James Baker

James A. Baker III is an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, and former Marine Corps officer whose public service spanned more than four decades. Born on April 28 1930 in Houston, Texas, he attended the Hill School, the Kinkaid School and later Princeton University before serving as a United States Marine captain during the Korean‑era years 1952‑1954, followed by reserve duty through 1958. After earning his LL.B. at the University of Texas, Baker entered the legal profession, joining Andrews, Kurth, Campbell & Bradley where he built a reputation as a tireless work‑horse and expert in corporate transactions, especially in the oil‑and‑gas sector. His friendship with George H. W. Bush and his role in Bush’s early political campaigns launched him into Washington, where he served as Under Secretary of Commerce (1975‑1976) before becoming a key operative in Gerald Ford’s 1976 presidential campaign. From 1981 to 1985 he was Ronald Reagan’s White House chief of staff, a period in which he helped shape the administration’s economic agenda and the early stages of the “Reagan Revolution.”

In 1985 Baker swapped jobs with Donald Regan to become the 67th Secretary of the Treasury, where he negotiated the historic Plaza Accord and shepherded the 1986 Tax Reform Act through a fiercely divided Congress. He returned to the political arena as George H. W. Bush’s campaign manager in 1988, then served as the 61st Secretary of State (1989‑1992), overseeing the end of the Cold War, German reunification, and the Gulf War coalition. After a brief second stint as White House chief of staff (1992‑1993), he remained a prominent elder‑statesman, acting as a United Nations envoy, co‑chairing the Iraq Study Group, and contributing to climate and justice initiatives. His influence endures in academia through the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and he remains the oldest living former U.S. secretary of state.