James Baker was a U.S. secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, and White House chief of staff. Born in Houston, Texas, James Addison Baker III graduated from Princeton University in 1952 and then joined the Marine Corps. After his discharge, he entered the law school at the University of Texas in Austin, where he earned a doctorate in 1957. Baker entered politics as a close friend of George H. W. Bush and later managed Bush's campaign for the Senate, Gerald R. Ford's bid for the presidency, and in 1980, Bush's presidential campaign. When Ronald W. Reagan became president in 1981, Baker was named chief of staff at the White House, where he oversaw the 1981 legislation that reformed the U.S. tax code. In 1985, he was named to the cabinet as secretary of the treasury. He was instrumental in initiating a policy of fair trade designed to level the economic playing field by punishing unfair trade practices. After the election of Bush in 1988, Baker was named secretary of state, a post he held until 1992.

As secretary of state, Baker worked with Bush to develop a degree of cohesion seldom matched in U.S. foreign policy. Bush and Baker worked to rebuild a bipartisan consensus on foreign policy in the aftermath of the Iran-Contra scandal. In addition, the two sought to enhance trade and diplomatic relations with Canada and Mexico (a strategy they referred to as “securing our base”). Improving economic relations with Asian states was also a priority of the administration and was manifested in the role of the United States in the creation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November 1989. Baker helped Bush manage U.S. policy in the waning days of the Cold War, including seeking reforms of North Atlantic Treaty Organization in an effort to counter proposals for a pan-European security structure and providing support for the domestic economic and political reforms of Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev.

Baker's tenure witnessed the end of the Cold War and the transition of Russia from enemy to ally. He negotiated a series of arms control agreements, including the 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty and the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). Baker opposed a large, Marshall Plan–style aid program to assist the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe.

One of Baker's greatest achievements was the formation of the international coalition that defeated Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Baker engaged in extensive shuttle diplomacy to secure Arab support for the coalition and garnered successive United Nations resolutions, which ultimately authorized the use of military force.

In the Western Hemisphere, Baker negotiated an end to Soviet aid for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and subsequent elections that removed the pro-Soviet regime from power. He coordinated the diplomatic response that surrounded the successful invasion of Panama in 1990 and resulted in the overthrow of Manuel Noriega. Baker oversaw the negotiations with Mexico and Canada that led to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement. His foreign policy was less successful in dealing with such issues as the onset of civil war in Yugoslavia, where Baker opposed the breakup of the former Communist state. Baker's efforts to repair Sino-American relations after the Tiananmen Square protests were less than successful, but helped to prevent a wider breach with the People's Republic of China.

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