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, but he ultimately did not pursue that. in history from Princeton University in 1952 after completing a 188-page senior thesis, titled "Two Sides of the Conflict: Bevin vs. Bevan", under the supervision of Walter P. Get email notification for articles from Amir Tibon. He is known for The American Ruling Class (2005), The Bush Years: Family, Duty, Power (2019) and Countdown to Zero (2010). 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'". The couple met while on in Bermuda for spring break. American lawyer and statesman (born 1930), This article is about the politician. Doubleday; 720 pages; $35. After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, he pursued a legal career. [19], When Ukraine became independent, Baker sought to ensure that Ukraine would give up its nuclear weapons. Bush then encouraged Baker to become active in politics to help deal with the grief, something Bush had done when his daughter, Pauline Robinson (19491953), died of leukemia. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the unprecedented challenges and opportunities of the postCold War era. Baker was the Republican co-chair along with Democratic Representative Lee H. Hamilton, to advise Congress on Iraq. . He called on the Palestinians to renounce violence and recognize Israel, but also called on the Israeli leadership to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel.. [19] Bush and US defence secretary Dick Cheney were proponents for Soviet dissolution. However, Murphy's Iraq and Afghanistan Reconstruction portfolios will shift to Douglas Baker, who will continue as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Service Industries, Tourism and Finance. James Addison Baker III[note 1] (born April 28, 1930)[1] is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. Israeli officials and public were highly offended due to the tone of his speech, though his address called for little more than his predecessors. (Read James Bakers Britannica essay on isolationism.). "It was cleaned and inspected the day before the party.". [27], During his first eight months under the Bush administration, there were five meetings with the PLO, which is far less than his predecessors. In some cases, children who are trying to hold their breath underwater get pulled in and can't get out. James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. [15], 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 officer who became chief of staff. Advancing data-based policies that promote health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world. View the profiles of people named James Baker III. From 9 A.M. to 11:45 A.M. alone, the White House comment line received more than 400 calls about Baker, two-thirds of them positive, the rest negative.. James Addison Baker III, 61st Secretary of State Rise to Prominence Born in Texas on April 28, 1930, Baker attended prep school in Pennsylvania, and went on to graduate from Princeton University in 1952. [4] His grandfather was attorney and banker Captain James A. Baker, and his great-grandfather was jurist and politician Judge James A. Baker. High-Powered D.C. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. For 12 years, from 1980 to 1992, James A. Baker III operated as one of the most powerful non-elected officials in Washington, serving first as President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff and later . Baker also advised George W. Bush on Iraq. Offering nonpartisan analysis of elections to better understand the changing dynamics of presidential campaigns. James Addison Baker III was born in Houston at 1216 Bissonnet St., the son of James A. Baker Jr. (1892-1973) and Ethel Bonner (ne Means) Baker (August 6, . He was a regular tennis partner with Bush at the Houston Country Club in the late 1950s. When George Herbert Walker Bush decided to vacate his congressional seat and run for the U.S. Senate in 1970, he supported Baker's decision to run for the congressional seat he was vacating. "No world leader has a bigger place in the history of the late 20th century than Mikhail Gorbachev, for the pivotal role he played in the peaceful end of the Cold War," wrote former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, in an op-ed. Diplomacy Center Commemorates Sec. Baker served in this role through 1992. [12] Baker resigned to serve as campaign manager of Ford's unsuccessful 1976 election campaign. He was a regular tennis partner of George H. W. Bush at the Houston Country Club in the late 1950s. Bush, left, and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III talking about the Gulf War and liberation of Kuwait, during an interview January 18, 2011, in Houston. Former secretary of state James Baker considered voting for Joe Biden in November but will instead keep backing Donald Trump, a new biography reveals, in the process outlining a key reason for. James West Baker (Jimmy), of Olive Branch, Mississippi, was born in Benton County, Mississippi, on April 7, 1939. Heather Paul, executive director of the National Safe Kids Coalition, said the accident should make people aware of the dangers posed by whirlpools and other home recreational pools. Baker's time away from politics was very brief, however. James Addison Baker, III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, politician and political advisor. [45] 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'". He is the honorary chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University and serves on the board of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. A new biography of the former diplomat, written by two of the most accomplished reporters in present-day Washington, corrects the record about the infamous quote which was attributed to Baker at the height of his confrontations with Likud Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, in 1991. Baker also served on Reagan's National Security Council, and remained Treasury Secretary until 1988, during which time he also served as campaign chairman for George H. W. Bush's successful presidential bid. He serves on the World Justice Project and the Climate Leadership Council. Baker III worked as White House chief of staff and secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan, and as secretary of state and White House chief of of staff under President George. Virginia was the daughter of James A. Baker IV, who is the son of the former cabinet secretary. The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the . The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III was published Tuesday after a seven-year journey, during which the authors New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker (no relation to James Baker) and New Yorker senior columnist Susan Glasser conducted more than 200 interviews. On June 15, 2002, Virginia Graeme Baker, the 7-year-old granddaughter of Baker, daughter of Nancy and James Baker IV, was the victim of suction-pump entrapment in an in-ground spa. [27] Baker proved willing to confront Israeli officials on statements they made contrary to American interests. James A. Baker III interview for Frontline. Darman continued in the next administration as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Bakerwho served on George W. Bush's Homeland Security Councilis the son of James Baker, who for more than a decade was one of the most powerful people in Washington, serving from 1981 to. [28], 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. Baker attended The Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. James Baker has been featured repeatedly in the Russian investigations launched by the Justice Department. Operators Accused of Fraud. [58] Another granddaughter is Rosebud Baker, a stand-up comedian.[59]. Andrew Baker, a chaplain during the Rev. United States Secretaries of the Treasury, List of international trips made by secretaries of state of the United States, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Baker&oldid=1141376173, Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, George H. W. Bush administration cabinet members, United States Under Secretaries of Commerce, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes from November 2019, All Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 February 2023, at 19:21. Houston, TX 77005, Email: [email protected] My wife Lori and I flew to California to attend the memorial service for Secretary George Shultz '42 at Stanford University on October 7. The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, is published by Doubleday, priced $35. He was previously married to Mary Stuart McHenry. [18] 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. After Bush accepted the vice presidential slot on a ticket headed by Ronald Reagan that year, Baker joined Reagans campaign staff as a senior adviser. After calming down a bit, he settled for declaring Netanyahu persona non grata, barring him from even entering the doors of the State Department. Despite pleas from his Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross, Baker refused to change the decision. Former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III responded to my question about NATO's eastward expansion. Facebook gives people the power. 492, 505. Durham's indictment alleges that Sussmann told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 that he was not doing work "for any client" when he requested and held a meeting in which he . [10] 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. As treasury secretary, he was also chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. [23], 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 IsraeliPalestinian peace process through negotiations involving Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.[24]. Baker is already getting kudos as a skilled diplomat who engineered a . The tall Texan with the impassive stare ranks as the only person to have served as White House chief of staff,. Before the 1988 election, he and a team of some Middle Eastern policies experts created a report detailing the Palestine-Israel interactions. By Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. The authors, a married couple who previously co-authored a book about the rise of Vladimir Putin, present Baker as the face of what the Republican Party used to stand for and has lost in the era of Donald Trump. He had Richard Darman of Massachusetts as his Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. The first James Addison Baker arrived in Texas in 1852, a 31-year-old widower who came from Alabama at the urging of his late wife's family. James A. Baker III '52: A Tribute to George Shultz '42 first appeared in the December 2021 issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly. It concluded with his service as White House chief of staff and senior counselor to President Bush from August 1992 to January 1993. James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. and Keep Out of Politics! Bush and Baker had a strained relationship with Israeli leaders from the start, the book explains. Several people who were at the party then tried to revive the girl, who was taken by helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital and pronounced dead. His son James A. Baker Jr. was called Captain Baker for his time in the Houston Light Guards, a uniformed company of the state's National Guard formed by Confederate veterans after. James Baker Oral History at Houston Oral History Project, November 20, 2007. Vise, David A.. "Former Secretary of State Baker Joins Carlyle Group". James Addison Baker III was born in Houston at 1216 Bissonnet St., the son of James A. Baker Jr. (1892-1973) and Ethel Bonner (ne Means) Baker (August 6, 1894 - April 26, 1991). Baker also led presidential campaigns for Presidents Gerald Ford, Reagan and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections . 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. [33] During his time at Enron, Baker tried to warn against the company's involvement with the Dabhol Power Station in India. Bush. Focusing on U.S. space policy and the future of space travel. James Addison Baker was born in Houston, Texas at 1216 Bissonnet, to James A. Baker, Jr. (18921973) and Ethel Bonner (born Means) Baker (August 6, 1894 April 26, 1991). However, another G. H. W. Bush Administration veteran, Robert Gates, was appointed instead, and only after the 2006 elections. [26], 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. He served until May 1976, ran Ford's 1976 presidential campaign, and unsuccessfully sought election as the Attorney General of Texas. Ray Covey, HP staff / Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 A Republican Party campaign leader, James Addison Baker, III (born 1930) helped elect as president both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. [13] He served in that capacity until 1985. Bush believed Shamir had lied to him and never forgave him., A month after that incident, Baker gave a speech at the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, his first-ever appearance before the large pro-Israel gathering. 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). [42] Bush would appoint another G. H. W. Bush Administration veteran, Robert Gates, instead, after the 2006 midterm elections. Baker ran Bush's unsuccessful campaign for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, but made a favorable impression on the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan. Baker has a sister, Bonner Baker Moffitt. In 1993, Baker became the honorary chair of the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas. 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. Bakers reflections on those years of revolution, war and peace The Politics of Diplomacy was published in 1995. James Baker, in full James Addison Baker III, (born April 28, 1930, Houston, Texas, U.S.), American government official, political manager, and lawyer who occupied important posts in the Republican presidential administrations of the 1980s and early '90s, including that of U.S. secretary of state (1989-92). He later gave informal advice to Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign and suggested the appointment of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. In December 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Baker as his special envoy to ask various foreign creditor nations to forgive or restructure the approximately $100 billion in international debts owed by the Iraq government which had been incurred during the tenure of Saddam Hussein. BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times The Washington Post Fortune BloombergFrom two of America's most revered political journalists comes the definitive biography of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III: the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world.For a quarter-century, from the end of Watergate to the aftermath of the Cold . Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life was published in October 2006. Well, AIPAC wont like that, someone said. Baker was a shrewd and highly effective political manager whose skills were a major factor in the Republicans retention of the presidency throughout the 1980s. Every time he speaks his mind on anything related to Israel, someone usually a right-wing pundit who supports the Netanyahu government quickly pulls the words Fuck the Jews, they dont vote for us anyway out of the archives, labeling Baker as anti-Israel or, worse, antisemitic. Addressing a broad range of policy issues that affect scientists and their research. 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". On the C-SPAN Networks: James A. Baker III has 241 videos in the C-SPAN Video Library; the first appearance was a 1976 Statement as a Manager for the Ford Presidential Campaign . Amy Lubas, a police spokeswoman, said the whirlpool had been checked recently. The following year, he was selected as Gulf Coast Regional Chairman for the Richard Nixon presidential campaign. Thomas James Baker, Jr. was born to Thomas James Baker Sr. and Frankie Pauline Anderson on July 12, 1926 and passed peacefully from this life on June 9th, 2020. Gerald Ford in 1975, and that same year he helped Ford secure the Republican Partys presidential nomination for the 1976 election. James Baker est n le 28 avril 1930 Houston, au Texas. They have one child. With Rudy Giuliani flailing through a series of failed election challenges for the Trump campaign, a superb new political biography provides fresh evidence of just how stark the contrast is between the head of Trump's legal team and George W. Bush's hyperprepared, efficient and savvy commander-in-chief for the 2000 election political and legal fight, James A. Baker III. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008. Baker served in the United States Marine Corps (19521954), attaining the rank of First Lieutenant and later rising to Captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Baker is Senior Counselor for the Carlyle Group, and the bin Ladens are among its major investors. The 7-year-old granddaughter of former secretary of state James A. Baker III died when she became trapped in a whirlpool and drowned in McLean, Fairfax County police said yesterday. [46] 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. Bush. She and Baker welcomed their daughter Mary Bonner Baker, born in 1977. After two years of active duty as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, he entered The University of Texas School of Law at Austin. James Addison Baker, III, was born April 28, 1930, into a wealthy Houston, Texas, family. He also served as Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury for Reagan and as Secretary of State for Bush. "Bob Dole was a true American patriot who represented the very best of our country. Together they had four sons, including James Addison Baker IV, a partner at Baker Botts. Originally, Baker had been a Democrat but too busy trying to succeed in a competitive law firm to worry about politics, and considered himself apolitical. The book also includes a detailed account of Bakers famous testimony before Congress on peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab world, during which he said the United States cant want an agreement more than the two sides themselves. [52], Baker began service on the Rice University board of trustees in 1993.[53]. His wife, Susan, listens at right. James Baker III, who served as chief of staff to former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. . Updates? Tabor. He served as the nation's 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H.W. Baker served as the 67th secretary of the treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. In a classic instance of Washington's willful self-deception, the people who work with James A. Baker III proclaim him a warm, funny Renaissance man with old-fashioned family values. [19], 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."[20] Baker later acknowledged that the intent of this statement was to threaten a retaliatory nuclear strike on Iraq,[21] and the Iraqis received his message. Bush appointed Baker Secretary of State in 1989. His memoir, Work Hard, Studyand Keep Out of Politics!, was published in 2006. Geni requires JavaScript! The former secretary of state, they write, insisted the story was distorted at best. Baker is the namesake of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.[2]. But their policy regarding Israel would have been completely rejected by todays Republican Party, which has moved to the right on issues like settlements, Palestinian statehood and Israeli control of East Jerusalem. (1957) from The University of Texas at Austin and began to practice law in Texas. On June 15, 2002, Virginia Graeme Baker, the seven-year-old granddaughter of Baker, daughter of Nancy and James Baker IV, was the victim of lethal suction entrapment in an in-ground spa. He left The Post in December 2020. "It was functioning perfectly," Lubas said. [26], Baker was notable for making little and slow efforts towards improving the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations. His team included Dennis Ross and many others who were soon appointed to the new Bush Administration. "The FBI's top lawyer, James Baker, is being reassigned one of the first moves by new director Christopher A. Wray to assemble his own team of senior advisers as he tries to fend off. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. Starting in the 19th century, his clan helped build the city of Houston. Baker has a sister, Bonner Baker Moffitt. He also played a prominent role in the Florida recount for the current president. Baker became chairman of Bush's Senate campaign in Harris County. According to Fairfax County police, the whirlpool was next to a swimming pool area and was not a hot tub. Bush, as well as Reagan's treasury secretary and Bush's secretary of state, told his biographers Susan Glasser and Peter Baker (no relation) during a virtual event Friday that he supports . James Baker III was born on April 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas, USA. Baker also advised George W. Bush on Iraq. When we were talking with him about this, he thought the two-state solution was still the right goal, and that there had to be compromise on both sides to reach a workable and enduring resolution of the issue.. In August 1975, he was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce by President Gerald Ford, succeeding John K.