Baker, James Addison, III (1930-…), served as United States secretary of state under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1992. As secretary, Baker helped form the coalition of countries that fought Iraq in the Persian Gulf War of 1991. After the war, he helped coordinate relief efforts for Kurdish refugees in Iraq. The Kurds had fled their homes in Iraq after the Iraqi military put down a rebellion there. Baker promoted peace between Arab countries and Israel.
Baker, a Republican, served as secretary of the treasury under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1988. In this post, Baker led the Reagan administration’s revision of the federal tax system.
Baker was born on April 28, 1930, in Houston. He graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and from the University of Texas Law School in 1957. Baker practiced law in Houston from 1957 until 1975, when President Gerald R. Ford named him undersecretary of commerce. From 1981 to 1985, Baker served as Reagan’s chief of staff. Baker managed Bush’s presidential campaigns in 1980, 1988, and 1992 and served as Bush’s chief of staff in 1992 and 1993.
In 2000, Baker represented the presidential campaign of Bush’s son George W. Bush as an observer of vote recounts in Florida. The younger Bush eventually was certified as the winner in Florida and thus won the presidency in one of the closest races in U.S. history. In late 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Baker as his personal envoy to other nations to seek debt relief for Iraq. The United States had taken control of Iraq earlier that year in the Iraq War. In 2006, Baker and former Democratic U.S. Representative Lee Hamilton were chosen to be co-leaders of the Iraq Study Group. The U.S. Congress formed the group to analyze the U.S.-led Iraq War and develop policy recommendations. Baker’s written works include The Politics of Diplomacy (1995) and Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics! Adventures and Lessons from an Unexpected Public Life (2007).
