James Baker

James Baker (no year)

James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930 in Houston , Texas ) is an American politician and diplomat . He was the United States Secretary of State from 1989 to 1992 under President George Bush .

Study and work as a lawyer

Baker is the son of lawyer James Addison Baker, Jr. and his wife Ethel Bonner Means († 1991). He first studied at Princeton University . From 1952 to 1954 he served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps , after which he studied law at the University of Texas at Austin , where he graduated in 1957 with a Juris Doctor ( JD ). Until 1975 he worked in a law firm.

He also began a political career. He was initially a member of the Democrats , but then switched to the Republicans . As early as 1970 he led an unsuccessful election campaign by George Bush when he was applying for a seat in the US Senate and was defeated by the Democrat Lloyd Bentsen .

Political rise

From 1975 he worked in the Ministry of Commerce in the government of President Gerald Ford and was head of his election campaign in 1976. In 1980, he led again an election for George Bush, namely in the primaries for the presidential election against the Republican competitor Ronald Reagan . Reagan won both these primaries and the eventual election against incumbent Jimmy Carter . George Bush became Vice President , and Baker was named Chief of Staff of the White House by Reagan in 1981 . He held this post until 1985, when he became Treasury Secretary in Reagan's second cabinet .

Secretary of State under George Bush

Baker in Kuwait (1991)

In the US presidential election in 1988 he again led the election campaign of George Bush, which this time was successful against Michael Dukakis . Baker was appointed Secretary of State by Bush. In 1990 he also took part in the “ two plus four negotiations ”, where he appeared as a strong advocate of German unity . US support is seen as an important reason for their success.

In the Second Gulf War of 1991, he forged the alliance for the liberation of Kuwait under the mandate of the United Nations .

Honourings and prices

1991: He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his services .
2008: Admission to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2014: Kissinger Prize from the American Academy in Berlin

Activity since 1992

On August 23, 1992, Baker resigned as Secretary of State and was again Chief of Staff in the White House. After Bush's defeat by Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election , Baker returned to work as a lawyer. In 1993 he was hired as a consultant to Enron .

In 1997 he was appointed UN special envoy for the Western Sahara conflict. In 2004 he retired from this post because it had not been possible to reach an agreement between Morocco , which had annexed the country, and POLISARIO , which sees itself as the representative of the “ Democratic Arab Republic of the Sahara ”. During this time, Baker drafted two plans that would enable a referendum in Western Sahara .

Baker Plan I of July 20, 2001

This plan is also called the Framework Agreement , but both parties could not accept the proposal. The Polisario Front , because they could see no not like its location should be secured.

Baker Plan II of May 23, 2003

This plan contains only small changes compared to the Baker I plan, but the protection of a Sahrawi autonomy is now discussed. A limited autonomy is available, which should be under its own management for a period of four to five years. In addition, for the first time, the plan contained another option, the so-called third option , namely that of permanent autonomy. The Frente Polisario has to agree to this plan because it is politically as well as militarily incapable of acting. Morocco, on the other hand, does not agree to the plan because it sees its territorial claim in question.

Both plans have not been named in UN resolutions since 2005 and fears are expressed that a political vacuum could arise as there is no new plan.

During the George W. Bush election campaign in 2000, Baker served as legal advisor to the Republican campaign, overseeing the Florida recount for the Republicans . James Baker has been the US government's envoy to Iraq since December 2003. Among other things, he is negotiating with other states to cancel Iraq's debts.

James Baker (right) and Lee Hamilton (left) hand over the Iraq Study Group Report to George W. Bush (December 6, 2006)

The Baker Commission

On December 6, 2006, a non-partisan commission headed by Baker and former Democratic MP Lee H. Hamilton presented the Iraq Study Group Report , which could initiate a radical change in American policy on Iraq. It was made up of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans and was looking for ways out of the violent crisis in Iraq. As a result of the deliberations, a partial withdrawal of the USA from Iraq by 2008 and direct negotiations with Syria and Iran in Iraq are proposed. Germany , Japan and South Korea are proposed as members of a support group. On the day of the official publication, the Random House publishing group ( Bertelsmann ) published the expert group's recommendations in paperback.

literature

Karl DeRouen, Paul Bellamy: James Baker III. In: Edward S. Mihalkanin (Ed.): American Statesmen: Secretaries of State from John Jay to Colin Powell . Greenwood Publishing 2004, ISBN 978-0-313-30828-4 , pp. 43-50.

Web links

Commons : James Baker - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikiquote: James Baker Quotes

James Baker in the nndb (English)
Literature by and about James Baker in the catalog of the German National Library
James Baker in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)

personal data
SURNAME	Baker, James
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Baker III, James Addison (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	April 28, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH	Houston , Texas