BAKER, JAMES ADDISON, III

born April 28, 1930, Houston, Texas, U.S. American government official, political manager, and lawyer who occupied important posts in the Republican presidential administrations of the 1980s and early '90s, including that of U.S. secretary of state (198992). The son of a prosperous Houston attorney, Baker graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and then spent two years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He earned a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1957 and then joined a major Houston law firm, eventually becoming a partner in it. In 1970 Baker's longtime friend George Bush asked him to run Bush's political campaign for the U.S. Senate. Though Bush lost the race, Baker became deeply involved in Republican Party politics thereafter. He was named under secretary of commerce by President Gerald Ford in 1975, and that same year he helped Ford secure the Republican Party's presidential nomination for the 1976 election. Baker served as Ford's campaign manager that year and went on to direct Bush's campaign for the presidential nomination in the Republican primaries of 1980. After Bush accepted the vice presidential slot on a ticket headed by Ronald Reagan that year, Baker joined Reagan's campaign staff as a senior adviser. After Reagan won the election, he appointed Baker White House chief of staff, a post that Baker filled ably until he was made secretary of the Treasury in 1985. Baker adroitly managed George Bush's successful campaign for the presidential election of 1988 and thereupon was appointed secretary of state. In the latter post he helped the United States reach agreement with the Soviet Union on the reunification of East with West Germany in 1990. In 199091 he helped orchestrate the international coalition that opposed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Baker was a shrewd and highly effective political manager whose skills were a major factor in the Republicans' retention of the presidency throughout the 1980s. He resigned his post as secretary of state in 1992 in order to serve as White House chief of staff while simultaneously directing Bush's reelection campaign.