Baker's time away from politics was very brief, however. Diplomacy Center Commemorates Sec. [26], Baker was notable for making little and slow efforts towards improving the state of Israeli-Palestinian relations. James Baker III was born on April 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas, USA. James A. Baker III is an American government official, political manager, and lawyer who occupied important posts in theRepublicanpresidential administrations of the 1980s and early 90s, including that of U.S. secretary of state (198992). Its ironic that James Bakers criticism of settlements, and his confrontations with Shamir and Netanyahu, led to accusations of hostility toward Jews, when in reality its evangelicals who have moved the Republican Party away from his positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [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. Baker served in this role through 1992. Biography of the GOP elder statesman chronicles his battles with Israel, including the time he barred Netanyahu from entering the State Department. [10] Winston had two sons and a daughter with her former husband. 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. His father was a partner of Houston law firm Baker Botts. James A. Baker. Baker helped to construct the 34-nation alliance that fought alongside the United States in the Gulf War. 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. Baker voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, and said prior to the 2020 election that he would do so again. 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. Bakers Historic Contributions, Statement: Secretary Baker on the Death of Bob Dole. 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. He earned a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957 and then joined a major Houston law firm, eventually becoming a partner in it. When Bush decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 1969, he supported Baker's decision to run for the Congressional seat he was vacating. He graduated cum laude with an A.B. Baker was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.[43]. Sanger, David E. The following year, he was selected as Gulf Coast Regional Chairman for the Richard Nixon presidential campaign. Who is James Baker? George Kennan, James Baker, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Sam Nunn, and Thomas Friedman, among others, all warned in the 1990s of a new Cold War if NATO was expanded without including Russia. Baker is already getting kudos as a skilled diplomat who engineered a . They have one child. A 2008 film Recount covers the days following the controversial election. James Addison Baker, III, was born April 28, 1930, into a wealthy Houston, Texas, family. He and his wife, the former Susan Garrett, currently reside in Houston and have eight children and 17 grandchildren. A Republican Party campaign leader, James Addison Baker, III (born 1930) helped elect as president both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. 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 . He was named under secretary of commerce by Pres. Indeed, Baker's family was so well off that his doting. Many of Baker's concerns proved correct, and the project became a key factor in the company's downfall. Former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III responded to my question about NATO's eastward expansion. [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. 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. Baker, however, was happy with the reception, The tension between the two governments became a full-blown crisis a year later in 1990 when, as described in the book, a deputy foreign minister named Benjamin Netanyahu openly assailed the United States for being too gullible in its dealings with the Palestinians., Netanyahu, then in his early 40s and a rising star in Likud, said in remarks to the media: It is astonishing that a superpower like the United States, which was supposed to be the symbol of political fairness and international honesty, is building its policy on a foundation of distortion and lies.. In the mid-2000s Baker was active on a number of government investigative committees; he served as cochair of both the Federal Commission on Election Reform (with former president Jimmy Carter) and the Iraq Study Group (with former U.S. congressman Lee Hamilton). Updates? Newhouse, John. He also played a role in the development of the American Silver Eagle and American Gold Eagle coins, which both were released in 1986. Israel, a country Baker visited countless times during his four years as President George H.W. After graduating from Princeton, he served in the U. George Walker Bush, George Bush Gaddis Smith REPUBLICAN George Herbert Walker Bush took the oath of office as the forty-first president of the United States on 20 Januar Dick Cheney, Cheney, Dick Lincoln, Nebraska . Texas Hometown: Baker was born in Houston on April 28, 1930. . Robert was born in 1735 and fought at King's Mountain and is believed to be the brother of the famous Rev. 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. [27] Baker proved willing to confront Israeli officials on statements they made contrary to American interests. Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life by III, James Baker and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. 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. In 1973, Baker and Susan Garrett Winston, a divorcee and a close friend of Mary Stuart, were married. Baker is Senior Counselor for the Carlyle Group, and the bin Ladens are among its major investors. In 1981, Baker was named White House Chief of Staff by President Ronald Reagan, in spite of the fact that Baker managed the presidential campaigns of Gerald Ford in 1976 and of George Bush in 1980 opposing Reagan. 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 . [12] Baker resigned to serve as campaign manager of Ford's unsuccessful 1976 election campaign. [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. Baker has a sister, Bonner Baker Moffitt. As a result, we missed the multiple Nobel Prize . Writing about Mr. Baker years later,. [18] 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. Former President George H.W. Andrew Baker, a chaplain during the Rev. In 1991 Baker was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Get email notification for articles from Amir Tibon. Plan a gift that will ensure lasting, meaningful support for policy programs important to you. My wife Lori and I flew to California to attend the memorial service for Secretary George Shultz '42 at Stanford University on October 7. Baker adroitly managed George H.W. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. James Baker III, who served as chief of staff to former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Everybody over there should know that the [White House] telephone number is 1-202-456-1414, he said. 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. [55] To promote greater safety in pools and spas, Nancy Baker gave testimony to the Consumer Product Safety Commission,[56] and James Baker helped form an advocacy group,[57] which led to the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool And Spa Safety Act (15 USC 8001). Work Hard, Study.and Keep Out of Politics! 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. Long active in American presidential politics, Baker led presidential campaigns for Presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections from 1976 to 1992. James A. Baker III Monument 400 Texas St. Houston, TX 77002 Find Parking The City of Houston named a small portion of Sesquicentennial Park Baker Common that includes a statue of James A. Baker III, as well as plaques commemorating the families contributions to the city. George Herbert Walker Bush then encouraged Baker to become active in politics to help deal with the grief of his wife's death, something that George Herbert Walker Bush himself had done when his daughter, Pauline Robinson Bush (19491953), died of leukemia. He served as the nation's 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H.W. They have six sons and two daughters. Bush and Baker had a strained relationship with Israeli leaders from the start, the book explains. [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. James Addison Baker Jr. (November 3, 1892 - May 21, 1973) was an American attorney, [1] banker, real estate developer, and United States Army officer from Houston, Texas. In order to understand what's going on in Ukraine from Vladimir Putin's point of view, you have to go back to 1990 when the Soviet Union was collapsing. James Baker's son, Robert III, was the ancestor of the Hancock Co. Bakers. [39] 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. [19], When Ukraine became independent, Baker sought to ensure that Ukraine would give up its nuclear weapons. Reagan appointed Baker as his White House Chief of Staff, and Baker remained in that position until 1985, when he became the Secretary of the Treasury. Hall. Before the 1988 election, he and a team of some Middle Eastern policies experts created a report detailing the Palestine-Israel interactions. [31] 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.[32].