Baker Institute looks at namesake’s years in politics, public service

Baker Institute looks at namesake’s years in politics, public service

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

“If conflict
ensues, and you use chemical or biological weapons against
U.S. forces, the American people will demand vengeance.
And we have the means to enact it. This is not a threat,
it is a promise.”

This excerpt
from a transcript of a 1991 meeting between U.S. Secretary
of State James A. Baker, III, and Iraqi Foreign Minister
Tarek Aziz right before the Gulf War is part of an exhibit
currently on display at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy.

Titled “James
A. Baker, III: Thirty Years of Politics and Public Service,”
the exhibit features photos, news clippings, letters and
other documents and souvenirs from Baker’s personal
collection of memorabilia. Baker Institute staff collaborated
with the Woodson Research Center staff at Fondren Library
to organize the exhibit.

“This is
the first of a series of exhibits that will be on display
in the lobby of the Baker Institute,” said Edward P.
Djerejian, institute director. “We chose to focus first
on the career of the man for whom the institute is named
to provide students with insights into his extraordinary
political life and career in government.”

Baker, a native
Texan, led presidential campaigns for Gerald Ford, Ronald
Reagan and George Bush over the course of five consecutive
elections from 1976 to 1992. He served as the 67th secretary
of the treasury from 1985 to 1988 and as the 61st secretary
of state from 1989 to 1992. He was White House chief of
staff twice—for Reagan from 1981 to 1985 and for Bush
in 1992.

Currently a senior
partner in the law firm of Baker Botts LLP in Houston and
senior counselor to The Carlyle Group in Washington, D.C.,
Baker is honorary chair of the Baker Institute. Rice established
the institute in 1997 to serve as a public policy forum
bringing together experts from academia, government, the
media, business and nongovernmental organizations “to
build a bridge between the world of ideas and the world
of action.”

Among the items
on display in the exhibit:

• A 1985
Business Week featuring “Jim Baker’s Treasury” on the cover;
• Baker’s handwritten “talking points” for the first Cabinet meeting of the Bush administration
in 1989, including his recommendations for a successful
foreign policy;
• A 1970 brochure from Baker’s first political
experience, when he served as Harris County campaign chairman
for Bush’s U.S. Senate effort;
• A 1976 New York Times article that referred to Baker
as “the tall, suave Texan known as ‘the Miracle
Man’” for his recruitment of delegates for President
Ford at the Republican National Convention;
• A 1971 letter from Baker, then state finance chairman
for the Republican Party of Texas, seeking support from
“concerned Americans” for the re-election of President
Richard Nixon.

The Baker exhibit
will be on display until the last week of October.