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{{short description|American lawyer and statesman (born 1930)}}
{{about|the politician|other uses|James Baker (disambiguation)|and|James A. Baker (disambiguation)|and|James Addison Baker (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = James Baker
| image               = James A. Baker III, U.S. Secretary of State (2380044355)(cropped) (b).jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 1989
| office              = 10th and 16th [[White House Chief of Staff]]
| president           = [[George H. W. Bush]]
| deputy              = [[Robert Zoellick]]
| term_start          = August 24, 1992
| term_end            = January 20, 1993
| predecessor         = [[Samuel K. Skinner]]
| successor           = [[Mack McLarty]]
| president1          = [[Ronald Reagan]]
| deputy1             = [[Michael Deaver]]
| term_start1         = January 20, 1981
| term_end1           = February 3, 1985
| predecessor1        = [[Jack Watson (presidential adviser)|Jack Watson]]
| successor1          = [[Donald Regan]]
| office2             = 61st [[United States Secretary of State]]
| president2          = [[George H. W. Bush]]
| deputy2             = Lawrence Eagleburger
| term_start2         = January 25, 1989
| term_end2           = August 23, 1992
| predecessor2        = [[George Shultz]]
| successor2          = [[Lawrence Eagleburger]]
| office3             = 67th [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]]
| president3          = [[Ronald Reagan]]
| deputy3             = [[Richard G. Darman]]<br>[[M. Peter McPherson]]
| term_start3         = February 4, 1985
| term_end3           = August 17, 1988
| predecessor3        = [[Donald Regan]]
| successor3          = [[Nicholas F. Brady]]
| office4             = [[United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce|United States Under Secretary of Commerce]]
| president4          = [[Gerald Ford]]
| term_start4         = August 2, 1975
| term_end4           = May 7, 1976
| predecessor4        = [[John K. Tabor]]
| successor4          = Edward Vetter
| birth_name          = James Addison Baker III
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1930|4|28}}
| birth_place         = [[Houston]], [[Texas]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (before 1970)<br>[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (1970–present)
| spouse              = {{ubl |{{marriage|Mary Stuart McHenry|1953|1970|end=died}} |{{marriage|Susan Garrett|1973}}}}
| children            = 5
| relatives           = [[Rosebud Baker]] (granddaughter)
| education           = [[Princeton University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[University of Texas, Austin]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| signature           = James Addison Baker, III Signature.svg
| allegiance          = United States
| branch              = [[United States Marine Corps]]
| serviceyears        = 1952–1954 (active)<br>1954–1958 (reserve)
| rank                = [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]]
| unit                = [[United States Marine Corps Reserve|Marine Corps Reserve]]
}}
'''James Addison Baker III'''{{NoteTag|He is actually the fourth-generation successive James Addison Baker in his family, despite using the "III" [[generational suffix]]. {{crossreference|See Judge [[James A. Baker (born 1821)|James A. Baker]], Captain [[James A. Baker (born 1857)|James A. Baker]], and [[James A. Baker Jr.]]}}}} (born April 28, 1930)<ref name="Historian">{{cite web |title=Biographies of the Secretaries of State: James Addison Baker III |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/baker-james-addison |publisher=U.S. Department of State, [[Office of the Historian]] |access-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref> is an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, and former [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] officer. A member of the [[Republican Party (United States)|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 [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. secretary of state]] before returning as the 16th White House chief of staff under President [[George H. W. Bush]].

Born in [[Houston]], Texas, Baker attended the [[The Hill School|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 United States Senate election in Texas|1970 campaign]] for the [[United States Senate]]. After serving briefly as [[Under Secretary of Commerce]], Baker ran President [[Gerald Ford]]'s failed [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 campaign]] following the ouster of campaign chairman [[Rogers Morton]]. Baker considered running for the [[United States House of Representatives|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 Party presidential primaries|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 (debt relief)|Baker Plan]]. He resigned as treasury secretary with some trepidation to manage Bush's successful [[1988 United States presidential election|1988 campaign]] for president. After the election, Bush appointed Baker to the position of secretary of state. As Secretary of State, he helped oversee [[Foreign policy of the United States|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 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]]. He served as a United Nations envoy to [[Western Sahara]] and as a consultant to [[Enron]]. During the [[2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida|Florida recount]] following the [[2000 United States presidential election|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]]. Baker has served on the [[World Justice Project]] and the [[Climate Leadership Council]]. He is the namesake of the [[James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy]] at [[Rice University]].<ref name=jbipp>{{cite web |url=http://bakerinstitute.org/about/about_bipp.cfm |title=About the Baker Institute |publisher=[[James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy]] |access-date=September 5, 2011 |archive-date=September 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130913224951/http://bakerinstitute.org/about/about_bipp.cfm }}</ref> Since the death of [[Henry Kissinger]] in 2023, he is currently the oldest living former [[United States Secretary of State|United States secretary of state]], as well as the earliest serving and only living to serve in the 20th century.

== Early life ==
James Addison Baker III was born at 1216 Bissonnet Street in [[Houston]].<ref name="CofH-P4HDD2">[http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/forms/procdesg.pdf City of Houston: Procedures for Historic District Designation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601175031/http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/forms/procdesg.pdf|date=June 1, 2010}}. City of Houston. (Adobe Acrobat *.PDF document). Retrieved: July 11, 2008.</ref> Baker's mother, Bonner Means Baker, was a Houston socialite. His father, [[James A. Baker Jr.|James A. Baker Jr]], was a partner of Houston law firm [[Baker Botts]], which was founded by Baker's [[James A. Baker (born 1821)|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.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=16–17}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=James Addison |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/212409956 |title="Work hard, study-- and keep out of politics!" |last2=Fiffer |first2=Steve |date=2008 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-2489-9 |edition=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston, Ill |oclc=212409956}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":22" />

Baker was born eighteen months before his only sibling, his sister Bonner Baker Moffitt.<ref>"Mother of Secretary of State Baker dies here at 96". ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. April 26, 1991. Retrieved: July 11, 2008.</ref> Moffitt struggled with schizophrenia and a tumultuous marriage with Houston Chronicle reporter Donald Moffitt. She predeceased Baker in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bonner Moffitt Obituary (1931 - 2015) - Towson, MD - Houston Chronicle |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/houstonchronicle/name/bonner-moffitt-obituary?id=18337918 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Legacy.com}}</ref>

== Education and pre-political career ==
Baker attended the private preparatory academy the [[The Kinkaid School|Kinkaid School]] in Houston, where his father was chairman of the board, until 1946.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=20–23}}</ref> For his final two years of school, Baker attended the [[The Hill School|Hill School]], a boarding school in [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]] attended by his father and late uncle.<ref name=":23" />

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).<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=James |title='Work Hard, Study... and Keep Out of Politics!': Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |others=Steve Fiffer |isbn=978-1-4406-8455-5 |location=East Rutherford |pages=9–13}}</ref> In 1952, Baker completed his history degree with a 188-page senior thesis, titled "Two Sides of the Conflict: [[Ernest Bevin|Bevin]] vs. [[Aneurin Bevan|Bevan]]," under the supervision of [[Walter Phelps Hall|Walter P. Hall]].<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Baker |first=James Addison III |title=Two Sides of the Conflict: Bevin vs. Bevan |date=1952 |degree=Senior |publisher=Princeton University |url=http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/handle/88435/dsp01v118rf88q}}</ref>
[[File:USS Monrovia (APA-31) in the 1960s.jpg|left|thumb|250x250px|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 [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marine]] officer training program to avoid being drafted before he finished college.<ref name=":24" /> 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.<ref name=":46">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=33–34}}</ref> Baker received the assignment and served for six months in the [[Mediterranean Sea]] aboard the {{USS|Monrovia|APA-31|6}} as [[first lieutenant]].  Baker remained in the [[United States Marine Corps Reserve|Marine Corps Reserve]] until 1958, rising to the rank of [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]].<ref name=":46" />

After his mandatory two years of active duty service, Baker began attending the [[University of Texas School of Law]], his father's alma mater.<ref>{{cite web |author=Emmis Communications |date=October 24, 1991 |title=The Alcalde |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NYDAAAAMBAJ&q=James+Baker+university+texas+llb&pg=PA61 |publisher=Emmis Communications |via=Google Books}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":47">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=35–37}}</ref> At the urging of his father, he joined the [[Phi Delta Theta]] fraternity and underwent severe hazing rituals:<blockquote>"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.”<ref name=":47" /></blockquote>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.<ref name=":47" />

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.<ref name=":25">{{Cite web |date=2015-11-17 |title=Baker Botts marks 175 years in practice |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/business/2015/11/17/baker-botts-marks-175-years-in-practice/ |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=Dallas News |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":25" />
[[File:Baker Botts LLP logo.png|thumb|233x233px|Baker was not able to join the family firm Baker Botts due to a policy against nepotism.]]
From 1957 to 1980, Baker practiced law at [[Andrews Kurth|Andrews, Kurth, Campbell, & Bradley]].<ref name=":48">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=39–42}}</ref> 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 [[TPC Group|Petro-Tex Chemical Corporation]],  [[Consolidated Edison|Con Edison]], and the oil-rich heirs of [[Shanghai Pierce (rancher)|Shanghai Pierce]].<ref name=":48" />

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.<ref name=":49">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=37–39}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":48" />

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.<ref name=":48" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=James |title='Work Hard, Study... and Keep Out of Politics!': Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |others=Steve Fiffer |isbn=978-1-4406-8455-5 |location=East Rutherford |pages=24–26}}</ref> Baker attended the [[First inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower|first inauguration]] of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] after receiving tickets while training at [[Marine Corps Base Quantico|Quantico]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-27 |title=James A. Baker, III Oral History (2011) {{!}} Miller Center |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/james-baker-iii-oral-history-2011 |access-date=2025-04-13 |website=millercenter.org |language=en}}</ref>

Baker's first wife, the former Mary Stuart McHenry, was active in the [[United States Republican Party|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]].<ref name=":49" /> In addition, Baker's growing closeness with his tennis partner Bush and his conservative father—who supported Bush's [[Prescott Bush|father]]'s political career and donated to Bush's first campaigns—influenced Baker's political preferences.<ref name=":50">{{Cite book |last=Meacham |first=Jon |title=Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush |date=2015 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-6765-7 |location=Westminster |pages=150–160}}</ref>
[[File:George Bush at a hamburger fry in Marshall, TX, during the 1970 Senate Race, 17 Jul 70.jpg|left|thumb|In his first foray into electoral politics, Baker helped his friend [[George H. W. Bush|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 law|resign-to-run]] statute—to run again for the Senate against Yarborough. Bush encouraged Baker to run as his replacement in the House.<ref name=":50" /> Baker strongly considered the opportunity for some weeks, since he had grown bored with routine and would have an almost certain safe seat.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=48–49}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=50–51}}</ref>

In the aftermath of her death, Bush encouraged him to assist in the Senate campaign.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=53–54}}</ref> Baker chaired Bush's operation in [[Harris County, Texas|Harris County]], fundraising and coordinating support. Bush [[1970 United States Senate election in Texas|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=56}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":51">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=57–59}}</ref> After Nixon's victory, he considered multiple appointments. Bush lobbied Texas Senator [[John Tower]] to submit Baker for nomination to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit|Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]].<ref name=":51" /> 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|H.R. Haldeman]], and [[John Ehrlichman]] in 1973.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=62–63}}</ref> He received and rejected an offer to be the assistant administrator of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]], due to the continuing [[Watergate scandal|Watergate Scandal.]]<ref name="Baker Papers Bio">{{cite web |title=James A. Baker III Papers, 1957-2011, bulk 1972/1992 |url=https://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC197/#description |website=Princeton University Library |access-date=May 11, 2017}}</ref>

== Ford administration (1975–1976) ==
Baker continued to work at Andrews Kurth before he received an appointment as [[United States Under Secretary of Commerce|Under Secretary of Commerce]] under [[Rogers Morton]]. Morton chose Baker after a trip to China where he spoke with Bush—then the [[List of ambassadors of the United States to China|U.S. Ambassador to China]]—who strongly recommended Baker for the role.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Meacham |first=Jon |title=Destiny and power: the American odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush |date=2015 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4000-6765-7 |edition=First |location=New York |pages=213–214}}</ref> Baker was confirmed by the Senate in August 1975.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=72–73}}</ref>

=== 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]].<ref name=":53">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=69–71}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":53" /> [[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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=75–76}}</ref>
[[File:1976 campaign button e.JPG|left|thumb|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1976 Ford Presidential Campaign - Republican Convention |url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/exhibits/1976election/convention.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov}}</ref> 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 (political strategist)|John Sears]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=78–80}}</ref> Baker was hailed in a profile from ''The New York Times'' as a "Miracle Man."<ref>{{Cite news |date=1976-08-19 |title='Miracle Man' Given Credit for Ford Drive |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/19/archives/miracle-man-given-credit-for-ford-drive-did-not-want-job-how-he-did.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-01-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> His floor team included future campaign manager [[Paul Manafort]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Peters |first=Jeremy W. |date=2016-04-19 |title=Potential G.O.P. Convention Fight Puts Older Hands in Sudden Demand |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/us/politics/potential-gop-convention-fight-puts-older-hands-in-sudden-demand.html |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== Ford 1976 campaign chairman ===
Shortly after the convention, Baker replaced Morton as campaign chairman.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Naughton |first=James M. |date=1976-08-26 |title=Ford Names James Baker To Morton Campaign Job; James Baker Is Named to Morton's Post |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/26/archives/ford-names-james-baker-to-morton-campaign-job-james-baker-is-named.html?searchResultPosition=3 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Morton departed after publicly criticizing Ford's prospects following the Reagan challenge. Cheney and political consultant [[Stuart Spencer (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."<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=80–81}}</ref> Morton's wife had requested that Baker reject the promotion to reduce her husband's embarrassment, but Baker did not.<ref name=":12" /> He told his biographers that taking over in those circumstances was one of the "toughest' moments in his political career.<ref name=":12" />

Among Baker's strategies in the campaign was the decision to agree to the first televised presidential debates since the 1960 election.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=84–86}}</ref> Ford and Democratic nominee [[Jimmy Carter]] met for [[1976 United States presidential debates|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."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gwertzman |first=Bernard |date=1976-10-07 |title=Ford Denies Moscow Dominates East Europe; Carter Rebuts Him |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/07/archives/ford-denies-moscow-dominates-east-europe-carter-rebuts-him.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Televised debates have been held in each of the subsequent American presidential elections.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Astor |first=Maggie |date=2024-05-15 |title=How the Debates Trump and Biden Agreed to Break With Tradition |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/us/politics/earliest-presidential-debates-june.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>[[File:President Ford discusses the 1976 campaign - NARA - 7027913.jpg|thumb|314x314px|Baker (left) participated in a 1976 campaign strategy session with President [[Gerald Ford]] (fourth from left) and others in [[Vail, Colorado|Vail, CO]].]]In the days before the election, Baker controversially wrote to black clergymen to call attention to provocateur [[Clennon Washington King Jr.|Clennon King]]'s criticism of Carter, an integrationist, for the de facto segregation of his [[Plains, Georgia]] church.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Richard Norton |title=An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford |date=2023 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-06-268416-5 |edition=1st |location= |pages=605–625}}</ref> Ford denounced the action internally as an apparent dirty trick he would disavow.<ref name=":26" /> 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.<ref name=":26" />

Ford lost the popular vote to Carter by two percentage points and fell in the electoral college by small margins in two states.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1976-12-11 |title=Official Tabulation Shows Carter Defeated Ford by 1,681,417 Votes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/11/archives/official-tabulation-shows-carter-defeated-ford-by-1681417-votes.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=88–90}}</ref> 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) ==
[[File:Mark White Portrait.jpg|thumb|204x204px|Baker campaigned against [[Mark White (Texas politician)|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.|left]]
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]].<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":26" /> 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 [[Secretary of State of Texas|Texas Secretary of State]] [[Mark White (Texas politician)|Mark White]] by 4 percentage points.<ref name=":26" /> Baker himself ran unopposed in his primary.<ref>{{Cite news |last= Clymer |first=Adam Clymer |date=1978-05-04 |title=Texas Republicans Battle in Primary, but Carter Is Their No. 1 Target |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/04/archives/texas-republicans-battle-in-primary-but-carter-is-their-no-1-target.html?searchResultPosition=5 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In the general election, Baker ran as a moderate, telling advocacy group [[League of United Latin American Citizens|LULAC]] that he would support civil rights protections, even as Republican nominee for governor, [[Bill Clements]], did not.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=97–100}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":32" />

Baker's ran on the slogan "Texas needs a lawyer, not a politician, for attorney general."<ref name=":452">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Marjorie |title=His Master's Voice {{!}} Vanity Fair |url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1992/10/his-masters-voice |access-date=2025-01-24 |website=Vanity Fair {{!}} The Complete Archive |language=en-US}}</ref> ''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 politics|retail politician]]" that he had encountered over a 15-year career.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=102–103}}</ref> 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 (Texas politician)|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.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=104–105}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=105–107}}</ref> 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."<ref name=":03" />
[[File:George Bush and James Baker visit with US Senator Paul Laxalt (R-Nev) during the 1980 campaign.jpg|left|thumb|Reagan campaign operative [[Paul Laxalt|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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Adam Clymer Special To the New York |date=1980-01-22 |title=Carter Wins Strong Victory in Iowa As Bush Takes Lead Over Reagan; Iowa Caucuses Give President Strong Victory Cuts in Reagan Strength Carter Performance in 1976 Test of Reagan Strategy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/01/22/archives/carter-wins-strong-victory-in-iowa-as-bush-takes-lead-over-reagan.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=2025-04-15 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Bush lost significantly in the [[New Hampshire presidential primary|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 [[The Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire)|''Nashua Telegraph'']] that hurt his electoral prospects.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Grynbaum |first=Michael M. |date=2020-10-22 |title=What We Learned from the Final Presidential Debate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/22/us/presidential-debate-live?searchResultPosition=1#from-the-annals-of-muted-mic-history-ronald-reagans-i-am-paying-for-this-microphone-moment |access-date=2025-04-17 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":13">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=117–120}}</ref> Without conferring with his candidate, Baker hinted to [[The Washington Post|''The'' ''Washington Post'']] in early June that Bush would soon wind down his campaign.<ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Meacham |first=Jon |title=Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush |date=2015 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-6765-7 |location=Westminster |pages=235–237}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":13" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meacham |first=Jon |title=Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush |date=2015 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4000-6765-7 |location=Westminster |pages=237–239}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=120–123}}</ref> Despite misgivings over his "[[Voodoo economics]]" criticism and moderately [[pro-choice]] views, Reagan eventually picked Bush for the nomination.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boot |first=Max |title=Reagan: His Life and Legend |date=2024 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-87140-944-7 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=405–410}}</ref> Baker was offered, but rejected, the chance to run Bush's Vice Presidential campaign, feeling it was below him.<ref name=":27">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=123–125}}</ref> Instead, he worked on the Reagan campaign in managing the [[1980 United States presidential debates|debates]].

As debate negotiator, Baker worked with Democrat [[Robert S. Strauss|Robert Strauss]] and the League of Women Voters to decide on how many debates to hold and when.<ref name=":27" /> Though there were three debates scheduled, only the last featured Carter and Reagan on the same stage. In his memoir, Carter advisor [[Stuart E. Eizenstat|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eizenstat |first=Stuart |title=President Carter: The White House Years |date=2018 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |others=Madeleine Albright |isbn=978-1-250-10455-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=900–910}}</ref>

==== 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 [[Donald J. Albosta|Congressman Donald Albosta]], he claimed:<blockquote>It is my recollection that I was given the book by [Reagan campaign chairman] [[William J. Casey|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."<ref>Letter, James Baker to Representative Albosta, June 22, 1983 folder "Albosta – Baker/Casey/Stockman/Gergen Responses," box 45F, Fred Fielding Files, Ronald Reagan Library digital collection https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/2024-02/40-184-7788301-045F-005-2023.pdf?VersionId=7loH5nMRmNPkbqpqTCJVNPqFuZ10jc6E</ref></blockquote>Casey denied Baker's recollection, but Congressional investigators found Baker's explanation to be more credible.<ref name=":33">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=204–206}}</ref>

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."<ref name=":33" /> 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.<ref name=":33" />

==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.<ref name=":28">{{Cite book |last=Cannon |first=Lou |title=President Reagan: the role of a lifetime |date=2000 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-1-891620-91-1 |edition=1st Public Affairs |location=New York |pages=45–55}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":28" />[[File:James Baker, Edwin Meese, and Michael Deaver.jpg|right|thumb|"[[Troika (triumvirate)|The Troika]]" (from left to right) Chief of Staff James Baker, Counselor to the President [[Ed Meese]], [[Deputy White House Chief of Staff|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.<ref name=":302">{{Cite book |last=Boot |first=Max |title=Reagan: His Life and Legend |date=2024 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-87140-944-7 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=450–465}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cannon |first=Lou |title=President Reagan: the role of a lifetime |date=2000 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-1-891620-91-1 |edition=1st Public Affairs |location=New York |pages=235–250}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cannon |first=Lou |title=President Reagan: the role of a lifetime |date=2000 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-1-891620-91-1 |edition=1st Public Affairs |location=New York |pages=100–115}}</ref> Ford and Bush advisor [[Brent Scowcroft]] referred to Baker as "co-president, in a way," under Reagan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whipple |first=Chris |title=The gatekeepers: how the White House Chiefs of Staff define every presidency |date=2017 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-0-8041-3824-6 |edition=First |location=New York |pages=110–115}}</ref> In 1992, Washington Post columnist [[Marjorie Williams]] referred to Baker as "the most powerful [chief of staff] in political memory."<ref name=":452"/>

=== Reagan assassination attempt ===
In March 1981, [[John Hinckley Jr.|John Hinckley]] [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|tried to shoot]] Reagan while he was leaving an [[AFL-CIO]] conference in Washington.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Assassination Attempt {{!}} Ronald Reagan |url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/permanent-exhibits/assassination-attempt |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=www.reaganlibrary.gov |language=en}}</ref> Baker wasn't in his entourage and learned of the shooting as Reagan was in the [[George Washington University Hospital|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 the United States Constitution|Twenty-Fifth Amendment]] to make Bush the Acting President while Reagan's status was in flux.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=151–156}}</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:James Baker, Martin Anderson, Alexander Haig and Fred Fielding discussing the assassination attempt in the Situation Room.JPG|left|thumb|Baker (far right), [[Martin Anderson (economist)|Martin Anderson]], [[Alexander Haig]] and [[Fred F. Fielding|Fred Fielding]] discussing the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in the [[Situation Room]]]] -->
The group of advisors decided, without asking Bush, to avoid any temporary transition.<ref name=":04" /> 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 F. Fielding|Fred Fielding]] and [[United States Secretary of State|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.<ref name=":04" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Boot |first=Max |title=Reagan: His Life and Legend |date=2024 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-87140-944-7 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=460–470}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=156–159}}</ref>

==== 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 [[Rowland Evans|Evans]] & Novak columns.<ref name=":31">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=200–210}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 5, 1982 |title=Phil Gailey and Warren Weaver, Jr., "Briefing" |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/05/us/briefing-186924.html |access-date=January 27, 2011 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":31" /> Baker and Reagan both called Nofziger directly to ask him to retract the sentiment.<ref name=":31" /> In January 1983, [[United States Secretary of the Interior|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.<ref name=":31" />

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]].<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/SPkulMz1Fo0 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20201101115425/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPkulMz1Fo0&feature=youtu.be Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web |date=July 4, 2020 |title=James Baker: President Maker [documentary] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPkulMz1Fo0 |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Despite having no strong baseball fandom, Baker reached the last level of consideration to replace [[Bowie Kuhn]] before losing out to [[Peter Ueberroth]].<ref name=":332">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=220–235}}</ref> Reagan offered to appoint Baker as [[United States Secretary of Transportation|Secretary of Transportation]] in 1983, but Baker believed that his rival Meese had pushed the plan.<ref name=":332" /> At Bush's suggestion, he also strongly considered trying to become CIA Director.<ref name=":31" /> In 1983, some Texas legislators attempted to draft Baker to run for the Senate seat that would open following John Tower's retirement, but Baker declined what he felt might be a demotion in power.<ref name=":452"/><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=TIME |date=1983-09-05 |title=Tower Burnout |url=https://time.com/archive/6860009/tower-burnout/ |access-date=2025-04-19 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref>

==== National Security Advisor ====
In October 1983, Baker attempted to replace [[William P. Clark Jr.|William Clark]] as [[National Security Advisor (United States)|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.<ref name=":302"/> Baker planned for Deaver to be his replacement as Chief of Staff.<ref name=":29">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=145–155}}</ref> 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.
[[File:Robert McFarlane, James Baker, and John Poindexter.jpg|thumb|Baker (right) speaking with [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] [[Robert McFarlane (American government official)|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=FitzGerald |first=Frances |title=Way out there in the blue: Reagan, Star Wars, and the end of the Cold War |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-0023-3 |edition=1. Touchstone |location=New York, NY |pages=210–220}}</ref> Upon seeing the press release announcing the changes, Clark organized the NSC's conservative bloc— Clark, Meese, Casey, Weinberger—to reject the reshuffle.<ref name=":29" />

The conservative bloc wanted to appoint [[UN ambassador|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 (American government official)|Robert McFarlane]], who was later convicted of crimes stemming from the [[Iran–Contra affair|Iran-Contra affair]], as Clark's replacement.<ref name=":29" /> In his memoir, Reagan referred to the decision not to appoint Baker as a "turning point" in his presidency.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reagan |first=Ronald |title=An American Life |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=0-7434-0025-9 |publication-date=November 15, 1990 |pages=420–430}}</ref>

=== 1984 campaign ===
Baker began to plan Reagan's expected re-election bid beginning in Autumn 1982.<ref name=":34">{{Cite book |last1=Goldman |first1=Peter Louis |title=The quest for the presidency 1984 |last2=Fuller |first2=Tony |last3=DeFrank |first3=Thomas M. |date=1985 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-05100-1 |series=A Newsweek book |location=Toronto; New York |pages=15}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":34" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Church |first=George J. |date=1984-02-06 |title=There He Goes Again: Reagan Will Run |url=https://time.com/archive/6699815/there-he-goes-again-reagan-will-run/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> The meetings ran weekly in the [[Madison Hotel (Washington, D.C.)|Madison Hotel]] until late 1983.<ref name=":34" />

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.<ref name=":35">{{Cite book |last1=Goldman |first1=Peter |title=The quest for the presidency 1984 |last2=Fuller |first2=Tony |last3=DeFrank |first3=Thomas M. |date=1985 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-05100-1 |series=A Newsweek book |location=Toronto New York |pages=40}}</ref> Baker informally chose Laxalt's deputy, [[campaign manager]] [[Ed Rollins]], and the question of who Rollins reported to spurred some minor internecine conflicts.<ref name=":36">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=235–250}}</ref><ref name=":37">{{Cite book |last1=Goldman |first1=Peter |title=The quest for the presidency 1984 |last2=Fuller |first2=Tony |last3=DeFrank |first3=Thomas M. |date=1985 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-05100-1 |series=A Newsweek book |location=Toronto New York |pages=261–265}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":36" /> Laxalt also dismissed Baker as "the hired help" when they were at odds over campaign direction.<ref name=":35" />[[File:President Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, James Baker, Ken Khachigian, Rosie Greer, and Lou Cannon celebrating the end of the 1984 presidential campaign.jpg|thumb|287x287px|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.]]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.<ref name=":36" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Goldman |first1=Peter |title=The quest for the presidency 1984 |last2=Fuller |first2=Tony |last3=DeFrank |first3=Thomas M. |date=1985 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0-553-05100-1 |series=A Newsweek book |location=Toronto New York}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":36" /> 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.
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|Walter Mondale's]] 40.6%.<ref name="1984 National Results">[http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=1984&off=0&f=1 1984 National Results] U.S. Election Atlas.</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boot |first=Max |title=Reagan: His Life and Legend |date=2024 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-87140-944-7 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=600–620}}</ref> Baker himself earned praise for minimizing campaign conflicts by directing conflicting aides toward Rollins, who would then adjudicate disputes before they boiled over.<ref name=":37" /> 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 United States presidential election|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%.<ref name="1984 National Results"/>

== Secretary of the Treasury (1985–1988) ==
[[File:President Ronald Reagan making a statement to the press announcing the nomination of James Baker to be Secretary of the Treasury and the appointment of Donald Regan as Chief of Staff.jpg|left|thumb|248x248px|President [[Ronald Reagan]] announcing the nomination of James Baker to be [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] and the appointment of [[Donald Regan]] as [[White House chief of staff|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boot |first=Max |title=Reagan: His Life and Legend |date=2024 |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-0-87140-944-7 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=610–630}}</ref> For his part, Baker relished the prestige of the Treasury Department and considered it a "stepping stone" to further prominence.<ref name=":39">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=250–265}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":38">{{Cite book |last=Cannon |first=Lou |title=President Reagan: the role of a lifetime |date=2000 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-1-891620-91-1 |edition=1st Public Affairs |location=New York |pages=520–540}}</ref> After Regan replaced Baker, administration "blunders [became] more frequent and damage control [was] lacking."<ref name=":38" />

Baker was confirmed as Secretary of the Treasury on January 29, 1985 with a unanimous 95-0 vote in the Senate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tribune |first=Chicago |date=1985-01-30 |title=SENATE VOTES 95-0 TO CONFIRM BAKER FOR TREASURY POST |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/01/30/senate-votes-95-0-to-confirm-baker-for-treasury-post/ |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>

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 [[Allan Murray (editor)|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."<ref name=":40">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Alan |title=Showdown at Gucci Gulch |date=2010 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |others=Jeffrey Birnbaum, Peter Osnos |isbn=978-0-394-75811-4 |location=Westminster |pages=85–95}}</ref> Darman chafed at the outsized credit Baker received and resented being known as a "Baker aide" rather than his own entity.<ref name=":39" />
[[File:James Addison Baker, III Signature.svg|thumb|Baker's signature, which was featured on [[United States dollar|U.S. currency]] from his confirmation as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] in 1985 to his departure in 1988.]]
Besides Darman, Baker also brought [[Margaret D. Tutwiler|Margaret Tutwiler]] and [[John F. W. Rogers|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Alan |title=Showdown at Gucci Gulch |date=2010 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |others=Jeffrey Birnbaum, Peter Osnos |isbn=978-0-394-75811-4 |location=Westminster |pages=55–65}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":40" />
[[File:President Ronald Reagan talking to James Baker and Don Regan.jpg|left|thumb|290x290px|[[Donald Regan]] (right), who preceded Baker (center) as [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]], and Baker addressed Reagan (left) shortly after their new appointments. ]]
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).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Birnbaum |first1=Jeffrey H. |title=Showdown at Gucci Gulch: lawmakers, lobbyists, and the unlikely triumph of tax reform |last2=Murray |first2=Alan S. |date=1988 |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-394-75811-4 |edition=1st Vintage Books |location=New York |pages=95–105}}</ref> The goal was to develop a compromise that avoided controversy, which Baker consciously modeled off of the 1983 Social Security reforms.

The powerful [[United States House Committee on Ways and Means|House Ways and Mean Committee]] chairman [[Dan Rostenkowski|Dan Rostenkowski]] 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Address to the Nation on Tax Reform - May 1985 {{!}} Ronald Reagan |url=https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/address-nation-tax-reform-may-1985 |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=www.reaganlibrary.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1985-05-29 |title=REAGAN'S TAX PLAN: SUPPORT IN CONGRESS AND CALLS FOR CHANGES; DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S RESPONSE TO THE TAX PROPOSAL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/29/business/reagan-s-tax-plan-support-congress-calls-for-changes-democratic-party-s-response.html |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":41">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=270–280}}</ref>

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."<ref name=":41" />
[[File:President Ronald Reagan, Ken Duberstein, George H. W. Bush, Ed Meese, Craig Fuller, Richard Darman, James Baker, Caspar Weinberger, and William Clark watching the Tax Bill vote with staff.jpg|thumb|Baker (fourth from right) and other administration officials watching [[United States Congress|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 Dick Cheney (R-WY) and [[Trent Lott]] (R-MS) tried to organized to reject the plan, Baker successfully appealed to Reagan to stop the revolt.<ref name=":41" /> 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.<ref name=":41" />

The bill passed the House in mid-December 1985 and was reported to the Senate for further consideration.<ref name=":42">{{Cite web |last=Rep. Rostenkowski |first=Dan [D-IL] |date=1986-10-22 |title=H.R.3838 - 99th Congress (1985-1986): Tax Reform Act of 1986 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-bill/3838 |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=www.congress.gov}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":43">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=280–290}}</ref> Baker supported Packwood's change and worked to lobby Senators to the plan.<ref name=":43" /> The bill eventually passed the Senate in July 1986 and after the reconciliation process, was signed into law by Reagan on October 22, 1986.<ref name=":42" />

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.<ref name=":44">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Alan |title=Showdown at Gucci Gulch |date=2010 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |others=Jeffrey Birnbaum, Peter Osnos |isbn=978-0-394-75811-4 |location=Westminster |pages=260–270}}</ref> Aides believed Danforth and Baker vigorously condemned the so-called "kiddie tax" due in part to their  vast personal wealth. Baker also weighed in to break an impasse in favor of oil-state Senators who wanted exemptions for the petrochemical industry.<ref name=":44" /> 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.<ref name=":43" /> Due to a law passed in 1969, the newspaper's owners required periodic exemptions to maintain their stake.<ref name=":43" /> In the 1986 bill, Baker intentionally removed their exemption, leading to their sale in 1987 for $400 million dollars to [[Hearst Communications|Hearst]].<ref name=":43" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Kennedy |first=J. Michael |date=1987-03-13 |title=Hearst Corp. Pays $400 Million for Texas Newspaper : One of Most Expensive Newspaper Purchases Ever |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-03-13-fi-5425-story.html |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Decades later, Baker told his biographers that he was happy "getting even."<ref name=":43" />
[[File:President Ronald Reagan announcing the nomination of Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board.jpg|left|thumb|222x222px|[[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] James Baker with U.S. president [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[Chair of the Federal Reserve|Federal Reserve Chairman]] [[Paul Volcker]] at the [[James S. Brady Press Briefing Room|White House Press Room]] during President Reagan's announcement of [[Alan Greenspan]] nomination to be the new [[Chair of the Federal Reserve|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 [[Plaza Accord|met]] with finance ministers from [[Japan]], [[France]], [[West Germany]], and the [[United Kingdom]] in September 1985 at the [[Plaza Hotel]] in New York City.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-12-03 |title=UTLink: Plaza Accord, September 22, 1985 |url=http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/finance/fm850922.htm |access-date=2025-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203003241/http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/finance/fm850922.htm |archive-date=December 3, 2018 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Volcker |first1=Paul |title=Changing Fortunes: The World's Money and the Threat to American Leadership |last2=Gyohten |first2=Toyoo |publisher=Three Rivers Press |isbn=978-0812922189 |publication-date=May 3, 1993 |pages=280–290}}</ref>

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 stabilize it where it ended

=== 1987 Stock Market crash ===
[[File:DJIA Black Monday 1987.svg|thumb|On "[[Black Monday (1987)|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 [[Deutsche Mark|Deutsche mark]] 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."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kilborn |first1=Peter T. |date=1987-10-18 |title=U.S SAID TO ALLOW DECLINE OF DOLLAR AGAINST THE MARK |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/18/world/us-said-to-allow-decline-of-dollar-against-the-mark.html |access-date=2025-01-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
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 (1987)|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:<blockquote>"...wait a minute. If [Baker] is using it as a lever [to influence the [[Deutsche Bundesbank|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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Funabashi |first=Yōichi |title=Managing the dollar: from the Plaza to the Louvre |date=1988 |publisher=Institute for International Economics |others=Institute for International Economics (U.S.) |isbn=978-0-88132-071-8 |location=Washington, DC |pages=235}}</ref></blockquote>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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wyatt |first=Edward |date=1997-10-19 |title=LEGACY OF THE '87 CRASH; Assessing The Role of Mutual Fund Investors |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/19/business/legacy-of-the-87-crash-assessing-the-role-of-mutual-fund-investors.html |access-date=2025-04-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

=== 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.

== Secretary of State (1989–1992) ==
{{see also|Foreign policy of the George H. W. Bush administration}}

President [[George H. W. Bush]] announced Baker as his choice for [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] the day after his election victory.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Boyd |first1=Gerald M. |date=1988-11-10 |title=THE ELECTIONS; BUSH NAMES BAKER AS SECRETARY OF STATE; HAILS 40-STATE SUPPORT FOR 'MY PRINCIPLES' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/us/elections-bush-names-baker-secretary-state-hails-40-state-support-for-my.html |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Senate unanimously confirmed Baker on January 25, 1989.
[[File:James Baker III, State Department Portrait by Ned Bittinger.jpg|thumb|[[United States Department of State|State Department]] Portrait of James Baker by [[Ned Bittinger]]]]
Some perspective at the time framed Baker as equal to the president, which Bush wrote in his diary was "nonsense."<ref name=":652">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=330–340}}</ref> Even so, Baker's relationship and status made him a powerful figure in the political landscape. National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft originally deferred to Baker as the public foreign policy voice of the administration, despite longstanding institutional competition between the two positions.<ref name=":652" /> Columnist [[William Safire]] predicted that he would define the administration's foreign policy, for better or worse.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Safire |first=William |date=1989-01-19 |title=Opinion {{!}} ESSAY; Chameleon on Plaid |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/19/opinion/essay-chameleon-on-plaid.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=2025-05-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As Baker's biographers Susan Glasser and Peter Baker (no relation) summarized the view:<blockquote>"[Baker] had an advantage that no secretary of state before him ever had. [...] No one could go around him or over his head. [[Dan Quayle|[Vice President Dan] Quayle]] and others had already tried and Baker invariably shut them down, often by directly intervening with Bush. If Baker declared a position on behalf of America, his interlocutors knew it would stick. And if he made a promise, they knew he could deliver. For nearly four years, it was almost as if the country had a second president to send overseas to negotiate and lay down the law."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=410–420}}</ref></blockquote>

=== Nicaragua and Iran-Contra ===
One of Baker's immediate priorities after his appointment was to reduce American involvement in Latin America, which had resulted in the Iran-Contra affair during the Reagan administration.<ref name=":652" /> Baker appointed [[Bernard W. Aronson|Bernard Aronson]], a Contra-supporting Democrat, to be his [[Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Two key foreign policy appointments pointed Wednesday toward revived... - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/02/01/Two-key-foreign-policy-appointments-pointed-Wednesday-toward-revived/1169602312400/ |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref> Negotiating with House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) shortly after the election, Baker offered to stop requesting military funding for the [[Contras|Contra]] rebels, providing an off-ramp for American involvement in the conflict.<ref name=":652" />

Aronson and Baker reoriented their position toward humanitarian, rather than military, aid for Nicaragua. Baker took the position that the administration would not assist the Contras, at least until the results of the [[1990 Nicaraguan general election|1990 election]], when [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]] incumbent [[Daniel Ortega]] would seek re-election. Partly as an olive branch to his Democratic partners, Baker worked with the [[Carter Center]] to ensure the election was fairly run.

In March 1989, Bush signed the Bipartisan Accord on Central America, which stated that the "Executive and the Congress are united on a policy to achieve" democratization, an end to intra-American subversion, and reduction in Soviet influence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bipartisan Accord on Central America {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/bipartisan-accord-central-america |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> It also earmarked $4.5 million a month in humanitarian aid to the Contras through to the February 1990 election.<ref name=":662">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=350–360}}</ref>

Baker ran afoul of some Republicans who supported the Contras' armed rebellion against Ortega's Sandinista government. Senator [[Jesse Helms]] (R-SC) in particular opposed Aronson as too dovish and inexperienced.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Pear |first1=Robert |date=1989-02-02 |title=Bush Backing Democrat for Post On Latin America in State Dept. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/02/world/bush-backing-democrat-for-post-on-latin-america-in-state-dept.html |access-date=2025-07-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Quayle's [[Office of the Vice President of the United States|office]] also strongly opposed Baker's stance on Nicaragua, criticizing Aronson's appointment and providing intelligence that cast doubt on Baker's strategy.<ref name=":662" /><ref name=":672">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=390–400}}</ref>

In the 1990 Nicaraguan election, the Sandinista party was defeated by [[Violeta Chamorro|Violetta Chamorro]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1990-02-26 |title=Stunning Ortega Defeat : Chamorro Elected in Voter Rebuke to Sandinistas : Transfer of Power April 25 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-26-mn-1241-story.html |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Chamorro was a relatively inexperienced consensus candidate for the anti-Sandinista [[National Opposition Union (Nicaragua, 1990)|UNO coalition]], who successfully ran on ending the Contra-Sandinista war and American sanctions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gunson |first=Phil |date=2025-06-15 |title=Violeta Chamorro obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/15/violeta-chamorro-obituary |access-date=2025-07-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Baker himself expected that Ortega would win out, but he and the Bush administration had strongly supported Chamorro's candidacy.<ref name=":672" />

=== The Soviet Union ===
Baker also played a significant role in the administration's approach to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Bush and Reagan had met together in December 1988 with Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev to continue warming relations between the countries, with Gorbachev announcing that he planned to withdraw hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in Eastern Europe.<ref name=":68">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=340–350}}</ref> Baker and Bush's immediate strategy was to "Pause" detente while the Americans could reassess.<ref name=":68" /> Despite the Pause, events in the region throughout Baker's terms required greater involvement.

==== German Reunification ====
[[File:President George H. W. Bush with James Baker at a Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.jpg|left|thumb|305x305px|Baker with President [[George H. W. Bush]] at a [[Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (CSCE) on November 9, 1990]]
Amidst the dissolution of the USSR, Baker participated extensively in the negotiations to reunify Germany following the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|1989 fall]] of the [[Berlin Wall]]. Baker was the first American official to enter East Berlin after the Wall's destruction in December 1989.<ref name=":69">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=380–390}}</ref> Vice President Quayle had intended to visit first, but Bush allowed Baker the honor over Quayle's objections.<ref name=":69" /> On his trip, Baker became the first and only Secretary of State to go into East Germany beyond Berlin, where he met with the East German premier Modrow and visited St. Nicholas Church.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tribune |first=Chicago |date=1989-12-13 |title=BAKER CALLS FOR 'NEW EUROPE' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/12/13/baker-calls-for-new-europe/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> The [[US Ambassador to Germany]] in [[Bonn]], [[Vernon A. Walters|Vernon Walters]], strongly opposed the trip as aiding the Communist image, leading to Baker excluding him for the rest of German reunification negotiations.<ref name=":672"/>

Baker, while primarily negotiating with the Soviets and West German Foreign Minister [[Hans-Dietrich Genscher]], spoke of the Two Plus Four plan for German reunification. The framework which, in September 1990, became the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany]] emphasized the self-determination of the two partitioned parts of the German whole, with the assent of the [[Allied Control Council|Four Powers]] countries. The notion was drafted by Baker's State Department advisors, though it is disputed whether [[Francis Fukuyama]] or [[Dennis Ross]] was the prime mover.<ref name=":672"/> The plan was mildly distrusted by Bush and Scowcroft at the time, who worried about the speed of the change and whether [[West German Chancellor]] [[Helmut Kohl]] was completely on board.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=370–380}}</ref>   Baker approached controversy when he negotiated with Gorbachev over the eastward expansion of [[NATO]]. In discussions with Gorbachev and [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union)|Soviet Foreign Minister]] [[Eduard Shevardnadze]], per a contemporaneous memo, Baker said that:<blockquote>"There would be no extension of NATO’s jurisdiction for forces of NATO one inch to the east"<ref>{{Cite web |title=Memorandum of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow. {{!}} National Security Archive |url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/16116-document-05-memorandum-conversation-between |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=nsarchive.gwu.edu}}</ref></blockquote>Given that a unified Germany would naturally result in either NATO's expulsion of West Germany (which had been a member since 1955) or an eastward expansion of NATO's jurisdiction, the promise taken literally would be untenable in the context of German reunification. Some in the Bush administration cautioned Baker, but Baker indicated that he had only meant that NATO would not add new members in Eastern Europe.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=397–404}}</ref> The record is conflicted on exactly what Baker meant and how what he said was understood at the time, but [[President of Russia|Russian President]] [[Vladimir Putin]], among others, have labeled it as one of multiple instances where NATO and the US allegedly misled Russo-Soviet stakeholders into reducing their share of geopolitical power.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baker |first=Peter |date=2022-01-09 |title=In Ukraine Conflict, Putin Relies on a Promise That Ultimately Wasn't |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/politics/russia-ukraine-james-baker.html |access-date=2025-07-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

After Russia [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|invaded the Crimean Peninsula in 2014]], Gorbachev insisted that Baker's comments should not be taken as a broken promise.<ref name=":62">{{Cite web |last1=Kórshunov |first1=Maxim |last2=RBTH |date=2014-10-16 |title=Mikhail Gorbachev: I am against all walls |url=https://www.rbth.com/international/2014/10/16/mikhail_gorbachev_i_am_against_all_walls_40673.html |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Russia Beyond |language=en-US}}</ref> He said that NATO expansion was not considered relevant during the discussions in 1989 and that "everything that could have been and needed to be done to solidify that political obligation was done."<ref name=":62" /> Gorbachev instead dated NATO's expansion eastward to 1993 and said it did not connect to previous promises.

The final Two Plus Four agreement was signed in September 1990, paving the way for a unified Germany by March 1991.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-09-10 |title=Two Plus Four Treaty |url=https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/germany-europe/two-plus-four-treaty |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=www.deutschland.de |language=en}}</ref>

==== Soviet dissolution ====
[[File:Cold War border changes.png|thumb|277x277px|Changes in internationally recognized boundaries of countries after the end of the Cold War. Orange in the "before" map represents the territories as of 1991 which were affected.]]
Over the course of Baker's term, Soviet member states individually staged [[Revolutions of 1989|revolutions]] and made declarations of independence. When his tenure ended in 1992, the Soviet Union had completely shifted from one large communist state into 15 different democratic republics, with satellite states (e.g. [[Poland]], [[Romania]]) also departing Soviet orbit through the sunset of the [[Warsaw Pact]].

Baker visited multiple former Soviet countries and satellites during this upheaval. He made official stops in [[Ukraine]], [[Albania]], [[Yugoslavia]], Poland, [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Bulgaria]], Romania, [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Hungary]], [[Kazakhstan]], [[Turkmenistan]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Armenia]], [[Tajikistan]], [[Moldova]], [[Belarus]], and [[Russia]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreign Travels of James A. Baker, III |url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/history/sectravels/baker.html |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=1997-2001.state.gov}}</ref> Over his term, he visited every country that had been party to the Warsaw Pact.

Throughout Baker's tenure as Secretary of State, the Soviets repeatedly attempted to suppress secessionist movements. Bush and Baker supported some of the interventions as necessary for law and order. Baker had told Shevardnadze in July 1989 that the US appreciated that the military might be needed to suppress "irrational bloodletting and national hatreds."<ref name=":71">{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael R. |title=At the highest levels: the inside story of the end of the cold war |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=1993 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-09281-4 |edition=1st |location=Boston |pages=162–167}}</ref> The administration therefore "completely" supported Soviet [[Black January|suppression of Azeri Popular Front]] demonstrators in [[Baku]], as Bush told Soviet diplomat [[Yuri Dubinin]] in January 1990.<ref name=":71" />

The US had a stronger response to Soviet crackdowns in Lithuania, which voted for independence in March 1990. Baker warned Shevardnadze that—while the administration had restrained its criticism—should the Soviets use force, the "nuances" in its public statement would end.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael R. |title=At the highest levels: the inside story of the end of the cold war |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=1993 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-09281-4 |edition=1st |location=Boston |pages=182–187}}</ref> Against Bush and Baker's wishes, more than a third of the US Senate unsuccessfully supported recognizing an independent Lithuania.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. Senate rejects resolution for independent Lithuania - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/03/21/US-Senate-rejects-resolution-for-independent-Lithuania/8120637995600/ |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":72">{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael |title=At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War = The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=2016 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-0-316-09281-4 |location=Newburyport |pages=187–192}}</ref> Conservative figures like William Safire, Evans & Novak, and Senator Jesse Helms all publicly criticized Bush and Baker's conciliatory approach.<ref name=":72" />
[[File:Baker-Shevardnadze-Translator-White-House-Cabinet-Room-June-1990.jpg|left|thumb|258x258px|Baker (left) speaks with Soviet Foreign Minister [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] (center) in the White House [[Cabinet Room (White House)|Cabinet Room]] on June 1, 1990]]
In April, Baker attempted to mediate the conflict, separately pressing both Shevardnadze—by threatening a proposed trade agreement and the [[START I|START]] treaty—and Lithuanian independence leader [[Vytautas Landsbergis]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael |title=At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War = The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=2016 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-0-316-09281-4 |location=Newburyport |pages=197–202}}</ref> The other [[Baltic states|Baltic republics]] joined Lithuania in resisting Soviet occupation that summer, but Baker and Bush maintained focus on bilateral issues issues like arms reduction, German reunification, and economic revitalization.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Keller |first1=Bill |date=1990-05-06 |title=EVOLUTION IN EUROPE; Gorbachev Speaks of Retaliation Over Latvia's Independence Move |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/06/world/evolution-europe-gorbachev-speaks-retaliation-over-latvia-s-independence-move.html |access-date=2025-07-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Clines |first1=Francis X. |date=1990-04-05 |title=UPHEAVAL IN THE EAST; GORBACHEV WARNS ESTONIA ON MOVES FOR INDEPENDENCE |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/world/upheaval-in-the-east-gorbachev-warns-estonia-on-moves-for-independence.html |access-date=2025-07-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

When the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] confronted democracy protestors in Lithuania's capital in the so-called "[[January Events|Vilnius Massacre]]," Baker warned his counterpart that the escalation could bring "consequences," but the focus on the [[Gulf War]] prevented those consequences from materializing.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael |title=At the Highest Levels: The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War = The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=2016 |publisher=Open Road Media |isbn=978-0-316-09281-4 |location=Newburyport |pages=281–286}}</ref>

Baker was the first US representative to officially visit Albania in June 1991. Approximately 300,000 Albanians evinced pro-American enthusiasm as Baker spoke in [[Tirana]]'s [[Skanderbeg Square]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-22 |title=The Honored Guest - Tirana Times |url=https://www.tiranatimes.com/the-honored-guest/ |access-date=2025-07-12 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1991-06-23 |title=300,000 ALBANIANS POUR INTO STREETS TO WELCOME BAKER |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/23/world/300000-albanians-pour-into-streets-to-welcome-baker.html |access-date=2025-07-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the speech, Baker spoke in favor of Albania's post-Soviet reintegration into the world system.<blockquote>"With the recent reestablishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries and with my own trip here today, I say to the people of Albania: America is returning to you."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tirana |first=US Embassy |date=2016-06-22 |title=25th Anniversary of Secretary of State James A. Baker III's Historic Visit in Albania |url=https://medium.com/u-s-embassy-tirana/25th-anniversary-of-secretary-of-state-james-a-baker-iiis-historic-visit-in-albania-c2d363b9954e |access-date=2025-07-12 |website=U.S. Embassy Tirana |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>On the same trip, Baker visited [[Belgrade]], the capital of [[Yugoslavia]], to meet with [[Serbian nationalism|Serb nationalist]] [[Slobodan Milošević|Slobodan Milosevic]].<ref name=":70">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=475–485}}</ref> Three days after he departed, Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, plunging the country into what would become a [[Yugoslav Wars|decade of intermittent war]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1989-1992/breakup-yugoslavia |access-date=2025-07-19 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref> Baker felt that even should the [[Balkans]] enter a state of war, the region bore little importance to US foreign policy interests.<ref name=":70" /> To that point, he was quoted as saying that the US does not have "a dog in that fight."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Member |first=George F. Will Newsweek Is A. Trust Project |date=1995-06-11 |title='A Dog In That Fight'? |url=https://www.newsweek.com/dog-fight-183518 |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldfarb |first=Michael |date=2015-07-08 |title=Srebrenica, 20 Years Later |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/07/srebrenica-20-years-later-119845 |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=POLITICO Magazine |language=en}}</ref> This disposition was received by Milosevic as a correct assumption that he had a free-hand for ethnic violence without intervention by the Bush administration.<ref name=":70" />
[[File:James Baker in Tbilisi, 1992..jpg|thumb|Baker (left) meets with Georgia's first post-[[1991 Georgian independence referendum|independence]] president [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] in [[Tbilisi]] in 1992]]
Beyond the Balkans, Baker also shaped the administration's approach to Ukrainian independence. Soviet stakeholder felt that Ukraine's departure would be especially harmful, given its size and cultural history. Despite popular nationalist sentiment among the vast majority of Ukrainians, Baker said that the administration was "nervous" about Ukrainian secession due to their productive relationship with Gorbachev.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=485–495}}</ref> Bush therefore spoke in Ukraine's capital city to denounce "those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred." The speech would be derided by columnist William Safire as the [[Chicken Kiev speech|"Chicken Kiev" speech]], reflecting Baker and Bush's skittish approach toward the newly fractured Soviet ecosystem.

As the Soviet Union completely dissolved, Baker was a voice for caution in the administration. Against anti-Soviet hardliners like Cheney and Quayle who wanted the US to expedite Soviet disintegration, Baker worried that independent states would become "another Yugoslavia."<ref name=":70" /> Baker felt that rash action or proactive support would only help "radicals," that risk of "chaos & civil war" would increase.<ref name=":70" /> Despite his reservations, Baker declared in December 1991—shortly after the [[Belovezha Accords]]— that "the Soviet Union as we've known it no longer exists."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Fritz |first1=Sara |last2=Houston |first2=Paul |date=1991-12-09 |title=Soviet Union Is No More, Baker Declares |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-12-09-mn-291-story.html |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hoffman |first=David |date=1991-12-09 |title='SOVIET UNION AS WE'VE KNOWN IT' IS GONE, BAKER SAYS |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/12/09/soviet-union-as-weve-known-it-is-gone-baker-says/474be2be-d695-419a-bdf0-f6d36752f088/ |access-date=2025-07-21 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

=== Iraq and 1991 Gulf War ===
[[File:James Baker 1991 DA-ST-92-09582.jpg|thumb|278x278px|Baker arrives at [[Kuwait International Airport]] on April 22, 1991 following successful end to the [[Gulf War|First Gulf War]]]]
Throughout 1990, [[President of Iraq|Iraqi President]] [[Saddam Hussein]] repeatedly agitated against its eastern neighbor, [[Kuwait]]. Iraq stationed members of its [[Republican Guard (Iraq)|Republican Guard]] on the border and Hussein frequently and publicly condemned Kuwait for what he considered economic aggression.<ref name=":63">{{Cite book |last1=Cockburn |first1=Andrew |title=Out of the ashes: the resurrection of Saddam Hussein |last2=Cockburn |first2=Patrick |date=1999 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-092983-1 |edition=1. |location=New York, NY |pages=80–85}}</ref> At the time, the American foreign policy apparatus was more concerned with German reunification and the changing shape of Europe, meaning that, as Baker admitted, the US was blindsided.<ref name=":74">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=420–430}}</ref>

Days before the invasion, [[Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs|Assistant Secretary of State]] [[John Hubert Kelly|John Kelly]] told a subcommittee that the U.S. would have no obligation to Kuwait if Iraq invaded, potentially giving Hussein a signal of American ambivalence.<ref name=":63" /><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Goshko |first1=John M. |last2=Smith |first2=R. Jeffrey |date=1990-09-19 |title=STATE DEPT. ASSAILED ON IRAQ POLICY |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/09/19/state-dept-assailed-on-iraq-policy/97e7ca70-17d6-4144-ae9d-a811277d3115/ |access-date=2025-07-23 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> On July 25, when Hussein summoned [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Iraq|American Ambassador to Iraq]] [[April Glaspie]], she discouraged Iraq's adventurism on the border, but allegedly gave the impression that the US would not involve itself in "Arab-Arab" disputes beyond its national interest.<ref name=":63" /> Though Glaspie did not receive specific instructions for the impromptu meeting, a previous July 24 cable from Baker laid out American policy:<blockquote>"While we take no position on the border delineation issue raised by Iraq with respect to Kuwait, or on other bilateral disputes, Iraqi statements suggest an intention to resolve outstanding disagreements by the use of force, an approach which is contrary to U.N. charter principles. The implications of having oil production and pricing policy in the gulf determined and enforced by Iraqi guns are disturbing."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chardell |first=Daniel |date=2023-06-29 |title=The Origins of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait Reconsidered |url=https://tnsr.org/2023/06/the-origins-of-the-iraqi-invasion-of-kuwait-reconsidered/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Texas National Security Review |language=en-US}}</ref></blockquote>[[Iraqi invasion of Kuwait|Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait]] on August 2, 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ibrahim |first=Arwa |title=Thirty years on, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait still haunts region |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/1/thirty-years-on-iraqs-invasion-of-kuwait-still-haunts-region |access-date=2025-07-23 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> Baker was with Soviet foreign minister Shevardnadze at the time of the early reports.<ref name=":73">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=404–410}}</ref> Though the Soviets were long-time supporters of Iraq and Hussein in the proxy conflicts of the Cold War and though both men originally doubted the reports' severity, the two ministers released a joint statement condemning the invasion and calling for the involvement of the [[United Nations Security Council|UN Security Council]].<ref name=":73" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Text of U.S.-Soviet statement on Iraq - UPI Archives |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/08/03/Text-of-US-Soviet-statement-on-Iraq/6803649656000/ |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=UPI |language=en}}</ref>

In administration planning sessions, Baker was more dovish than the president and some advisors. Bush wrote at the time that Baker was most concerned with avoiding "another Vietnam."<ref name=":74" /> When an Iraqi oil tanker apparently broke the American-enforced embargo, Cheney, Scowcroft and some allies—including [[Margaret Thatcher]]—strongly felt that the US should destroy or detain the ship.<ref name=":74" /> Baker convinced Bush that they should not escalate beyond firing warning shots. Besides concerns about the potential chaos from a full-blown war, Baker and Bush also operated off the Soviet feeling, expressed by Shevardnadze, that overt American aggression could jeopardize a more collaborative response.<ref name=":74" />
[[File:President George H. W. Bush meets with Secretary James Baker in the Oval Office of the White House.jpg|left|thumb|289x289px|[[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] James Baker with President [[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]] in the [[Oval Office]] of the [[White House]] on January 4, 1991.]]
Following the invasion, Baker spent much of the late summer and autumn traveling to countries to encourage both political and financial support for military intervention to stop Hussein. Travelling 100,000 miles over a ten-week period, Baker visited the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Bahrain, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.<ref name=":75">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=430–440}}</ref>

When in Cairo, Baker also covertly met with Chinese foreign minister [[Qian Qichen]]. Baker promised that if China did not torpedo the coalition plan with their UN Security Council veto, he would arrange a meeting in Washington to end the American diplomatic ice-out in the wake of the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre|1989 Tiananmen Square massacre]].<ref name=":75" /><ref name=":76">{{Cite journal |last=Suettinger |first=Robert |title=Of Successors, Memories, and Guidance: Qian Qichen Defines His Legacy |url=https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/clm10_rs.pdf |journal=China Leadership Monitor |issue=10 |pages=5}}</ref> Baker originally understood Qichen's response to be agreement to vote for it, and tried to renege on his deal when China abstained on the UNSC vote.<ref name=":76" />

In November 1990. the UN Security Council [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 678|resolved]] that if Iraq did not revert to the internationally recognized boundaries by January 15, 1990, Kuwait's allies could use "all necessary means" to ensure compliance. <ref>{{cite web | title=Resolution 678 (1990) - adopted by the Security Council at its 2963rd meeting on 29 November 1990. | publisher=United Nations | date=1990-11-29 | url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/102245?v=pdf | access-date=2025-10-24}}</ref> Baker personally occupied the American seat at the UN to communicate their commitment to a multilateral response.<ref name=":75" /> Baker equated the opposition to the UN plan with Nazi [[appeasement]], arguing that deciding not to intervene would result in the UN ending in ignominy as the League of Nations had.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Paul |date=1990-11-30 |title=MIDEAST TENSIONS; U.N. GIVES IRAQ UNTIL JAN. 15 TO RETREAT OR FACE FORCE; HUSSEIN SAYS HE WILL FIGHT |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/30/world/mideast-tensions-un-gives-iraq-until-jan-15-retreat-face-force-hussein-says-he.html |access-date=2025-07-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> China declined to either support or reject the plan while Cuba and Yemen voted no, but all of the other 12 Security Council members supported the coalition.<ref name=":77">{{Cite web |date=2010-01-25 |title=United Nations Report: A Costly Vote? Yemen Paid a High Price For 1990 Security Council Veto |url=https://www.wrmea.org/2010-march/united-nations-report-a-costly-vote-yemen-paid-a-high-price-for-1990-security-council-veto.html |access-date=2025-07-23 |website=WRMEA |language=en-gb}}</ref> Yemen's no vote came amidst American threats that it was the "most expensive vote [the country] ever cast," resulting in the cut-off of $70 million dollars in American aid and the expulsion of Yemeni emigrants in Saudi Arabia.<ref name=":77" />

Despite the license to intervene, Bush asked Baker to negotiate with Iraq further to avoid the use of force. Baker eventually met with [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iraq)|Iraqi Foreign Minister]] [[Tariq Aziz]] in Switzerland, less than a week before the January 15 deadline.<ref name=":81">{{Cite magazine |last=Beyer |first=Lisa |date=1991-01-21 |title=Last Gasps on the Negotiation Trail |url=https://time.com/archive/6716928/last-gasps-on-the-negotiation-trail/ |access-date=2025-07-24 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> The meeting ruffled some feathers, with Saudi ambassador Bandar and NSC chief Scowcroft feeling that the UN resolution meant the end of negotiation.<ref name=":75" /> In the six-hour discussion, Aziz refused to engage with Baker's entreaties.<ref name=":81" /> Baker implied that, should Iraq refuse to withdraw, a coalition response could result in significant Iraqi losses and the end to the Hussein regime through popular uprising.<ref name=":82">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plague/interviews/baker.html Plague war: Interviews: James Baker]. ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]''. [[PBS]]. 1995.</ref> Baker also explicitly cautioned that any use of chemical or biological weapons would escalate the conflict to where Americans would insist on the total "elimination of the current regime." Baker later acknowledged that his intent was to threaten a retaliatory [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear strike]] on Iraq,<ref name=":82" />

The Bush administration sought [[Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 1991|Congressional approval]] for the invasion, though some administration officials, including Cheney, Chief of Staff [[John H. Sununu|John Sununu]], and White House Counsel [[C. Boyden Gray|Boyden Gray]], argued that it offered little upside.<ref name=":80">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=440–450}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lindsay |first=James M. |title=TWE Remembers: Congress's Vote to Authorize the Gulf War {{!}} Council on Foreign Relations |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/twe-remembers-congresss-vote-authorize-gulf-war |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=www.cfr.org |language=en}}</ref> Baker himself supported seeking Congress's imprimatur, feeling that it would increase Iraq's willingness to withdraw without the use of force.

The coalition began bombing Iraq on January 17, one day after the deadline for withdrawal had passed.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Rosenthal |first1=Andrew |date=1991-01-17 |title=U.S. and Allies Open Air War on Iraq; Bomb Baghdad and Kuwaiti Targets; 'No Choice' But Force, Bush Declares |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/17/world/worldspecial/us-and-allies-open-air-war-on-iraq-bomb-baghdad-and.html |access-date=2025-07-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Soon after British, French, American, Saudi, Egyptian, and Kuwaiti airplanes bombed the country, Iraq launched SCUD missiles at Israel, killing thirteen people.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melman |first=Yossi |title=Thirty years since the Gulf War: How the U.S. stopped Israel from retaliating against Iraq |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-01-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/gas-masks-safe-rooms-and-saddam-hussein-thirty-years-since-the-gulf-war/0000017f-e6c1-d62c-a1ff-fefba5520000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240731160241/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2021-01-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/gas-masks-safe-rooms-and-saddam-hussein-thirty-years-since-the-gulf-war/0000017f-e6c1-d62c-a1ff-fefba5520000 |archive-date=July 31, 2024 |access-date=2025-07-24 |work=Haaretz.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> Though Israel demanded that it be allowed to partake, Baker refused to allow them access, overruling the view of Cheney, Scowcroft, and others.<ref name=":80" /> Baker felt that any focus on Israel would strain the coalition, especially Arab members that strongly supported Palestine. [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Israeli Defense Minister]] [[Moshe Arens]], who traveled to Washington in the midst of the offensive to seek inclusion, characterized Baker as entirely unsympathetic.
[[File:Demolished vehicles line Highway 80 on 18 Apr 1991.jpg|thumb|300x300px|Demolished vehicles line [[Highway of Death|Highway 80]], also known as the "Highway of Death", the route fleeing Iraqi forces took as they retreated from Kuwait]]
The air offensive continued for multiple weeks. Bush's senior advisors set a new deadline (February 24) for withdrawal on February 21 before the coalition would launch a ground offensive.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Cowell |first1=Alan |date=1991-02-24 |title=WAR IN THE GULF: Iraq; As the Deadline Passes, Iraqis Are Still Defiant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/24/world/war-in-the-gulf-iraq-as-the-deadline-passes-iraqis-are-still-defiant.html |access-date=2025-07-24 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Though Cheney, Quayle, [[Colin Powell]] and others strongly supported the ultimatum, Baker offered lukewarm support, worrying about how allies would respond.<ref name=":80" />

The ground offensive officially began on February 24 and ended on February 28, when the Iraqi troops fled from Kuwait via the "[[Highway of Death|highway of death]]."<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC News {{!}} Saddam's Iraq: Key events |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/ground_war.stm |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

Concerned about [[mission creep]] and the prospects for a larger-scale conflict, Baker and most of Bush's advisors agreed that there was no value in continuing the offensive following Iraq's withdrawal.<ref name=":662"/>

Given the [[Iraq War|Second Gulf War]], which began 12 years later and focused on the capture of Saddam Hussein, there has been some conflicting perspective on the role regime change played in the approach to the First Gulf War.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-09 |title=The Gulf War 30 Years Later: Successes, Failures, and Blind Spots |url=https://warontherocks.com/2020/09/the-gulf-war-30-years-later-successes-failures-and-blind-spots/ |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=War on the Rocks |language=en-US}}</ref> The coalition did not proceed to the capital or attack Hussein's forces further following the withdrawal, but over the course of the offensive, Baker, Cheney, and Bush all indicated that they would welcome a movement by the Iraqi people to depose Hussein.<ref name=":662"/> Despite the encouragement, in the ceasefire talks, the Americans allowed Hussein to continue using military equipment that he then used to suppress popular uprisings in the [[Shia Islam|Shiite]] South and [[Kurdish population|Kurdish]] North.<ref name=":662"/>

Baker's personal approval rating rose shortly after the successful ground offensive to 84 percent.<ref name=":662"/> Baker's insistence on international burden-sharing was considered a key element of the war's quick end and 41 percent of people polled by Gallup said that Baker should replace Quayle on the 1992 presidential ticket.<ref name=":662"/> Beyond the political support for the war, Baker also managed to coordinate financial support from the various involved countries so that their funds of $53.7 billion to offset the $61.1 billion that the US had allocated to the effort.<ref name=":74" />

==== Criticism of conduct during the Gulf War ====
Though Baker and Bush earned praise for the coalition forces' triumph, Baker also made missteps criticized by allies and the press throughout the process .

Immediately following the invasion, Baker was castigated for seeming to blame Ambassador Glaspie for insufficiently discouraging Hussein. Though Glaspie was operating on advice from a cable signed by Baker from a day before she spoke with Hussein, Baker refused responsibility for Glaspie's approach and claimed on Meet the Press that there were "312,000" such cables under his name.<ref name=":78">Roshco, Bernard. [https://dash.harvard.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/9c0d56a3-7132-4c38-9369-5e253311099a/content "When Policy Fails: How the Buck Was Passed When Kuwait Was Invaded."] Shorenstein Center Discussion Paper Series 1992.D-15, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, December 1992.</ref> As interviewer [[R. W. Apple Jr.|Johnny Apple]] put it to Baker, "nobody's trying to criticize April Glaspie. They're trying to criticize you."<ref name=":78" />

In a column shortly after that appearance, ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' columnist [[Michael Kinsley]] wrote that—like [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|British Foreign Secretary]] [[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|Peter Carrington]] following the unexpected Argentine invasion of the [[Malvinas Islands]]—Baker should resign.<ref name=":79">{{Cite news |last=Kinsley |first=Michael |date=1990-10-18 |title=Opinion {{!}} JAMES A. BAKER, PLEASE RESIGN |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1990/10/18/james-a-baker-please-resign/3feee184-903c-4c3f-b5bc-dd8bf7b1c565/ |access-date=2025-05-29 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Kinsley derided both Baker's deflection of blame and his "damage-control campaign, [which is] both contemptible and hilarious."<ref name=":79" />

In the lead-up to the invasion, Baker also caused a minor fracas when he commented about the importance of the offensive for maintain US economic growth. He spoke about the intent behind the war at a news conference in Bermuda, saying:<blockquote>"To bring [the war] down to the average American citizen, let me say that means jobs. If you want to sum it up in one word, it’s jobs. Because an economic recession worldwide, caused by the control of one nation, one dictator, if you will, of the West’s economic lifeline will result in the loss of jobs on the part of American citizens."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Thomas L. |date=1990-11-14 |title=MIDEAST TENSIONS; U.S. Jobs at Stake in Gulf, Baker Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/14/world/mideast-tensions-us-jobs-at-stake-in-gulf-baker-says.html |access-date=2025-07-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref></blockquote>The comments tarnished the diplomatic effort as a matter of mere commerce, causing some tension between Baker and the White House.<ref name=":75" />
[[File:President George Bush Visits Langley Theater.jpg|left|thumb|247x247px|[[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] James Baker with U.S. president [[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]] and Secretary of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] [[Robert McCormick Adams Jr.|Robert McCormick Adams]] during a visit to Samuel P. Langley Theater at the [[National Air and Space Museum]] on January 15, 1992.]]
At the beginning of February, shortly into the air offensive, Baker also made the mistake of signing onto a bilateral statement with the Soviet foreign minister [[Alexander Bessmertnykh (politician)|Alexander Bessmertnykh]] that implied Iraq could end the war without a formal withdrawal.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Hoffman |first1=David |last2=Oberdorfer |first2=Don |date=1991-01-31 |title=U.S. DENIES WAR POLICY SHIFT |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/01/31/us-denies-war-policy-shift/43e85fff-5ba3-42f4-bbba-0928bf222c23/ |access-date=2025-07-24 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Bush was furious at what he felt was a mistake that undermined administration policy.<ref name=":80" /> White House Chief of Staff John Sununu reportedly summarized his feeling, saying that "Baker bends over backward to please the Soviets and now the Soviets are bending over backward to help Saddam."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael R. |title=At the highest levels: the inside story of the end of the Cold War |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=1993 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-09282-1 |location=Boston |pages=332–337}}</ref> Former President Richard Nixon, then out of public life, privately said that he thought Bush should fire Baker for the misstep.<ref name=":80" />

=== Arab-Israeli Conflict ===
In the midst of extensive conflict in the region following the [[1982 Lebanon War|Israeli invasion of Lebanon]] and the [[First Intifada]], Baker's predecessor George Shultz worked to shift the focus of American negotiation from Israel's Arab neighbors to the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|Palestinian Liberation Organization]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Matthew |title=When George Shultz, friend of Israel, opened the door to Palestinian legitimacy |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/when-george-shultz-friend-of-israel-opened-the-door-to-palestinian-legitimacy/ |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=February 8, 2021 |language=en-US |issn=0040-7909}}</ref> Though Shultz did not succeed in resolving the conflict, he became the first US representative to officially recognize the PLO.

Baker himself approached the conflict with trepidation. In the beginning of his tenure, he told his advisor Dennis Ross that he did not want to be  "fly[ing] around the Middle East like George Shultz had done."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Dennis |title=Doomed to succeed: the U.S.-Israel relationship from Truman to Obama |date=2016 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-53644-2 |location=New York/N.Y |pages=230–235 |language=}}</ref> Baker also felt that his foreign policy focus belonged in Europe with the Soviet Union.

Despite the sense of caution, Baker did speak on issues involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict. In May 1989, he gave a speech at the annual conference of the [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]] where he called for Israel to "lay aside once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a [[greater Israel]],"cease the construction of [[Israeli settlement]]s in [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]], forswear annexation of more territory, and to treat [[Palestinians]] "as neighbors who deserve political rights." According to Ross, who drafted the speech with [[Harvey Sicherman]], Baker took out multiple positive remarks about Israel and its relationship with the U.S., feeling that they were too pandering.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Dennis |title=Doomed to succeed: the U.S.-Israel relationship from Truman to Obama |date=2016 |publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux |isbn=978-0-374-53644-2 |location=New York/N.Y |pages=240–245}}</ref>

After the American-Israeli deference of the Schultz era, political figures responded to the apparent change in tone.<ref name=":032">{{Cite journal |last=Christison |first=Kathleen |date=Autumn 1994 |title=Splitting the Difference: The Palestinian-Israeli Policy of James Baker |url=http://jps.ucpress.edu/content/24/1/39.full.pdf |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=39–50 |doi=10.2307/2537981 |jstor=2537981}}</ref> Israeli premier Yitzhak Shamir took personal offense at the "useless" comments and said that it reflected a poor understanding of the dynamics at play.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Thomas L. |date=1989-05-24 |title=Israeli Leaders Rebuff Baker On Call to Forgo Expansion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/24/world/israeli-leaders-rebuff-baker-on-call-to-forgo-expansion.html |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Yitzhak Rabin]], then the Israeli Defense Minister, argued that Baker should have directed his critique to the Palestinians, rather than the Israelis.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1989-07-03 |title=Words to Remember: Secretary of State James Baker's Speech to American Israel Public Affairs Committee Convention |url=https://www.wrmea.org/1989-july/words-to-remember-secretary-of-state-james-bakers-speech-to-american-israel-public-affairs-committee-convention.html |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=WRMEA |language=en-gb}}</ref> Bush privately encouraged Baker for having the courage of his convictions and former American president Richard Nixon congratulated Baker on his "outstanding" speech.<ref name=":84">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=450–460}}</ref>
[[File:AIPAC logo.svg|thumb|The logo for the [[AIPAC|American Israel Public Affairs Committee]], where Baker criticized Israel expansionism in a 1989 keynote speech.]]
Shortly after Shamir convened a new, more right-leaning government in June 1990, Baker again criticized Israeli leadership for insufficient interest in peace. Speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Baker said that he sought "good faith affirmative efforts" for peace.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goshko |first=John M. |date=1990-06-14 |title=BAKER SAYS ISRAEL MUST COMPROMISE |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/06/14/baker-says-israel-must-compromise/49371de6-8137-48cb-996f-9af3177c2d63/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> He also, to some infamy, provided the public telephone number for the administration and claimed that the Israelis should call only "when [they] are serious about peace."<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Friedman |first1=Thomas L. |date=1990-06-14 |title=Baker Rebukes Israel on Peace Terms |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/14/world/baker-rebukes-israel-on-peace-terms.html |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In the wake of those comments, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] publicly claimed that the American policy was based on "distortion and lies," angering Baker.<ref name=":85">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=460–470}}</ref> In response, Baker barred Netanyahu from the State Department building, over the objections of some of Baker's subordinates. Though he eventually allowed Netanyahu to enter the building, he refused to meet with him again during his tenure.<ref name=":85" />

==== Zalman Shoval incident ====
The friction between Baker and Israeli officials grew in the midst of the Gulf War, when the Bush administration ultimately opposed allowing Israel to retaliate against [[1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel|Iraqi missile attacks.]]

In a [[Reuters]] interview the following month, Israel's US Ambassador [[Zalman Shoval]] publicly complained about the administration giving his country "the runaround" on funding for Soviet Jewish resettlement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kamen |first=Al |date=1991-02-16 |title=BUSH PROTESTS ISRAELI ENVOY'S 'OUTRAGEOUS' REMARKS |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/02/16/bush-protests-israeli-envoys-outrageous-remarks/92c6fc34-79d9-475d-8ca3-91a6e563646b/ |access-date=2025-06-19 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Baker personally confronted Shoval, extracted a public apology for the remarks, and privately wrote to [[Prime Minister of Israel|Israeli Prime Minister]] [[Yitzhak Shamir]] warning that future public rebukes would result in Shoval's expulsion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Public Papers - George Bush Library and Museum |url=https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2712 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=bush41library.tamu.edu}}</ref> At the time, Shoval maintained that the comments were meant to be on the record, though his supporters later claimed the reporter misrepresented him.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Krauss |first=Clifford |date=1991-05-10 |title=WASHINGTON AT WORK; Israel's Man, Scorched Once, Adjusts To Life in the Diplomatic Minefield |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/10/world/washington-work-israel-s-man-scorched-once-adjusts-life-diplomatic-minefield.html |access-date=2025-06-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens—who had personally traveled to Washington to unsuccessfully request Baker's permission for retaliatory strikes against Iraq—recounted his colleagues' surprise at Baker's approach toward Israeli officials. In comments to Baker's biographers, Arens claimed that<blockquote>"This Bush-Baker move against Israel’s ambassador had, to the best of my knowledge, no precedent in modern diplomatic history. Never had an ambassador of a friendly country been publicly castigated in such manner in Washington, and this during a war in which we were supposed to be allies.”<ref name=":84" /></blockquote>

===== Madrid Conference =====
At a September 1990 meeting between the US and the Soviet Union meant to coordinate a response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Bush told Gorbachev that he would look into a Middle East peace conference to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict.<ref name=":84" /> Baker, who had rejected a similar entreaty from Shevardnadze, and his advisors strongly discouraged linking Hussein's aggression with the Palestinian cause.
[[File:Middle-east-madrid-conference.jpg|thumb|300x300px|President Bush addresses the Middle East Peace Conference at the [[Royal Palace of Madrid|Royal Palace in Madrid]], Spain]]
In further discussions with Gorbachev, Baker successfully removed the issue from the negotiating table.<ref name=":84" /> Instead, he privately promised the Soviet premier that they would have a peace conference after Iraq had been subdued.

Following the coalition victory in the Gulf War, Baker became the first American Secretary of State to negotiate directly and officially with Palestinians in the multilateral [[Madrid Conference of 1991]], which was the first comprehensive peace conference that involved every party involved in the [[Arab-israeli conflict|Arab-Israeli conflict]] and the conference was designed to address all outstanding issues.<ref name=":032" />

The Soviet and Arab delegations wanted Madrid to be a large international conference, but Israel wanted only a direct bipartisan negotiation to avoid being outnumbered by countries that preferred Palestine.<ref name=":84" /> Baker arranged a smaller multi-party negotiation between Israel, Palestine, and its three neighbors.

Israel conditioned its participation on multiple mitigations to Palestinian unity. Shamir required that Palestine engage as a joint delegation with Jordan, that no Palestinians from disputed East Jerusalem participate, and that no members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization be allowed to represent Palestine. Shamir also tried to require that all Palestinian participants explicitly condemn the PLO, but Baker denied the request.

The Palestinian delegation tried to exert its own conditions, that they be allowed to include an East Jerusalem resident and that Israel halt settlement construction during the negotiations.<ref name=":85" /> Baker threatened to exclude the Palestinians if they didn't drop their requests.<ref name=":85" />

In a decades-later recollection, [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Israel|American Ambassador to Israel]] [[William Andreas Brown]] said that the Americans viewed the Palestinian delegation as "crybabies," overly reliant on the excluded PLO head, [[Yasser Arafat]].<ref name=":64">{{Cite web |title=The Road to Madrid — James Baker and the Middle East Peace Talks – Association for Diplomatic Studies & Training |url=https://adst.org/2015/06/the-road-to-madrid-james-baker-and-the-middle-east-peace-talks/ |access-date=2025-07-17 |website=adst.org}}</ref> Baker and his team thus focused on only minor improvements in relations between the parties.<ref name=":64" />

When Shevardnadze spoke to Baker and his aides months before Madrid, they had unfavorable things to say about the PLO's negotiating position.<ref name=":86">{{Cite book |last1=Beschloss |first1=Michael R. |title=At the highest levels: the inside story of the end of the Cold War |last2=Talbott |first2=Strobe |date=1993 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-0-316-09282-1 |location=Boston |pages=290–295}}</ref> Baker commented that Arafat had "severely" hurt the odds for a two-state solution, Ross said that Arafat was on the "losing side" where "people don't get rewarded," and an unnamed aide cursed out Arafat and the PLO.<ref name=":86" />

===== NYPost quote =====
In March 1992, New York City Mayor Ed Koch claimed in his weekly column that Baker had dismissed Jewish voters, quoting him as saying "F—’em. They [the Jews] don't vote for us."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-08-04 |title=Will Mel Gibson Get Away With His Antisemitic Tirade? |url=https://forward.com/opinion/590/will-mel-gibson-get-away-with-his-antisemitic-tira/ |access-date=2025-07-24 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref> Baker denied this quote, which Koch heard second-hand from [[United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development|HUD Secretary]] [[Jack Kemp]], as misrepresentative. He claimed that he was specifically referring to AIPAC—an agenda-based advocacy group that had criticized Baker—not individual constituents.<ref name=":87">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=505–515}}</ref> Kemp's version of the quote, relayed to Baker's biographers, omitted any expletive, but said it came after Kemp mentioned campaigning for Bush to Jewish voters.<ref name=":87" />

Baker and Kemp had had previous heated disputes, stemming in part from Kemp's assumption of a foreign policy role. After Kemp—as the Housing and Urban Development Secretary—told Baker he was wrong on an overly cautious approach to Lithuania, Baker cursed him out in the Oval Office in front of Bush and other advisors.<ref name=":88">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=480–490}}</ref> Kemp followed Baker out and continued a loud argument until NSC Chair Brent Scowcroft intervened. According to Robert Gates, the two men were on the verge of a "fistfight" at the time, though Kemp later apologized to Baker.<ref name=":88" />

=== White House Chief of Staff (1992–1993) ===
The [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 election]] was complicated by the [[Ross Perot 1992 presidential campaign|on-again-off-again candidacy]] of [[Ross Perot]], who would end up taking 19% of the popular vote.<ref>Baker, Peter, and Glasser, Susan, The Man Who Ran Washington Doubleday, 2020, at pp. 492, 505.</ref> In August, following the [[1992 Democratic National Convention|Democratic Convention]], with Bush trailing Clinton in the polls by 24 points,<ref>Id., at p. 493,</ref> Bush announced that Baker would return to the [[White House]] as chief of staff and as head of the re-election campaign.<ref>Id., at p. 494</ref> However, despite playing a large role in Republican victories in 1980, 1984, and 1988, Baker didn't succeed in leading the 1992 campaign. Bush lost to Clinton by 370 electoral votes to 168.<ref>Id., at p. 505</ref>

==Post-cabinet career==

===1993–2000===
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?68174-1/politics-diplomacy ''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 Baker Institute|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.<ref name="NY Times">{{cite news |title=Baker and Mosbacher Are Hired by Enron |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/23/business/company-news-baker-and-mosbacher-are-hired-by-enron.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 23, 1993 |agency=[[Bloomberg Business News]] |access-date=October 14, 2019}}</ref> 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 [[Enron scandal|downfall]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eichenwald|first=Kurt |title=Conspiracy of fools: a true story|date=2005|publisher=Broadway Books|isbn=0-7679-1178-4|edition=1st |location=New York|oclc=57192973}}</ref>

Also in 1993, Baker joined [[Baker Botts]] as a senior partner, as well as the [[Carlyle Group]] (with the title of senior counsel).<ref>Vise, David A.. "Former Secretary of State Baker Joins Carlyle Group", ''The Washington Post'', March 11, 1993.</ref>

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]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=U.N. ENVOY: Asking Baker to resolve dispute is good choice|date=March 20, 1997|work=[[Houston Chronicle]]|page=38}} {{subscription required}}<!-- http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=HCBF&p_theme=hcbf&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=%22U.N.%20ENVOY:%20Asking%20Baker%20to%20resolve%20dispute%20is%20good%20choice%22%20AND%20date(all)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(%22U.N.%20ENVOY:%20Asking%20Baker%20to%20resolve%20dispute%20is%20good%20choice%22)&xcal_numdocs=50&p_perpage=25&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no --></ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Theofilopoulou |first=Anna |date=July 1, 2006 |title=The United Nations and Western Sahara: A Never-ending Affair |url=https://www.usip.org/publications/2006/07/united-nations-and-western-sahara-never-ending-affair |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311054129/https://www.usip.org/publications/2006/07/united-nations-and-western-sahara-never-ending-affair |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2017 |publisher=[[United States Institute of Peace]] |series=Special Report 166|access-date=October 14, 2019}}</ref> He left behind the [[baker plan|Baker II plan]], accepted as a suitable basis of negotiations by the Polisario and unanimously endorsed by the [[Security Council]], but rejected by Morocco.<ref>{{cite news|title=Baker resigns as UN mediator after seven years|url=http://www.irinnews.org/news/2004/06/14/baker-resigns-un-mediator-after-seven-years |access-date=September 26, 2017 |publisher=[[The New Humanitarian|IRIN]] |date=June 14, 2004 |language=en}}</ref>

In addition to the numerous recognitions received by Baker, he was presented with the prestigious [[Woodrow Wilson Awards|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 United States presidential election|2000 presidential election]] campaign and oversaw the [[Florida recount]]. The 2008 film ''[[Recount (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]].<ref>[http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Baker.htm "Baker surfaces as key adviser to Bush on Iraq"]. ''Insight Magazine''. September 12, 2006.</ref> When the [[Occupation of Iraq (2003–2011)|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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chandrasekaran|first=Rajiv|url=http://archive.org/details/imperiallifeinem00chan|title=Imperial life in the emerald city: inside Iraq's green zone|date=2007| location= New York  |publisher=Vintage Books|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-307-27883-8}}</ref> In December 2003, President [[George W. Bush]] appointed Baker as his special envoy to ask various foreign creditor nations to forgive or restructure $100&nbsp;billion in international debts owed by the Iraq government which had been incurred during the tenure of [[Saddam Hussein]].<ref name="cnnking">King, John. [https://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/12/05/sprj.nilaw.baker.appointment/ "Bush appoints Baker envoy on Iraqi debt"], "CNN.com", December 3, 2003, retrieved August 11, 2009.</ref>

''[[State of Denial]]'', a book by investigative reporter [[Bob Woodward]], says that [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[Andrew Card]] urged President Bush to replace [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Donald Rumsfeld]] with Baker following the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 presidential election]]. Bush later confirmed that he made such an offer to Baker but that he declined.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bush|first=George W.|title=[[Decision Points]]|year=2010|page=92}}</ref>  Bush would appoint another G. H. W. Bush administration veteran, [[Robert Gates]], instead, after the [[2006 United States elections|2006 midterm elections]]. Baker was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 2008.<ref name="AAAS">{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B |url=https://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=April 14, 2011}}</ref>

On March 15, 2006, [[United States Congress|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 [[United States|America]]'s policy on Iraq. Baker was the Republican co-chairman along with Democratic Congressman [[Lee H. Hamilton]], to advise Congress on [[Iraq]].<ref name="PaleyA-WP-2006-10-9">Paley, Amit R. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/08/AR2006100800267.html "U.S. and Iraqi Forces Clash With Sadr Militia in South"]. ''[[Washington Post]]''. October 9, 2006.</ref> The Iraq Study Group examined a number of ideas, including one that would create a new [[Consociationalism|power-sharing arrangement]] in Iraq that would give more autonomy to regional factions.<ref name="SangerD-NYT-2006-10-09">Sanger, David E. "G.O.P.'s Baker Hints Iraq Plan Needs Change". ''[[New York Times]]''. October 9, 2006.</ref> 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 United States presidential election|2016 election]] and did so again in the [[2020 United States presidential election|2020 election]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Glasser|first=Susan B.|title=The Private Trump Angst of a Republican Icon|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-private-trump-angst-of-a-republican-icon|access-date=October 29, 2020|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}</ref> 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 [[Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign|2016 presidential campaign]] and suggested the appointment of [[Rex Tillerson]] as Secretary of State.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=September 27, 2020|title=The Private Trump Angst of a Republican Icon|url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-private-trump-angst-of-a-republican-icon|access-date=November 28, 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}</ref>

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."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2020 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-54055-1 |edition=First |location=New York |pages=579}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":3" /> After the [[January 6 United States Capitol attack|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HLS Scholarship Event Hosts "The Man Who Ran Washington" for Conversation |url=https://news.iu.edu/live/news/37298-hls-scholarship-event-hosts-the-man-who-ran |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=news.iu.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=581}}</ref>

===Other advisory positions===
[[File:Representative Engel, Former Secretaries Baker, Rice, Former NSC Adviser Scowcroft Disembark From U.S. Air Force Jet Upon Arrival in Riyadh.jpg|thumb|upright|Baker arriving in [[Riyadh]], [[Saudi Arabia]], 2015]]
Baker serves on the Honorary Council of Advisers for the [[U.S.-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usacc.org/contents.php?cid=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215092757/http://www.usacc.org/contents.php?cid=2|title=Honorary Council of Advisers|archive-date=December 15, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usacc.org/|title=USACC|website=www.usacc.org}}</ref> The [[Atlantic Council]] also lists Baker, along with other former executive branch appointees, among its Honorary Directors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/board-of-directors/|title=Board of Directors|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US|access-date=February 12, 2020}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{cite news |author=John Schwartz |title='A Conservative Climate Solution': Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-group-calls-for-carbon-tax.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 7, 2017 |access-date=April 17, 2017 |quote=The group, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury, says that taxing carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is "a conservative climate solution" based on free-market principles.}}</ref> 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 [[Global warming|anthropogenic climate change]]. The group also included [[Martin S. Feldstein]] and [[N. Gregory Mankiw]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends |url=https://www.clcouncil.org/media/2017/03/The-Conservative-Case-for-Carbon-Dividends.pdf |website=Climate Leadership Council |date=February 2017}}</ref>

Baker began service on the [[Rice University]] board of trustees in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ricewrc/00129/rice-00129.html|title=Guide to the Baker Family papers, 1853-1971 MS 040|series=Texas Archival Resources Online|access-date= August 18, 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Baker met his first wife, the former Mary Stuart McHenry, of [[Dayton, Ohio]], while on [[spring break]] in [[Bermuda]] with the [[Princeton Rugby|Princeton University rugby team]]. They married in 1953. Together they had four sons, including James Addison Baker IV (1954), a partner at [[Baker Botts]]<ref>"[https://www.bakerbotts.com/people/b/baker-james-a-iv James A. Baker, IV]," ''Baker Botts'' website.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker and Glasser |first=Peter and Susan |title=The Man Who Ran Washington, The Life and Times of James A. Baker III |date=September 29, 2020 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=9781101912164 |publication-date=2020 |language=English}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2020 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-54055-1 |edition=First |location=New York |pages=8–9}}</ref> His firstborn son retained the ordering as James A. Baker IV.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State Bar of Texas {{!}} Find A Lawyer {{!}} James A. Baker |url=https://www.texasbar.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Find_A_Lawyer&template=/Customsource/MemberDirectory/MemberDirectoryDetail.cfm&ContactID=217138 |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=www.texasbar.com}}</ref>

In 1973, Baker and Susan Garrett Winston, a divorcée and a close friend of Mary Stuart, were married.<ref name="Baker Papers Bio" /> Baker is an ardent hunter, and after marrying her went with her on a "hunting-moon" to the [[Victoria Falls Hotel]] in [[Rhodesia]] (later [[Zimbabwe]]) for a 23-day safari trip.<ref name=":52">{{Cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |title=The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III |last2=Glasser |first2=Susan |date=2021 |publisher=Anchor Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC |isbn=978-1-101-91216-4 |edition=First Anchor Books |location=New York |pages=61–62}}</ref> He imported $3,000 worth of hunting trophies, including a rug made from a wildebeest, following his safari.<ref name=":52" /> Winston had two sons and a daughter with her former husband. In September 1977, she and Baker had a daughter, Mary Bonner Baker.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} In 1985, Susan Garrett Baker was one of four "Washington Wives" who founded the [[Parents Music Resource Center]] (PMRC), a bipartisan United States government committee with the stated goal of increasing parental control over children's access to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes.

When [[Iraqi invasion of Kuwait|Saddam Hussein's forces took Kuwait City]] in August 1990, Baker was in [[Mongolia]] on a planned hunting trip for [[Ibex]]es, but he had to cut it short due to the crisis.<ref name=":0" /> He postponed a pheasant-hunting trip in 2000 with Bush in Scotland to assist George W. Bush in the 2000 recount effort.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Sweany |first=Brian D. |date=2013-01-20 |title=The Republic of Chad |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-republic-of-chad/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329220823/https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-republic-of-chad/ |archive-date=March 29, 2023 |access-date=2025-07-26 |work=Texas Monthly |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> Baker's said that his experience turkey-hunting with Florida Senator [[Lawton Chiles]] influenced his strategy during the recount process.<ref name=":1" />

Baker and his wife own a substantial property in remote Wyoming near [[Boulder, Wyoming|Boulder]] where Baker would retreat from public life.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gwynne |first=S. C. |date=2013-01-21 |title=James Baker Forever |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/james-baker-forever/ |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=Texas Monthly |language=en}}</ref> They bought the 1,555 acre property, known as Silver Creek Ranch, for $625,000 shortly after Baker's success in the 1988 presidential election.

On June 15, 2002, Virginia Graeme Baker, the seven-year-old granddaughter of Baker, daughter of Nancy and James Baker IV, drowned due to [[Pool suction-drain injury|suction entrapment]] in a spa.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dumas|first=Bob|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221044013/http://www.poolspanews.com/2003/102/102entrapment.html|archive-date=December 21, 2012|url=http://www.poolspanews.com/2003/102/102entrapment.html|title=Troubled Waters|work=Pool & Spa News|date=October 2003|quote=The victim in this case was Graeme Baker, the granddaughter of James Baker III, former secretary of state under President George Bush. }}</ref> To promote greater safety in pools and spas, Nancy Baker gave testimony to the [[Consumer Product Safety Commission]],<ref>Chow, Shern-Min. [http://www.vac-alert.com/News/articles/StoryArchiveF/archive6.html "Former Secretary of state pushes for hot tub safety standards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218003311/http://www.vac-alert.com/News/articles/StoryArchiveF/archive6.html |date=February 18, 2020 }}. Vac-Alert. June 29, 2007.</ref> and James Baker helped form an advocacy group,<ref>Press Releases: [http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=22070&folder_id=300 "Former Secretary of State James Baker speaks in support of legislation intended to prevent accidental drowning"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090811080325/http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=22070&folder_id=300 |date=August 11, 2009 }}. Safe Kids Worldwide. May 2, 2006.</ref> which led to the [[Virginia Graeme Baker Pool And Spa Safety Act]] (15 USC 8001).<ref>[http://www.cpsc.gov/pssa.pdf "Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act"]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529202550/http://www.cpsc.gov/pssa.pdf |date=May 29, 2008 }}. Consumer Product Safety Commission. [http://www.vac-alert.com/documents/cpsc_staff_interpretations_tradefinal.pdf at Vac-Alert] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910004219/http://www.vac-alert.com/documents/cpsc_staff_interpretations_tradefinal.pdf |date=September 10, 2008 }}. (Adobe Acrobat *.PDF document)</ref> Another granddaughter, [[Rosebud Baker]], is a stand-up comedian and writer.<ref>Sadie Dingfelder: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/during-lockdown-comics-rosebud-baker-and-andy-haynes-have-gotten-sick-and-engaged-plus-hosted-a-surreal-podcast/2020/05/15/d2de71a6-84a2-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html During lockdown, comics Rosebud Baker and Andy Haynes have gotten sick and engaged, plus hosted a surreal podcast]. Washington Post, May 18, 2020.</ref>

== Awards and honors ==
*[[Jefferson Awards for Public Service]] (1985)
*[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (1991)
*Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] (1998)<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Gen. Colin L. Powell Biography and Interview | url= https://achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/#interview|quote= Awards Council member and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA presents the Golden Plate Award to former Secretary of State James A. Baker III at the 1998 Summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.}}</ref>
*[[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|55px|ribbon bar]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Rising Sun]] (2015)

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==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}}.
* {{cite book |first2=Susan |last2=Glasser |first1=Peter |last1=Baker |title=The Man Who Ran Washington |isbn=978-0-385-54055-1 |year=2020 |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] }}

==External links==
{{sister project links|c=Category:James Baker|d=yes|q=yes|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|s=no|species=no}}

* [http://archives.library.rice.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/193440 Baker, James III](Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, US)
* [https://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/tm70mv18x James Addison Baker Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University]
* [https://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/70795772c James A. Baker III Oral History Collection at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203745/http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2006/11/27/news/16726.shtml Profile in the Daily Princetonian]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080528213810/http://www.bakerbotts.com/lawyers/detail.aspx?id=a1789334-3f27-48d5-b844-211455e4beff Biography on Baker Botts LLP website]
* [http://www.bakerinstitute.org Baker Institute for Public Policy]
* {{C-SPAN|1321}}
* [http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/oralhistory/id/38 James Baker Oral History at Houston Oral History Project, November 20, 2007.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629210912/http://digital.houstonlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/oralhistory/id/38 |date=June 29, 2017 }}

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