 percent, [would] remove millions of lower-income families from the tax rolls, and [would] retain the popular mortgage interest deduction."

Baker (fourth from right) and other administration officials watching Congress vote on the 1986 tax bill.

When Rostenkowski introduced his bill in December 1985, it offered different provisions, including a 38 percent top rate and fewer deductions, but Baker supported it. When some House Republicans, including Cheney (R-WY) and Trent Lott (R-MS) tried to organized to reject the plan, Baker successfully appealed to Reagan to stop the revolt. Cheney credited Baker for having Reagan give a patriotic speech to House members in the immediate wake of the Arrow Air Flight 1285R crash in Canada that had resulted in the death of more than 200 U.S. Marines.

The bill passed the House in mid-December 1985 and was reported to the Senate for further consideration. In the Senate, Chairman Bob Packwood (R-OR) significantly revised the House plan, mainly by lowering the top tax rate to 25 percent for individuals, while increasing the corporate tax burden by closing loopholes and other initiatives. Baker supported Packwood's change and worked to lobby Senators to the plan. The bill eventually passed the Senate in July 1986 and after the reconciliation process, was signed into law by Reagan on October 22, 1986.

Baker received credit for fostering the compromise that led to a major reform of the tax code. But Baker also earned notice for some carve-outs that he advocated for. Along with Senator John Danforth (R-MO), Baker strongly argued against a proposed tax on money gifted from grandparents to grandchildren. Aides believed Danforth and Baker vigorously denied the so-called "kiddie tax" due in part to their own extensive wealth. Baker also weighed in to break an impasse in favor of oil-state Senators who wanted exemptions for the petrochemical industry. Baker's own extensive business with the industry and with his home state of oil-rich Texas was believed by some stakeholders to have informed his behavior.

Besides some of the broader issues, Baker also, in his words, used the bill to get "payback" against the Houston Chronicle for not endorsing him in his 1978 campaign for Texas Attorney General. Due to a law passed in 1969, the newspaper's owners required periodic exemptions to maintain their stake. In the 1986 bill, Baker intentionally removed their exemption, leading to their sale in 1987 for $400 million dollars to Hearst. Decades later, Baker told his biographers that he was happy "getting even."

Secretary of the Treasury James Baker with U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker at the White House Press Room during President Reagan's announcement of Alan Greenspan nomination to be the new chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank on June 2, 1987.

Plaza Accord

In addition to the focus on tax reform, Baker expended attention to the issue of currency valuation. His feeling, according to his biographers, was that the increased strength of the US dollar had hampered domestic industries and exacerbated American trade deficits.

To resolve the perceived issue, Baker met with finance ministers from Japan, France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom in September 1985 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The parties agreed to sell their stores of American currency to decrease the supply, aiming for a 10-12 percent depreciation in the dollar. To avoid speculation, Baker kept much of the press and the Reagan administration—including Secretaries of State and Commerce—out of the loop on a major agreement over international finance.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Japanese Vice Minister of Finance Toyoo Gyohten wrote that the Accord represented a "coup de grace" that sent a strong sign to guide the market.

In early 1987, the parties to the Plaza Accord met again in Paris to adjust their approach to the value of the dollar. In the intervening year and a half, the dollar had depreciated by 40 percent. Under the Louvre Accord, the parties agreed to stablize it where it ended

1987 Stock Market crash

On "Black Monday" in October 1987 American stock markets fell steeply. Baker's comments on monetary policy are considered one of multiple contributing factors to the crash.

In the middle of October 1987, Baker made multiple statements that threatened the US would not support the dollar vis a vis the Deutschmark after West Germany raised its own interest rates. The October 18, 1987 New York Times carried an article detailing Baker's comments as an "abrupt shift" and noted that it might "erode markets." The next day, October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced its largest ever single-day drop in value (22.6 percent). The event, which was preceded by smaller drops in the prior week and similar drops in the Asian and European markets, became known as "Black Monday." Though the event had multiple factors, there were people who laid blame at American monetary policy and Baker's comments specifically. In a survey of monetary policy, economist Yōichi Funabashi summarized the role of Baker's comments in the panic:

"...wait a minute. If [Baker] is using it as a lever [to influence the Bundesbank] and we believe it won't work, there is no bottom. If he isn't using it as a lever, and he just actually wants the dollar to go down, then there is no stability. And if he isn't clear whether it is one or the other of those, then he doesn't understand his own system and his own business, and we'll have a problem of confidence."

In the investigations after the crash conducted by the Brady Commission, Baker was accorded only a peripheral role in the crisis. The use of specific computer technology, group psychology and somewhat inflated valuation of some stocks, all contributed to the crash as much or more than Baker's comments.

Other

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 package in 1981. He also played a role in the development of the American Silver Eagle and American Gold Eagle coins, which both were released in 1986.

Bush administration

See also: Foreign policy of the George H. W. Bush administration

Secretary of State

Baker with President George H. W. Bush at a Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) on November 9, 1990

President George H. W. Bush appointed Baker Secretary of State in 1989. Baker served in this role through 1992. From 1992 to 1993, he served as Bush's White House chief of staff, the same position that he had held from 1981 to 1985 during the first Reagan administration.

State Department Portrait of James Baker by Ned Bittinger

In May 1990, Soviet Union's reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited the U.S. for talks with President Bush; there, he agreed to allow a reunified Germany to be a part of NATO. He later revealed that he had agreed to do so because James Baker promised that NATO troops would not be posted to eastern Germany and that the military alliance would not expand into Eastern Europe. On February 9, 1990, Baker, as the US Secretary of State, assured Gorbachev: "If we maintain a presence in a Germany that is a part of NATO, there would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east". But Bush ignored his assurances and later pushed for NATO's eastwards expansion. In the Bush administration, Baker was a proponent of the notion that the USSR should be kept territorially intact, arguing that it would be destabilizing to have the USSR's nuclear arsenal in multiple new states. Bush and US defence secretary Dick Cheney were proponents for Soviet dissolution. Soviet states forced action by holding referendums on independence. In 1991, the USSR dissoluted.

When Ukraine became independent, Baker sought to ensure that Ukraine would give up its nuclear weapons. On 5 December 1994, the Budapest Memorandum was signed.

On January 9, 1991, during the Geneva Peace Conference with Tariq Aziz in Geneva, Baker declared that "If there is any user of (chemical or biological weapons), our objectives won't just be the liberation of Kuwait, but the elimination of the current Iraqi regime...." Baker later acknowledged that the intent of this statement was to threaten a retaliatory nuclear strike on Iraq, and the Iraqis received his message. Baker helped to construct the 34-nation alliance (Coalition of the willing) that fought alongside the United States in the Gulf War.

Baker also spent considerable time negotiating one-on-one with the parties in order to organize the Madrid Conference of October 30 – November 1, 1991, in an attempt to revive the Israeli–Palestinian peace process through negotiations involving Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Baker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.

Policies on the Israeli-Arab conflict

Baker arriving in Kuwait, 1991

Before the US presidential election on November 8, 1988, he and a team of some Middle Eastern policies experts created a report detailing the Palestine-Israel interactions. His team included Dennis Ross and many others who were soon appointed to the new Bush administration.

Baker blocked the recognition of Palestine by threatening to cut funding to agencies in the United Nations. As far back as 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) issued a "declaration of statehood" and changed the name of its observer delegation to the United Nations from the PLO to Palestine.

Baker warned publicly, "I will recommend to the President that the United States make no further contributions, voluntary or assessed, to any international organization which makes any changes in the PLO's status as an observer organization."

In May 1989, he gave a speech at the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He called for Israel to "lay aside once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a greater Israel", cease the construction of Israeli settlements in West Bank and Gaza, forswear annexation of more territory, and to treat Palestinians "as neighbors who deserve political rights". Israeli officials and public were highly offended due to the tone of his speech, though his address called for little more than his predecessors.

Secretary of State James Baker with President George H.W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House on January 4, 1991.

Baker soon decided that Aaron David Miller and Daniel Kurtzer would be his principal aides in Middle Eastern policies. All three have been reported as leaning toward the policies of the Israeli Labor Party.

Baker was notable for making little and slow efforts towards improving the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations. When Bush was elected, he only received 29% of Jewish voters' support, and his reelection was thought to be imminent, so there was little pressure on the administration to make bold moves in diplomatic relations with Israel. Israeli leaders initially thought that Baker had a poor grasp of Middle Eastern issues – a perception exacerbated by his use of the term "Greater Israel" – and viewed Israel as a "problem for the United States" according to Moshe Arens. Baker proved willing to confront Israeli officials on statements they made contrary to American interests. After Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the United States of "building its policy on a foundation of distortion and lies," Baker banned Netanyahu from entering the State Department building, and refused to meet with him personally for the remainder of his tenure as secretary.

Secretary of State James Baker with U.S. president George H.W. Bush and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Robert McCormick Adams during a visit to Samuel P. Langley Theater at the National Air and Space Museum on January 15, 1992.

During his first eight months under the Bush administration, there were five meetings with the PLO. All serious issues that Palestine sought to discuss, such as elections and representation in the Israeli government, were delegated to Egypt for decisions to be made.

More tensions rose in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Amidst the growing support of Saddam Hussein in Palestinian communities, due to his opposition toward Israel, and his invasion of Kuwait, and the beginning of the Gulf War, Baker decided that he would make some moves towards developing communications between Israel and Palestinians.

Baker became the first American statesman to negotiate directly and officially with Palestinians in the Madrid Conference of 1991, which was the first comprehensive peace conference that involved every party involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the conference was designed to address all outstanding issues.

After this landmark event, he did not work to further improve Arab-Israeli relations. The administration forced Israel to halt the development of the 6,000 planned housing units, but the 11,000 housing units already under construction were permitted to be completed and inhabited with no penalty. In the meantime, Baker also tried to negotiate with the Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, in order to achieve a lasting peace between Israel and Syria.

However, Baker has been criticized for spending much of his tenure in a state of inaction regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which arguably led to further infringements on Palestinian rights and the growing radicalism of Arabs and Israelis.

White House Chief of Staff (1992–1993)

The 1992 election was complicated by the on-again-off-again candidacy of Ross Perot, who would end up taking 19% of the popular vote. In August, following the Democratic Convention, with Bush trailing Clinton in the polls by 24 points, Bush announced that Baker would return to the White House as chief of staff and as head of the re-election campaign. However, despite having run two winning campaigns for Ronald Reagan and one for Bush, Baker was unsuccessful in the second campaign for Bush, who lost to Clinton by 370 electoral votes to 168.

Post-cabinet career

1993–2000

External videos
Booknotes interview with Baker on The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace, 1989–1992, December 3, 1995, C-SPAN

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

Also in 1993, the Enron Corporation hired Baker as a consultant within a month of his departure from the White House, and Enron said that Baker would have an opportunity to invest in any projects he developed. During his time at Enron, Baker tried to warn against the company's involvement with the Dabhol Power Station in India. Many of Baker's concerns proved correct, and the project became a key factor in the company's downfall.

Also in 1993, Baker joined Baker Botts as a senior partner, as well as the Carlyle Group (with the title of senior counsel).

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. 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.

In addition to the numerous recognitions received by Baker, he was presented with the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Award for public service on September 13, 2000, in Washington, D.C.

2000 presidential election and recount

In 2000, Baker served as chief legal adviser for George W. Bush during the 2000 presidential election campaign and oversaw the Florida recount. The 2008 film Recount covers the days following the controversial election. Baker was interviewed during the making of the film, and British actor Tom Wilkinson portrayed him in it.

Roles during the Bush administration and Iraq War

Baker also advised George W. Bush on Iraq. When the U.S. occupation of Iraq began in 2003 he was one of the Bush administration's first choices to direct the Coalition Provisional Authority, but he was deemed too old. In December 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Baker as his special envoy to ask various foreign creditor nations to forgive or restructure $100 billion in international debts owed by the Iraq government which had been incurred during the tenure of Saddam Hussein.

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 presidential election. Bush later confirmed that he made such an offer to Baker but that he declined. Bush would appoint another G. H. W. Bush administration veteran, Robert Gates, instead, after the 2006 midterm elections. Baker was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

On March 15, 2006, Congress announced the formation 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. Baker was the Republican co-chairman along with Democratic Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, to advise Congress on Iraq. The Iraq Study Group 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. On October 9, 2006, the Washington Post quoted co-chairman Baker 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'".

Donald Trump

Baker voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election and did so again in the 2020 election. During a 2016 memorial service for Nancy Reagan, he commented to former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney that he believed there were parallels between the rise of Trump and the rise of Reagan. He later gave informal advice to Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and suggested the appointment of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State.

Baker told his biographers that his preference for Trump was firm, basing it on his commitment to the Republican party and his feeling that, as they paraphrased, "it was worth it to get conservative judges, tax cuts, and deregulation." Despite his consistent intentions, he did briefly question his approach in 2019, after considering the Democratic primary candidate Joe Biden to be a possible choice. He denied his wavering, telling his biographers: "Don't say I will vote for Joe Biden," because he didn't want to abandon or hurt the Republican party. After the U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, Baker told his biographers, during a forum at the Hamilton Lugar School at Indiana University, that he did not "buy into" Trump's attacks on the results, despite his own past litigating the 2000 election on behalf of George W. Bush.

Other advisory positions

Baker arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 2015

Baker serves on the Honorary Council of Advisers for the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. The Atlantic Council also lists Baker, along with other former executive branch appointees, among its Honorary Directors.

Baker serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. The World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity.

Baker is a leader of the Climate Leadership Council, along with Henry Paulson and George P. Shultz. In 2017, this group of "Republican elder statesmen" proposed that conservatives embrace a fee and dividend form of carbon tax (in which all revenue generated by the tax is rebated to the populace in the form of lump-sum dividends), as a policy to deal with anthropogenic climate change. The group also included Martin S. Feldstein and N. Gregory Mankiw.

Baker began service on the Rice University board of trustees in 1993.

Personal life

Baker met his first wife, the former Mary Stuart McHenry, of Dayton, Ohio, while on spring break in Bermuda with the Princeton University rugby team. They married in 1953. Together they had four sons, including James Addison Baker IV (1954), a partner at Baker Botts as well as Stuart McHenry Baker (1956), John Coalter Baker (1960), and Douglas Bland Baker (1961) of Baker Global Advisory.

Mary Stuart Baker died of breast cancer on February 18, 1970.

Though he goes by James A. Baker III, Baker is technically the fourth such name in his family line. Baker's grandfather removed his own "Jr." sometime in the 1870s before the birth of Baker's father. His firstborn son retained the ordering as James A. Baker IV.

In 1973, Baker and Susan Garrett Winston, a divorcée and a close friend of Mary Stuart, were married. Winston had two sons and a daughter with her former husband. In September of 1977, she and Baker had a daughter, Mary Bonner Baker.

Raised as a Presbyterian, Baker became an Episcopalian after his marriage to Susan and attends St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston. In 2012, he collaborated with the Andrew Doyle, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, to negotiate a compromise on the issue of same-sex marriage within the diocese.

On June 15, 2002, Virginia Graeme Baker, the seven-year-old granddaughter of Baker, daughter of Nancy and James Baker IV, drowned due to suction entrapment in a spa. To promote greater safety in pools and spas, Nancy Baker gave testimony to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and James Baker helped form an advocacy group, which led to the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool And Spa Safety Act (15 USC 8001). Another granddaughter, Rosebud Baker, is a stand-up comedian.

Awards and honors

• Jefferson Awards for Public Service (1985)
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (1991)
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (1998)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2015)

Further reading

Works by

• 1995: The Politics of Diplomacy. with Thomas M. DeFrank. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 9780399140877.
• 2006: "Work Hard, Study... And Keep Out of Politics!": Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life. with Steve Fiffer. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 9780399153778.

Works about

• Bryce, Robert, (2004). Cronies: Oil, the Bushes, and the Rise of Texas, America's Superstate. New York: Perseus Books Group. ISBN 9781586481889.
• Baker, Peter; Glasser, Susan (2020). The Man Who Ran Washington. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-54055-1.

External links

• Baker, James III(Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, US)
• James Addison Baker Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
• James A. Baker III Oral History Collection at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
• Profile in the Daily Princetonian
• Biography on Baker Botts LLP website
• Baker Institute for Public Policy
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• James Baker Oral History at Houston Oral History Project, November 20, 2007. Archived June 29, 2017, at the Wayback Machine