Congressman Lee H. Hamilton have served as the co-chairs of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan blue-ribbon panel examining a forward-looking approach to Iraq. Corporations can become involved with the institute in a number of ways and see the benefit from the research conducted by our fellows and scholars. 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. Secretary Bakers position used to be fairly standard among Republicans, but the party, led especially by President Trump, has moved away from him to the point where loyalty to Israel is seen as a litmus test.. In this telling, the target of his ire was an interest group, not Jews as a whole. James Addison Baker III, n le 28 avril 1930 Houston (Texas), est un avocat, , diplomate et homme politique amricain, membre du Parti rpublicain, ancien secrtaire au Trsor de Ronald Reagan entre 1985 et 1988 et ancien secrtaire d'tat de George H. W. Bush de 1989 1993. 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. [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. Baker became chairman of Bush's Senate campaign in Harris County. 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. Writing about Mr. Baker years later,. He also served as Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury for Reagan and as Secretary of State for Bush. Baker blocked the creation 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. A lawyer by training, he practiced law in Houston with the firm of Andrews & Kurth for more than twenty years. Baker married his first wife Mary Stuart McHenry in 1953. In 1970 Bakers longtime friend George H.W. Baker was furious, and his immediate reaction was to tell close aides hed be kicking the Israeli ambassador out of Washington. 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. 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.. Safety experts said yesterday that whirlpool drains have caused nearly two dozen deaths in the United States over the past 20 years. 'Not One Inch Eastward:' How the War in Ukraine Could Have Been American lawyer and statesman (born 1930), This article is about the politician. [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. [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. In March 1997, Baker became the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara. 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. In August 1975, he was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce by President Gerald Ford, succeeding John K. [47], Baker serves on the Honorary Council of Advisers for the U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. Indeed, Baker's family was so well off that his doting. During the disputed presidential election of 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, Baker played a leading role for the Bush campaign combating legal challenges filed by Gores campaign. with honors in 1957 and practiced law with the Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from 1957 to 1975. As Treasury Secretary, he arranged the Plaza Accord and the Baker Plan. Before the 1988 election, he and a team of some Middle Eastern policies experts created a report detailing the Palestine-Israel interactions. Reached at their McLean home yesterday, the Baker family declined to comment. 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". 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. Baker helped to construct the 34-nation alliance that fought alongside the United States in the Gulf War. Baker served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush. Texas Hometown: Baker was born in Houston on April 28, 1930. . Reagan rebuked Phillips and Wright for having waged a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker. Andrew Baker, a chaplain during the Rev. James a Baker Iii, Signed - AbeBooks He is known for The American Ruling Class (2005), The Bush Years: Family, Duty, Power (2019) and Countdown to Zero (2010). James A. Baker III served in senior government positions under three United States Presidents and was a central figure in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush in the 1980s and early 1990s. Bush and Baker had a strained relationship with Israeli leaders from the start, the book explains. Reagan rebuked Phillips and Wright for having waged a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker.[16]. 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). 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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. Baker Family - Angelfire 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. High-Powered D.C. James Addison Baker III[note 1] (born April 28, 1930)[1] is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. He also played a prominent role in the Florida recount for the current president. Baker was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.[43]. How James Baker Became James Baker - Texas Monthly [52], Baker began service on the Rice University board of trustees in 1993.[53]. Though Bush lost the race, Baker became deeply involved in Republican Party politics thereafter. 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. Well, AIPAC wont like that, someone said. 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 was a member of the United States Marine Corps from 1952 to 1954, attaining the rank of first lieutenant as a naval gunfire officer serving in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the USSMonrovia. Kemp, for his part, told them that Bakers sentiment got mischaracterized by Koch and others as being anti-Israel. Biography of the GOP elder statesman chronicles his battles with Israel, including the time he barred Netanyahu from entering the State Department. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project. 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. He was named under secretary of commerce by Pres. 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. Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life was published in October 2006. During his tenure at the State Department, Baker traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the . He had Richard Darman of Massachusetts as his Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. james baker sons - MEBW Baker also advised George W. Bush on Iraq. Bush and Baker saw the comment as a commitment from Shamir not to expand settlements, whereas the Israeli premier meant the exact opposite: that he would continue to build in the occupied territories, because such building shouldnt pose a problem in his view. Family (1) Trivia (10) U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1985-1988 in the second Ronald Reagan administration. His wife, Susan, listens at right. In 2003, Baker was appointed special presidential envoy for President George W. Bush on the issue of Iraqi debt. James Addison Baker, III, was born April 28, 1930, into a wealthy Houston, Texas, family. In 1973 and 1974, in the wake of the Nixon Administration's implosion over Watergate, Baker returned to full-time law practice at Andrews & Kurth.[9][10]. The elder Baker was treasury secretary and chief of staff under President Ronald Reagan and secretary of state under former President George Bush. Honorary Chair, Baker Institute for Public Policy, A bronze bust of former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III that will be part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of American Diplomacy was recently unveiled in Washington, D.C. She passed away of breast cancer in February. Through the internships on campus and beyond, Rice students can explore careers in public policy, or simply become better informed about important issues of the day. James A. Baker III. It turns out the full story is more complicated than how most people remember it. James A. Baker III Papers, 1957-2011 (mostly 1972-1992) - Finding Aids Mr. Baker served as Chairman until his death on Aug. 2, 1941. Focusing on U.S. space policy and the future of space travel. [18] Privately, Bush ignored Baker's assurances and later pushed for NATO's eastwards expansion. . But James Baker III, the Houston lawyer who rode shotgun for Jerry Ford, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan in their presidential campaigns, plans to keep a low profile in the White House. President George H. W. Bush appointed Baker Secretary of State in 1989. Cold War negotiator James Baker is focus of new history book 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. Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. A native Houstonian, Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952. [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. Together they had four sons, including James Addison Baker IV, a partner at Baker Botts. During the Florida recount following the 2000 presidential election, he managed George W. Bush's legal team in the state. The Note that James Baker no longer knows - The Wind of Change "But the drains have great power, and there are cases where adults have been held down and drowned because of them. [27] Baker proved willing to confront Israeli officials on statements they made contrary to American interests. He served as a United Nations envoy to Western Sahara and as a consultant to Enron. Ray Covey, HP staff / Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 2 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. His wife's influence led Baker to politics and the Republican Party. Baker's record of public service began in 1975 as under secretary of commerce to President Gerald Ford. 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. In March 1997, Baker became the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara. 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. James Addison Baker was born in Houston, Texas at 1216 Bissonnet, to James A. Baker, Jr. (1892-1973) and Ethel Bonner (born Means) Baker (August 6, 1894 - April 26, 1991). 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'". James Baker, Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff: 5 Fast Facts - Heavy.com Baker attended The Kinkaid School in Houston, before graduating from The Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. On September 11, 2001, Baker watched television coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon from the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington DC, where Baker and representatives of Osama bin Laden's family were among those attending the annual conference for the Carlyle Group. Bust Unveiling Ceremony with Former U.S. Secretary of State James A However, Baker changed his mind about running when his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Baker is Senior Counselor for the Carlyle Group, and the bin Ladens are among its major investors. 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. James D. Baker Jr., 68, of Toledo, passed away Thursday, February 28, 2013, at Heartland of Waterville. [42] Bush would appoint another G. H. W. Bush Administration veteran, Robert Gates, instead, after the 2006 midterm elections. Bakers shuttle diplomacy, and his willingness to enter into heated political fights with Israels supporters in Washington, eventually led to the convening of the Madrid Conference in 1991 an important breakthrough in the peace process and one of the greatest foreign policy achievements of the George H.W. After the Gulf War, Baker served another stint as White House Chief of Staff from 1992 to 1993. He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve until 1958, and rose to the rank of captain. He was the third in a succession of men named James Addison Baker, all of whom were attorneys for Baker Botts or its antecedents. James Baker's Son Arrested - The New York Times Until 2005 he was senior counsel to the Carlyle Group and is currently a senior partner at the law firm of Baker Botts. Strengthening the binational relationship by addressing major concerns on both sides of the border. One morning in March [of 1991], Baker woke up to see a screaming headline on the cover of the New York Post: BAKERS 4-LETTER INSULT: Secretary of State Rips Jews in Meeting at White House., The sensational headline led readers to a column by Ed Koch, the former mayor of New York who had become a tabloid columnist. [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. Baker has a sister, Bonner Baker Moffitt. He was a fifth generation. History and family tradition tell of Robert III rescuing William Blount from the British who held him captive during . [44] 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. In 199091 he helped orchestrate the international coalition that opposed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait. Staff writer Maria Glod contributed to this report. Baker remained active in business and public affairs after Bush's defeat in the 1992 presidential election. Work Hard, Studyand Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons Together they had four sons, including James Addison Baker IV, a partner at Baker Botts. Son of James A. Baker, Jr. and Ethel Bonner Baker. Baker also led presidential campaigns for Presidents Gerald Ford, Reagan and Bush over the course of five consecutive presidential elections . As treasury secretary, he was also chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. Baker is presently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. 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). James A. Baker III talks cancel culture, transition of power at [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. [12] Baker resigned to serve as campaign manager of Ford's unsuccessful 1976 election campaign. They have six sons and two daughters, and 18 . While serving as Treasury Secretary, Baker organized the Plaza Accord of September 1985 and the Baker Plan to target international debt. "It was cleaned and inspected the day before the party.". 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. After leaving government service, Baker became a partner in a law firm and served as a diplomatic envoy for United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan for the Western Sahara. Who is James Baker? President Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal strategy received an unexpected endorsement Friday, Politico reports. Sep 24th 2020. Please enable JavaScript in your browser's settings to use this part of Geni. Omissions? 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. Seventeen-year-old Mary Stuart. Peter Baker told Haaretz that the secretary of state tried to explain at the time that he didnt actually say Fuck the Jews, but it got little traction and at some point he decided it was just better to move on. He was a regular tennis partner of George H. W. Bush at the Houston Country Club in the late 1950s. Join Facebook to connect with James Baker III and others you may know. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved, the fight in Congress over the loan guarantees. [37] 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.[38]. Baker became chairman of Bush's Senate campaign in Harris County, Texas. A Republican Party campaign leader, James Addison Baker, III (born 1930) helped elect as president both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. His memoir, Work Hard, Studyand Keep Out of Politics!, was published in 2006. 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. 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. From 1957 to 1969, and then from 1973 to 1975 he practiced law at the law firm of Andrews & Kurth. In 1975, he was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Gerald Ford. Baker has a sister, Bonner Baker Moffitt. He settled in Huntsville, where he practiced law,. 1990, statement of James A. Baker III. Baker, no relation, is the co-author of "The Man Who Ran Washington: the Life and Times of James Baker III." He wrote the book with his wife, "New Yorker" correspondent Susan Glasser.. She died of breast cancer in February 1970. His son, James A. Baker, Jr., served in World War II, became a lawyer in the family firm and continued the Baker commitment to Rice. Baker is the son of former Secretary of State, James Baker. [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'". For a quarter century, every Republican president relied on Baker to manage his campaign, his White House, his world. James West Baker (Jimmy), of Olive Branch, Mississippi, was born in Benton County, Mississippi, on April 7, 1939. Read more at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. 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.. A 2008 film Recount covers the days following the controversial election. James A. Baker III talks cancel culture, transition of power at Texas on the Potomac: James "Jim" Addison Baker, III. James A. Baker, III, has served in senior government positions under three United States presidents. (Read James Bakers Britannica essay on isolationism.). James Baker III was born on April 28, 1930 in Houston, Texas, USA. 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. Endowment gifts provide the Baker Institute with permanent resources that support research programs, fellows and scholars. [34], Also in 1993, Baker joined Baker Botts as a senior partner, as well as the Carlyle Group (with the title of senior counsel).[35]. 492, 505. James Addison Baker, III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, politician and political advisor. [6], From 1957 to 1975, he practiced law at Andrews & Kurth after the anti-nepotism policy of his family firm, Baker Botts, prevented him from receiving a job there.[7][8]. [22] 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. Russia's belief in Nato 'betrayal' - and why it matters today 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. James A. Baker III '52: A Tribute to George Shultz '42 first appeared in the December 2021 issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly. Bush administration. 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. The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III by James Baker was the latest in a long line of James Bakers. He serves on the World Justice Project and the Climate Leadership Council. In this August 11, 1990 file photo, President George H. W. Bush is pictured with his advisers on the Middle East crisis, including Secretary of State James Baker III, right. [51] 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. Secretary Baker himself is actually a pretty religious person, but hes not a favorite of the evangelical wing of the party, which has long viewed him with suspicion, Peter Baker added. 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. James Baker's masterful legal strategies won George W. Bush a contested Baker attended The Hill School, a boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Developing pragmatic policy approaches to the regions enduring political, economic and societal concerns. Baker was portrayed in the film by British actor Tom Wilkinson. "The whole thing is just a nightmare. James A. Baker Jr. - Wikipedia Learn more about the Baker Institutes membership forum, which supports the mission of the institute and offers members exclusive access to experts and events. James Addison Baker III | YourDictionary His father was a partner of Houston law firm Baker Botts. However, Baker changed his mind about running for Congress when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer; she died in February 1970. All of these confrontations with Israel and others that are mentioned in the book, such as the fight in Congress over the loan guarantees eventually took their toll on Bakers reputation. James Baker III - IMDb Neither Koch nor Safire named a source, but the former mayor later acknowledged in a book that Kemp was the one who tipped him off., Peter Baker and Susan Glasser interviewed both Kemp and James Baker about the episode. Baker served in this role through 1992. Newhouse, John. Amy Lubas, a police spokeswoman, said the whirlpool had been checked recently. 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. He resigned his post as secretary of state in 1992 in order to serve as White House chief of staff while simultaneously directing Bushs unsuccessful reelection campaign. Baker served as the 67th secretary of the treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. Proud grandfather and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III dared graduates of his alma mater, The Hill School, on Saturday to be revolutionaries. Geni requires JavaScript! But did Baker ever actually say it? Bakers memoir Work Hard, Study . As a result, we missed the multiple Nobel Prize . Mary Stuart Baker (Mary Stuart was her full first name) died of breast cancer in February 1970. . He served as the nation's 61st secretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George H.W. James Baker | Biography & Facts | Britannica