Most of all we want to thank James Baker. He embraced this project from the start, opening his world and the story of his remarkable ninety years to us. Over the course of seventy hours of interviews on twenty-five occasions starting in 2013, he welcomed us into his homes and offices in all the places that mattered to him—in Houston, Washington, and Wyoming. He gave us unfettered access to his archives at Princeton University, his files at Rice University and his most personal papers in his private collection. He provided all the time we requested for interviews and made it possible for us to speak with anyone in his life. He never shied away from any topic nor tried to put anything off limits. This is not an authorized biography—he did not read it before publication and had no veto over its contents (and no, there is no relationship with the authors). But what we discovered was a man confident in his life, assured that for any flaws or failings, his was a story that would hold up well in history, and we appreciated his faith that we would tell it honestly and straightforwardly.
We want to thank too all the people in his life who talked with us, sometimes repeatedly. Susan Baker could hardly have been more gracious with her time and her perspective, meeting us together with her husband and separately. She was candid, welcoming, and invaluable. Likewise, we are grateful to all eight Baker children, each of whom spoke with us, some more than once, and were remarkably honest and forthcoming about their shared experiences: Jamie, Mike, John, and Doug Baker; Elizabeth Winston Jones; Bo and Will Winston; and Mary-Bonner Baker Perrin. We were lucky too to meet and talk with Secretary Baker’s cousin, Preston Moore, before he sadly passed away, and his childhood nanny, Bea Green, who was still in touch with the family as she approached her 107th birthday.
This book benefited from interviews with scores of others who interacted with Baker over the years, especially some of his closest advisers, including Margaret Tutwiler, Robert Zoellick, Robert Kimmitt, Dennis Ross, and Janet Mullins Grissom, all of whom were generous with their insights and memories. Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter, along with Vice Presidents Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle and Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and John Kerry all took the time to talk with us for the book. So did numerous other cabinet officers, White House aides, foreign officials, and even Baker’s adversaries—all told, about 215 interviews with about 170 people.
Baker’s current staff, including some who have been with him for decades going back to his days in Washington, were endlessly helpful. John Williams, a true professional, always had time for us and there was never a question he could not answer. We could not have hoped for more hospitality from Caron Jackson and Sandy Hatcher at Baker Botts, not to mention the terrific folks at the Baker Institute in Houston, led by Ed Djerejian and including Kim Murphy, Sonja Fulbright, and Ryan Kirksey.
We especially want to thank Daniel Linke, April Armstrong and everyone at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton, which was like a home away from home for two dozen visits over the last seven years as we worked our way through Baker’s archives and the remarkable oral history project the university conducted along with Rice University. Dan runs an outstanding institution and this book would never have come about but for him and the material that he made available. Likewise, the Miller Center at the University of Virginia has assembled the best presidential oral history collection in the nation. No book about the modern presidency would be complete without its incomparable work and we’re grateful to Gerald Baliles, who has since passed away, along with Douglas Blackmon, William Antholis, Russell Riley, and the rest of the all-star team in Charlottesville.
Thanks too to a host of people who searched their organizations’ files for us, including Tonia Wood at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission; Geir Gunderson at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, and Donna Lehman, formerly of the library; Katie Henning at the University of Kentucky; Carol Leadenham at the Hoover Institution Archives; Kathy Ellingsworth at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Louis Jeffries at the Hill School; Sarah Gesell of the Kinkaid School; Joyce Lee of the Houston Chronicle; Seth Mandel of the New York Post; David Jackson of USA Today; Jake Tapper of CNN; Chuck Todd of NBC; and Robert Hendin of CBS. We relied as well on the National Security Archives at George Washington University; the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; the George Bush Presidential Library; and the oral history project of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.
A number of other researchers and historians gave us access to their files or provided material from their own work, to our enormous benefit, including Derek Chollet, Jonathan Darman, John Gans, Liviu Horovitz, Stuart Middleton, and James Wilson. Thanks especially to Jeffrey Engel, who knows more about Bush-era foreign policy than anyone and allowed us to profit off his prodigious work, and to Philip Zelikow, who traveled down this road before us and helped us show the way.
We had the support and guidance of a host of journalists and historians who covered Baker back in the day or have since written books about his time. We are particularly in the debt of Jon Meacham, Michael Beschloss, and Douglas Brinkley, three of the premier chroniclers of the American presidency, who took time out from their own research to advise us and keep us on track. Others who went out of their way to help included Jeffrey Birnbaum, Tom Brokaw, Lou Cannon, Maureen Dowd, Elizabeth Drew, Thomas Friedman, David Hoffman, Walter Isaacson, Andrea Mitchell, Alan Murray, Lisa Myers, Howell Raines, Hedrick Smith, Strobe Talbott, Evan Thomas, and Steven Weisman. Tom DeFrank, who covered Baker for Newsweek before becoming his writing partner, paved this ground long before us and his work showed us the way. Special thanks to Mark Updegrove, who in many ways steered us to this project in the first place and then supported it at every stage.
Once again, Cynthia Colonna was an inestimable help transcribing hundreds of hours of interviews. We had research assistance early on from Max Hill and Arthur Sanders Montandon. Kitty Bennett at The New York Times is an unparalleled resource for everyone who works with her. A fantastic team of fact-checkers came in at the end and saved us from more mistakes than we would like to admit, especially Chris Cameron, Hilary McClellen, Isabelle Taft, and Jordan Virtue, who looked over so many chapters, as well as Ruairi Arrieta-Kenna, Meg Bernhard, James Bikales, Molly McCafferty, Zach Montague, and Noah Weiland. Needless to say, any remaining errors are our own.
For a second time, Peter had the opportunity to spend a few months on fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, one of the foremost places for research and study in Washington. We are grateful to Jane Harman, Rob Litwak, Aaron David Miller, Lindsay Collins, Laura Deal, and the whole team at the Wilson Center.
We have the incredible good fortune to work at two of the leading news organizations in the country. At The New York Times, A. G. Sulzberger and before him Arthur Sulzberger Jr. have not only steered the nation’s greatest newspaper through some of the most tumultuous times in the news business, they have along with Mark Thompson built a strong foundation that will sustain it into the future. Dean Baquet and Joe Kahn have transformed the paper into an even more vital outpost of journalistic excellence than ever before, with the help of such talented senior editors as Matt Purdy, Alison Mitchell, Susan Chira, Phil Pan, and many others. Elisabeth Bumiller and Bill Hamilton run the Washington Bureau with tremendous energy, wisdom and determination and are the most supportive editors anyone could ask for. Michael Shear has been the best partner and friend since he and Peter covered local news together three decades ago. The team of Maggie Haberman, Katie Rogers, Annie Karni, and Michael Crowley, and previously Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Mark Landler, should be in the hall of fame.
At The New Yorker, David Remnick has proved time and again why he is the finest magazine editor of our time and has been unfailingly supportive throughout. Susan has been privileged to work with many wonderful colleagues there, including the great Dorothy Wickenden and The New Yorker’s tireless website editor, Michael Luo, and every week she is lucky to file her Letters from Trump’s Washington to David Rohde, an advocate, partner and friend. Susan works beside some of the best writers in America in the magazine’s Washington office, especially the indomitable Jane Mayer, Adam Entous, Evan Osnos, and Margaret Talbot.
Both of us have found second homes in the last couple of years in the unlikeliest of places for print reporters—at MSNBC for Peter and CNN for Susan. We’re deeply grateful to the hosts, producers and bookers at both places, too many to name here, all professionals at the top of their game who have patiently tutored us in the challenges of live television. We are both grateful too to Jeff Bieber, Robert Costa, Sandy Petrykowski, and the crew at PBS’s Washington Week, where we have appeared going back more than two decades.
This is the second book now that Kris Puopolo at Doubleday has edited from our household and she has been an unstinting supporter and wise counselor to us, always focused on the big picture, always making our work better. There is a reason she enjoys the sterling reputation she does in the book business. Bill Thomas, the editor in chief at Doubleday, sets the highest standards and we appreciate the faith he has shown in us. The rest of the team at Doubleday is a delight to work with, including the eternally patient Dan Meyer, Michael Goldsmith, Hannah Engler, Dan Zitt, and Michael Windsor. For more than twenty years now, Rafe Sagalyn has guided our literary ventures and no one ever had a more enthusiastic champion. Doug Mills, the most gifted news photographer of our generation, kindly took the author picture for the book jacket.
Our friends have sustained us through long days and nights devoted to this project, offering relief when we came up for air. We particularly cherish our neighborhood village of Martina Vandenberg and Alan, Marshall, and Max Cooperman. Our friends Heidi Crebo-Rediker and Doug and Charlotte Rediker have become like an extended family. So many others have supported us as well, including John Smith, our best man two decades ago and still the best of friends, and Jan Eckendorf; Heather McLeod Grant, who has been there since college and always will be no matter how far away she lives, and her wonderful family Elliott and Somerset Grant; Susan Ascher and Paul Kalb; Katy and Gary Bass; Sarabeth Berman; Leslie Crutchfield and Anthony, Caleigh, Quinn, and Finn Macintyre; Michael Grunwald and Cristina Dominguez; Julia Ioffe; Indira Lakshmanan and Dermot, Devan and Rohan Tatlow; Valerie Mann and Tim Webster; Toria Nuland and Bob Kagan; Nicole Rabner and Andie Kanarek; and Sabrina Tavernise and Rory MacFarquhar.
Our family has always been there for us, loving and supportive in every way possible and role models for life, especially Ted and Martha Baker; Linda and Keith Sinrod; Lynn and Steve Glasser; Karin Baker and Kait Nolan; Laura Glasser, Emily Allen and Will and Ben Allen-Glasser; Jeff, Diana, and Caroline Glasser; Jennifer Glasser and Matthieu, Alex, and Oliver Fulchiron; and Tiffany Hudson. Rosamaria Brizuela is family in every way that truly matters. Ellie patiently waited for walks and treats while we finished up the latest chapter.
Finally, but most importantly, there is Theo Baker. Born on the day we finished our last book together, he has now grown into a remarkable young man, with all the traits too often missing in today’s Washington—not just smart and curious, but honest, decent, funny, thoughtful, loving, and eager. He inspires us and fills our lives with joy. It is to him this book is dedicated.
“The point of holding power”: James Baker, author interview.
“The argument I’ve been making”: Ibid.
“The guy is nuts”: Ibid.
The man she profiled: Marjorie Williams, “Jim Baker Is Smooth, Shrewd, Tough and Cooly Ambitious. That’s Why Washington Loves Him,” Washington Post, January 29, 1989. This profile among others was later included in a classic collection published after her untimely death. See Marjorie Williams, Reputation: Portraits in Power.
“a man in whom drive is more”: Ibid.
“In the two-party system”: Haley Barbour, author interview.
“He was the most important”: Tom Donilon, author interview.
“Baker somehow understood”: Hedrick Smith, author interview.
“Did you get laid last night?”: Ed Rogers, author interview.
“A shrink would have a field day”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“somebody who likes making”: Will Winston, author interview.
“I didn’t have any overarching”: James Baker interview.
“The Velvet Hammer”: Louise Sweeney, “Reagan’s Velvet Hammer,” Christian Science Monitor, January 2, 1981.
“a gentleman who hates to lose”: Michael Kramer, “Playing for the Edge,” Time, February 13, 1989.
“This is not a man who sat back”: David Gergen, author interview.
listed simply as “Lawher”: Birth certificate, April 28, 1930, Rice University archive.
“you have quite a legacy”: Preston Moore, author interview.
“He was the hero son”: Stewart Addison Baker, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“patriarchal migrations”: John W. Thompson Jr., Huntsville and Walker County, Texas, p. 7, https://digital.sfasu.edu/digital/collection/Huntsville/id/22.
“to attain approbation of my suit”: James A. Baker, handwritten letter to Anna McRobert Crawford, June 22, 1853, Rice archive.
Baker sat on the committee: J. H. Freeman, Texas State Historical Association, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbacs.
“town of growing importance”: Melinda Rankin, Texas in 1850, p. 138, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6107/m1/135/zoom/?q=huntsville&resolution=2&lat=2617.5&lon=600.
“a place where justice”: Baker personal files.
“oceans of mud, and submerged suburbs”: Kenneth J. Lipartito and Joseph A. Pratt, Baker and Botts in the Development of Modern Houston, pp. 11–12.
“The law firm and the city”: Ibid., p. vii.
“There is scarcely a great enterprise”: Ibid., p. 47.
“a dashing handsome person”: J. H. Freeman, The People of Baker Botts, p. 33.
“Residents of every section”: “Celebrating Women Who Changed Houston for Good,” a history produced by BakerRipley, a nonprofit that helps the less fortunate in Houston, March 8, 2017, https://www.bakerripley.org/blog/celebrating-women-who-changed-houston-for-good.
“America’s most remarkable”: Martin L. Friedland, The Death of Old Man Rice, p. ix.
“a penniless youth”: Thomas M. Phillips, a partner at Baker Botts, in a paper he wrote on the life of Captain Baker, July 25, 1983, Princeton archive.
“under very suspicious circumstances”: Ibid.
“wily, astute and crafty lawyer”: Friedland, The Death of Old Man Rice, p. 208.
“gross miscarriage of justice”: Ibid., p. 335.
A law professor who examined: Researching the case for his book nearly a century later, Friedland, a Toronto law professor, started out assuming that Patrick was guilty of murder, but concluded that the chloroform story was likely “planted in Jones’ mind by Captain Baker.” Friedland, The Death of Old Man Rice, p. 377.
“Damn it, grow”: Preston Moore, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“the foster father of Rice Institute”: Ed Kilman, “Work Hard, Study and Keep Out of Politics,” Houston Post, October 3, 1937. Quoted by Phillips.
“barren wasteland”: Susan Ripley Hilliard, “Rediscovering Historic Houston, http://rediscover.yourblvd.com/resources/rediscovering-historic-houston-boulevard-oaks-part-2/. Edgar Odell Lovett, the future president of Rice, sent the warning to his wife in a telegram, as relayed by the daughter of the Houstonian who took Dr. Lovett on a tour of the new institute’s property.
“Baker and his friends literally”: Lipartito and Pratt, Baker and Botts in the Development of Modern Houston, pp. 56–57.
The Oaks, a seven-acre property: In his will, the captain left The Oaks to Rice University as a residence for the school president but it was too far from campus to be practical and it was sold to the M. D. Anderson Foundation, which at the time was collaborating with the University of Texas to open a cancer hospital. What would become the world-renowned M. D. Anderson Cancer Center got its start on the Baker estate, converting the old house into offices and the stables into laboratories.
“could turn quickly”: Lipartito and Pratt, Baker and Botts in the Development of Modern Houston, p. 49.
“He was a tough taskmaster”: Moore interview.
“scare you to death”: Addison Baker Duncan, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“Work hard, study”: Kilman, “Work Hard, Study and Keep Out of Politics.” Quoted by Phillips.
“lose their Southern connection”: Duncan oral history.
“the idolized treasure of a happy household”: Kate Sayen Kirkland, Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857–1941, p. 121.
“the efficiency of its teaching”: Kirkland, Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857–1941, p. 119.
“not particularly successful”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 8.
“bearing and deportment”: James A. Baker, letter to James A. Baker Jr., August 27, 1917. Rice archive.
“bedraggled with mud”: Alice Gray, letter to James A. Baker, November 5, 1918, Rice archive.
“There’s nothing to do except”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to sister, December 29, 1918, Rice archive.
“Houston: Where Seventeen Railroads”: “Houston: Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea,” H. H. Tammen Company, Denver. University of Houston Digital Library, https://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll1/item/172.
“with rotary drill bits and derricks”: “Oil and Texas: A Cultural History,” Texas State Historical Association, https://texasalmanac.com/topics/business/oil-and-texas-cultural-history.
“Chicago of the South”: Lipartito and Pratt, Baker and Botts in the Development of Modern Houston, p. 109.
“He was a central figure”: Freeman, The People of Baker Botts, p. 43.
“He is a very, very competitive person”: Moore interview.
“gave us real courage”: Steven Fenberg, Unprecedented Power, p. 183.
“They were all about WPA”: James Baker, author interview.
“Even if we win a military victory”: “Neighbors of Note,” Houston Chronicle, October 26, 1951.
“an austere demeanor”: Baker, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 5.
“He was brought up in a”: Moore interview.
“were a little bit afraid”: Wallace Stedman Wilson, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“He said, ‘Let him stay’ ”: James Baker interview.
“The father was the person”: David Paton, author interview.
“Darling, I had to be”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“warm” and “spirited”: Baker, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 4.
“It was demeaning”: James Baker interview.
“sort of a Victorian”: Ibid.
“That just killed me”: Ibid.
“Few men have had so much”: Houston Chronicle, August 3, 1941. Quoted by Phillips.
“was no commonplace life”: Kirkland, Captain James A. Baker of Houston, 1857–1941, p. 345.
“It was segregated”: Green interview.
“No one was talking politics”: Ibid.
“The bus driver told us”: Moore interview.
“Of course, World War II was”: Edward W. (Mike) Kelly Jr., James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“I hope you will try”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to James A. Baker III, June 21, 1941, Rice archive.
“I know you have been homesick”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to James A. Baker III, July 14, 1941, Rice archive.
“I am very glad indeed”: James A. Baker, letter to James A. Baker III, June 27, 1940, Rice archive.
“Please acknowledge receipt”: James A. Baker, letter to James A. Baker III and three other grandchildren, June 27, 1940, Rice archive.
“His mother thought”: Green interview.
“You have a son now”: James Baker interview.
Allen Drury’s classic political novel Advise and Consent: Governor Hunt went on to serve in the Senate, where he became a leading foe of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s red-baiting campaign, until his son was arrested for soliciting sex from a male undercover police officer in Washington’s Lafayette Square and Republican senators threatened to use the case against the senator if he did not resign. Hunt brought a .22 caliber Winchester rifle barely concealed by an overcoat to his Senate office and shot himself to death; the story of blackmail and suicide became the basis for Drury’s novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a movie starring Henry Fonda and Walter Pidgeon.
“Boy, that wasn’t fair”: James Baker interview.
“like a second father to me”: Ibid.
“It was the first time”: Barney McHenry, author interview.
“There was no friction”: Ibid.
“ ‘Smilin’ Jim”: The Hill School News, October 31, 1947, Princeton archive.
“Jim mused over the female situation”: Ibid.
“Your subject and at times”: Letters on file at the Rice archive.
“He is a fine boy”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to Herbert B. Finnegan of the Hill School, Baker Institute, Rice University.
“I am sorry you thought”: James Baker Jr., letter to James Baker III, February 25, 1948, Rice archive.
“Jimmy has always passed”: James Baker Jr., letter to Radford Heermance, April 15, 1947, Rice archive.
“For someone who likes to hunt”: James Baker, author interview.
“When I got to Princeton”: Ibid.
“Obviously we were having”: Ibid.
“If he was out to party”: David Paton, author interview.
“first normal post-war class”: Nassau Herald, 1952.
“a somewhat upsetting”: Ibid.
Nearly one out of every five: Ibid. Of about 800 in the freshman class that arrived in 1948, 214 were Episcopalian, 201 were Presbyterian, and 66 were some other form of Protestant. Another 84 were Catholic and 54 were described as “Hebrew.”
“Princeton was known as”: Frank Carlucci, author interview.
His average for the first term: Princeton archive.
“There wasn’t an awful lot”: McHenry interview.
“I am greatly disappointed”: James Baker Jr., letter to James Baker III, May 9, 1949, Rice archive.
“didn’t pay much attention”: James Baker interview.
“It took me about a couple hours”: Ibid.
“Jimmy, you tell old John”: Ibid.
“I have thought of you constantly”: Bonner Baker, letter to James Baker III, July 9, 1949, Rice archive.
“We both feel that you”: James Baker Jr., letter to James Baker III, July 8, 1949, Rice archive.
“Scott Fitzgerald was our hero”: McHenry interview.
“They picked us up”: James Baker interview.
“I’ve really been cruising”: James Baker III, letter to James Baker Jr. and Bonner Baker, September 17, 1949, Rice archive.
“I’ve got the screaming A-Bomb hots”: James Baker, letter to Mary Stuart McHenry, April 11, 1950, Rice archive.
“Mary Stuart, I’ve known”: James Baker, letter to Mary Stuart McHenry, April 26, 1950, Rice archive.
“She was absolutely crazy”: Patricia Honea Schutts, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“It was just a wonderful love affair”: Paton interview.
“We argued that”: Don Oberdorfer, “Our Four Years on Campus,” an excerpt from a book published by the Daily Princetonian called The Orange and Black in Black and White: A Century of Princeton Through the Eyes of the Daily Princetonian.
“ALL SOPHS GET BIDS!”: Daily Princetonian, March 9, 1950.
“detached and breathlessly aristocratic”: F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, originally published in 1920. From Collector’s Library reprint edition, published in 2013, p. 21.
“Ivy was the snobbish club”: Richard Riordan, author interview.
“long uncombed gray hair”: Undated Baker letter to parents. Judging from the folder it was in, it probably was written in the spring semester of 1952. Rice archive.
“Everybody had to scurry”: McHenry interview.
“They told me it had been”: Baker letter to Mary Stuart McHenry, December 26, 1950, Rice archive.
“Nobody questioned it”: Riordan interview.
“In Princeton, the number one”: Oberdorfer, “Our Four Years on Campus.”
“The efforts of Jim Baker”: Nassau Herald.
also finally buckled down: Princeton archive.
“probably the most popular teacher”: Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, Princeton University Press, 1978, http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/CompanioN/hall_walter.html [inactive].
“Things look darker”: Baker letter to Mary Stuart McHenry, January 16, 1952, Rice archive.
“expert negotiator”: James Baker, “Two Sides of the Conflict: Bevin vs. Bevan,” April 21, 1952, Princeton archive.
“One of the questions”: James Baker interview.
“sissified”: Ibid.
“I get a little big”: Ibid.
“Did an excellent job”: Marine Leadership Performance Memorandum, October 14, 1952, Rice archive.
“I fought the Korean War”: James Baker interview.
“time of tempest”: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Inaugural Address, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231580.
“I was sick the entire time”: James Baker interview.
“But I can see where”: James Baker III, letter to James Baker Jr. and Bonner Baker, April 23, 1953, Rice archive.
“It was a disaster”: James Baker interview.
“shattered, split wide open”: “Ruinous Epilog to Homeric Drama,” Life, August 31, 1953.
“I don’t think the devastation”: James Baker III, letter to James Baker Jr. and Bonner Baker, August 30, 1953, Rice archive.
“It bolstered my sagging spirits”: Ibid.
“that these sorry bastard Chinese”: James Baker interview.
“I did it for my dad”: Ibid.
“But he was smart enough”: Ibid.
“Mr. Baker, Mr. James Addison”: Robert S. Weatherall, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
near the top 10 percent: Ibid.
“You got good grades”: Ibid.
“Everything I had ever known”: Ibid.
“I was devastated”: Ibid.
“friend maker”: Jonathan Bush, author interview.
Bush’s was so weak: James Baker, author interview.
“powder puff serve”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“Baker’s the better tennis player”: George H. W. Bush, author interview.
“They’re both enormous”: George W. Bush, author interview.
“I served him drinks”: James Baker, Houston Oral History Project, Houston Public Library, http://digital.houstonlibrary.net/oral-history/james-addison-baker.php.
“why are you going”: James Baker interview.
“anyone that doesn’t come in”: Robert S. Weatherall, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“It’s fair to say that”: James Baker interview.
“You better start praying”: Movie script, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 1957, https://www.springfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=gunfight-at-the-o-k-corral [inactive].
“an almost impossible burden”: James Baker, memo, September 25, 1957, Princeton archive.
“I became very disillusioned”: James Baker interview.
“You have always been”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to James A. Baker III, April 28, 1959, Princeton archive.
“Jimmy, I survived the Great Depression”: Doug Baker interview.
“George had an eye for”: Jonathan Bush interview.
“I have never hunted turkey”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to James O. Winston Jr., January 3, 1962, Princeton archive.
“The country up there”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to James Bertron, November 16, 1964, Princeton archive.
“both come from families”: James A. Baker Jr., letter to the Houston Country Club on behalf of James O. Winston III and Susan Garrett Winston, January 14, 1966, Princeton archive.
“I could not at the last”: Baker letter to J. T. Bagby, April 17, 1963, Princeton archive.
“Did I ever get my butt whipped?”: John Baker, author interview.
“I remember him talking”: George W. Bush interview.
“That was really the first”: Jamie Baker, author interview.
“Well, here is the letter”: Jamie Baker, letter to James A. Baker III, September 29, 1969, Princeton archive.
“I am glad that you finally”: James A. Baker III, letter to Jamie Baker, October 6, 1969, Princeton archive.
“He told me that every”: James A. Baker III, letter to Wallace Barry Wilson, September 16, 1969.
a convincing 56 percent: Bush pulled in 1,134,337 votes to Yarborough’s 1,463,958. Texas Almanac, Texas State Historical Association, http://texasalmanac.com/topics/elections/senatorial-elections-and-primaries-1906–%E2%80%93-2018 [inactive].
“My dear George”: James A. Baker III, letter to George H. W. Bush, November 6, 1964, Princeton archive.
“one of the most vicious prosecutors”: Mike Morris, “Ex-DA Frank Briscoe, Legal Heavyweight for Decades, Dies at 84,” Houston Chronicle, January 5, 2011.
with 57 percent of the vote: The 1966 Election Results, CQ Almanac, https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal67-1311561.
“I was sort of in awe of him”: James Baker interview.
“I’d get up in the middle”: Jamie Baker interview.
“They were a great, great marriage”: Jonathan Bush interview.
“It damn near killed her”: James Baker interview.
the first successful adult: Thomas H. Maugh II, “Denton Cooley, Texas Surgeon Who Performed First Successful Heart Transplant in U.S., Dies at 86,” Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2016.
“I could tell when he came out”: James Baker interview.
“They just wanted our lives”: Doug Baker interview.
“I thought the kids”: James A. Baker III, letter to Mrs. A. C. McHenry, February 28, 1969, Princeton archive.
“didn’t want to spend”: Stewart Addison Baker, James A. Baker Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“some pro, some con”: Baker personal files.
“I’m really sure that G.”: Barbara Bush, letter to Mary Stuart Baker, undated but postmarked May 7, 1969, Princeton archive.
“This is a big and difficult decision”: James Baker, handwritten note to George Bush, Baker personal files.
“As I’ve mentioned before”: James Baker, handwritten note to George Bush, August 22, 1969, Baker personal files.
“We do not have all of the”: James Baker, letter to Jamie Baker, February 4, 1970, Princeton archive.
“Mary Stuart is in the hospital”: James Baker, letter to David Paton, February 6, 1970, Princeton archive.
“Bush speech—Introduce him”: James A. Baker III datebook, February 13, 1970, Princeton archive.
“She’s not going to make it”: Preston Moore, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“things are not good”: James Baker, letter to David Paton, February 17, 1970, Princeton archive.
“The treatment was so terrible”: Barbara Bush, author interview.
“He prayed that she would not”: Jamie Baker interview.
“God came today”: Doug Baker interview.
“My dear sweet loving”: Mary Stuart Baker, letter to James Baker, November 29, 1969, Baker personal files.
“He would go to the window”: Beatrice Green, author interview.
“In line with our telephone conversation”: James Baker, letter to Dossy Allday, February 26, 1970, Princeton archive.
“I am still swamped”: James Baker, letter to Bonner Baker, March 5, 1970, Princeton archive.
“Bake, you need to take”: James Baker, author interview.
“Jimmy, dear, it just doesn’t”: Mrs. John F. Bryan, letter to James Baker, July 17, 1970, Princeton archive.
“If I was ever going to become”: James Baker interview.
“I hope you don’t feel”: James Baker, letter to Rosemary and Adams McHenry, April 9, 1970, Princeton archive.
“Bush and Bentsen seemed”: Al Reinert, “The Unveiling of Lloyd Bentsen,” Texas Monthly, December 1974.
53 percent of the vote: Texas Almanac: 2018–2019, Texas State Historical Association, https://texasalmanac.com/topics/elections/senatorial-elections-and-primaries-1906-2018.
60 percent, thanks in part: Harris County Clerk, certification of election results to Texas Secretary of State, December 4, 1970.
“I truly don’t know what”: James Baker, letter to Rosemary and Adams McHenry, November 10, 1970, Princeton archive.
“Right now I can’t decide”: George H. W. Bush, letter to James A. Baker III, November 11, 1970, Princeton archive.
“How sad I was to leave”: Rosemary McHenry, undated letter to James A. Baker III, Princeton archive.
“Needless to say, I am”: James Baker, letter to Jamie Baker, February 19, 1971. Princeton archive.
“I don’t know why I did it dad”: Mike Baker, undated handwritten note to James A. Baker III, Princeton archive.
“I don’t think he really knew”: Jamie Baker, author interview.
“like pulling teeth”: James Baker interview.
“I had a little trouble”: James Baker, letter to Rosemary and Adams McHenry, August 24, 1972, Princeton archive.
“He has stature, integrity”: George H. W. Bush, letter to John Tower, February 22, 1973, Princeton archive.
“Things are about the same”: James Baker, letter to Rosemary McHenry, June 19, 1972, Princeton archive.
“I know I have turned out”: Bonner Moffitt, undated letter to James Baker, Princeton archive.
“You are right that his death”: James Baker, letter to headmaster of the Hill School, March 8, 1974, Princeton archive.
“I’m pretty sure that every woman”: Barbara Bush, author interview.
“one of those casserole ladies”: James Baker interview.
“his voice was like”: Susan G. Baker, Passing It On, p. 22.
“a drop-dead handsome dynamo”: Ibid., p. 27.
“little church mouse”: Susan Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter for Baker memoir, January 25, 2006, Princeton archive.
“Dad saw someone who”: William Winston, author interview.
“Guess what we did?”: Douglas Baker, author interview.
“sort of a communal type thing”: James (Bo) Winston IV, author interview.
Johnny Baker asked Elizabeth Winston: Elizabeth Winston Jones, author interview. For clarity, she is referred to in the book by the name she used at the time, Elizabeth Winston.
“We had been a very happy”: Ibid.
“When you have seven children”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“I asked him, ‘You’re never’ ”: John Baker, author interview.
“My grades suffered”: Douglas Baker interview.
“Jimbo knew that he was not”: Winston Jones interview.
“I think Dad was incredibly relieved”: Bo Winston interview.
“Whatever it was”: James Baker, letter to Dorothine Collins, September 10, 1974, Princeton archive.
“I said, ‘Thank you very much’ ”: James Baker interview.
“Age geography foreign affairs”: James Baker, telegram to Gerald Ford, August 10, 1974, Princeton archive.
“Always bridesmaid”: James A. Baker III, handwritten notes, August 16, 1974, Princeton archive.
“Dear Bake—Yesterday”: George H. W. Bush, handwritten note to James A. Baker III, August 21, 1974, Princeton archive.
“Too bad about George”: James A. Baker III, letter to Rosemary and Adams McHenry, August 21, 1974, Princeton archive.
“In spite of Princeton education”: George H. W. Bush, cable to Donald H. Rumsfeld, February 1975, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
“Geo Bush referred”: Candidate Evaluation, James Baker, March 11, 1975, Ford Library.
“a high level job”: George H. W. Bush, handwritten note to James A. Baker III, May 29, 1975, Princeton archive.
“We talked about the Under Secretary of Commerce”: Donald Rumsfeld, Meeting with the President, June 7, 1975, Donald Rumsfeld papers, http://library.rumsfeld.com/doclib/sp/2376/1975-06-07.pdf#search=“baker%20and%20houston”.
“I am absolutely elated”: George H. W. Bush, letter to James A. Baker III, June 27, 1975, Princeton archive.
“You were confirmed by Senate”: Handwritten note, August 1, 1975, Princeton archive.
“We in this country”: James Baker, commencement address, Northwest Academy graduation, May 28, 1976, Baker Institute. Baker delivered a similar address at Bo Winston’s commencement from Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Mass., three years later, on June 1, 1979, using some of the same passages, word for word. Princeton archive.
“Will Henry Kissinger be in”: James Baker, author interview.
“he probably was some right-wing”: Henry Kissinger, author interview.
“I understand you announced”: James Baker interview; Dick Cheney, author interview.
“Oh, so you’re Textile Baker”: James Baker interview.
“I am calling for two things”: Transcript of James Baker–Henry Kissinger call, April 5, 1976, 3:15 p.m., State Department.
“What’s the deal with this Baker guy?”: Pete Roussel, author interview.
more than $140,000 a year: Federal tax returns for 1974, Princeton archive. A little more than half of that came from his law firm, totaling twice as much as the $40,000 annual salary for his new Commerce job. The rest came from investments. Altogether, his net worth, after the mortgages on his Houston house and Rockpile Ranch, came to nearly $1.7 million (or more than $8.8 million in 2019 dollars). Most of his wealth, nearly $1 million, came from shares in the parent company of Texas Commerce Bank, the financial institution that had been the economic bulwark for his family for generations. He also owned $200,000 in WellTech, an energy firm, and he valued his shares in Graham Realty, the family holding company, at $150,000. In a letter he sent to the Senate committee considering his nomination, he noted that the ranch made little money from a stripper well but had potential. “A new well was just completed on May 16,” Baker wrote, “and, if this new production holds up, the total production from the property will be substantially greater in the future.” He agreed to put most of his investments in a blind trust, but when he tried to have Texas Commerce Bank administer it, senators objected so he was forced to hire another agent instead. James A. Baker III, letter to Senator Warren Magnuson, July 28, 1975, Princeton archive.
“This job is extremely”: James A. Baker III, letter to David Paton, September 10, 1975, Princeton archive.
“man to watch”: Kathy Lewis, “James A. Baker: A Man to Watch,” Houston Post, September 21, 1975.
“He was so excited”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“My feeling was that”: James Baker interview.
“Maybe we hit it off because”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 38.
“They thought he was nothing”: Stuart Spencer, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, November 15–16, 2001, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/stuart-spencer-oral-history-campaign-advisor.
“If you want to win Texas”: Baker, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 28.
“I’m talking to you now as”: Ibid.
“We basically had to build”: Cheney interview.
963 delegates to 879 for Reagan: James M. Naughton, “Ford Aides Still Confident Despite Setback in Missouri,”: New York Times, June 15, 1976.
He brought eight delegates: Campaign memos, July 1976, Princeton archive.
“To bring them up here”: James A. Baker III, memo to file, July 1, 1976, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
“The worst thing that can happen”: James A. Baker III, “Proposed Delegate Management Operation,” Memorandum to Rogers C. B. Morton, Stu Spencer, and Roy Hughes, May 12, 1976, Ford Library.
“You’d have to go to pols”: Tony Kornheiser, “Cutting Chaff and Shooting Straight with Jim Baker,” Washington Post, January 18, 1981.
“Jim was in charge of every detail”: Dick Cheney, In My Time, p. 96.
“there is a great degree”: Jules Witcover, Marathon, pp. 467–70.
“A substantial portion of Baker’s time”: James Baker schedule, week of July 19, 1976, Princeton archive.
giving him a total of 1,135: R. W. Apple Jr., “Ford Aides Offer Delegate Totals Showing Victory,” New York Times, August 14, 1976.
“In my judgment”: Dick Mastrangelo, memo to James Baker, June 11, 1976, Princeton archive.
“ ‘Miracle Man’ Given Credit”: New York Times, August 19, 1976, https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/19/archives/miracle-man-given-credit-for-ford-drive-did-not-want-job-how-he-did.html.
“We had the incumbency”: Stuart Spencer, author interview.
was just 9 percent: American Conservative Union, http://acuratings.conservative.org/acu-federal-legislative-ratings/?year1=1975&chamber=13&state1=0&sortable=1.
“looked the part”: David Keene, then a Reagan aide, quoted in Craig Shirley, Reagan’s Revolution, p. 284.
“I was really for Reagan”: Clarke Reed, author interview.
a vote of 1,180 to 1,069: R. W. Apple Jr., “Ford Gains and Blocks Reagan on Disclosure of a No. 2 Choice; Baker or Ruckelshaus Favored,” New York Times, August 18, 1976. (The Baker referred to in the headline was Howard Baker, the Republican senator from Tennessee.)
“I think we got it”: John Baker, author interview.
“very ecstatic”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“I could see a two-word plank”: Witcover, Marathon, p. 500.
“Everybody thinks this was”: James Baker interview. Much was made of the Mississippi delegation and Clarke Reed’s role. In the end, the delegation split for Ford but was not decisive. Reed actually voted for Reagan in a “throw-away” ballot at the end of the vote to fulfill his commitment, but made a point of not actually trying to help the challenger win, to the satisfaction of Baker and the Ford team.
1,187 votes to 1,070 for Reagan: R. W. Apple Jr., “Ford Takes Nomination on First Ballot,” New York Times, August 19, 1976.
“The guy that comes in second”: Spencer, Miller Center oral history.
“Reagan was the dominating presence”: William F. Buckley Jr., “The President Comes Alive with the Conservative Spirit,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 1976, as quoted by Julian E. Zelizer, Jimmy Carter, p. 75.
“I’m not going to rearrange”: Washington Post, May 16, 1976.
“I thought he’d be good”: Spencer interview.
“Jim Baker had demonstrated”: Gerald R. Ford, A Time to Heal, p. 410.
“That was one of the toughest things”: James Baker interview.
“I remember being scared”: Ibid.
33 percentage points: Gallup survey, July 16–19, 1976. Carter had the support of 62 percent to Ford’s 29 percent, http://news.gallup.com/poll/23995/Gerald-Ford-Retrospective.aspx#1.
“The candidate who makes”: Ford, A Time to Heal, p. 410.
“Blessed with good looks”: Newsweek, September 6, 1976.
“He’s honest, but clumsy”: Malcolm D. MacDougall, We Almost Made It, p. 71.
“And these, remember, were the”: Ibid.
“We actually quantified the fact”: Mary Lukens, author interview.
“a little bit insulting”: Ibid.
“You’re a lousy fucking candidate”: Stuart Spencer, unpublished interview with Stuart Middleton, University of Queensland, November 5, 2010.
“I’ll tell you what coloreds want”: “Rolling Stone’s Biggest Scoops, Exposés and Controversies,” June 24, 2010.
“Cheney and I slept in his office”: Spencer, Middleton interview.
“as cold and arrogant”: Ford, A Time to Heal, p. 414.
“avoided the word ‘Republican’ ”: MacDougall, We Almost Made It, p. 197.
“With a Southerner leading the ticket”: Undated, unsigned memo in Dick Cheney’s files, Ford Library, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0005/1561621.pdf.
reached nearly 20 percent: The concept of a “misery index” was devised in the 1970s by Arthur Okun, who served as a White House economist under Lyndon Johnson and later worked at the Brookings Institution. Ron Nessen, “The Brookings Institution’s Arthur Okun—Father of the ‘Misery Index,’ ” December 17, 2018, https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-brookings-institutions-arthur-okun-father-of-the-misery-index/.
by 15 percentage points: Gallup survey, August 27–30, 1976. Carter had 51 percent to Ford’s 36 percent, http://news.gallup.com/poll/23995/Gerald-Ford-Retrospective.aspx#1.
“almost like robots”: Jimmy Carter, interview with Jim Lehrer. “Debating Our Destiny,” PBS, April, 28, 1989, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/spc/debatingourdestiny/interviews/carter.html.
36 percent of Americans: Handwritten notes on memo on White House stationery, September 24, 1976, Princeton archive.
Ford had pared Carter’s lead: “Carter Margin in Gallup Poll Is Cut to 50–42,” New York Times, October 1, 1976.
“an agreement that the Russians”: Transcript, Gerald Ford vs. Jimmy Carter presidential debate, October 6, 1976, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=6414.
“heart sank into my shoes”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 20.
“Cheney and I were spastic”: Spencer, Miller Center oral history.
“Dick and I say, ‘Goddamn’ ”: Ibid.
“perspired heavily”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 20.
“there was an air of exhilaration”: Stuart E. Eizenstat, President Carter, p. 60.
“The data had totally flipped”: Lukens interview.
“We came within two inches”: Spencer, Miller Center oral history.
“We had anticipated it more”: James A. Baker III, unpublished interview with Stuart Middleton, University of Queensland, November 8, 2010.
“How did we handle it?”: Spencer, Middleton interview.
“To take the pardon issue on”: Doug Bailey, unpublished interview with Stuart Middleton, University of Queensland, November 18, 2010.
7 percent of Republicans: Spencer, Middleton interview.
“We have come from a point”: Transcript, Issues and Answers, ABC News, October 24, 1976.
“If he had traveled down to some”: Gerald R. Ford, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice, May 23, 2006.
“Not one of the president’s speeches”: MacDougall, We Almost Made It, p. 198.
“I’m feeling good about America”: Unaired Ford campaign “Cherry Bomb” commercial, posted by PBS on YouTube, November 12, 2012, courtesy of Ford Library, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mILEkcrHvQ.
“Neither the cherry bombs”: Ibid.
“If you know or are 90 percent certain”: Bailey oral history.
“nutty, absolutely screwy”: Kaufman, Ambition, Pragmatism and Party, p. 298.
“If the former Georgia Governor”: Witcover, Marathon, pp. 634–35.
“I resented one thing he did”: Jimmy Carter, author interview.
“I quit smoking”: James Baker interview.
48 percent of the popular vote: Election of 1992, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1976.
nine thousand voters in Ohio and Hawaii: Ibid. Carter won Ohio by 11,116 votes and Hawaii by 7,372 votes, for a combined margin of 18,488, meaning that if as few as 9,244 Carter voters had gone for Ford divided correctly between the two states, they would have flipped. Ohio’s twenty-five electoral votes and Hawaii’s four would have boosted Ford’s total to 270 over 268 for Carter. This assumes that a rogue Ford elector from Washington State who cast a protest vote for Ronald Reagan would have stuck with Ford to reach the 270 needed.
“it would be very hard”: Baker, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” pp. 70–71.
“He was right, of course”: Ibid.
“If he hadn’t pardoned Nixon”: James Baker interview. Over the years that followed, the country, and history, looked more generously on Ford’s decision. By the time he died in 2006, even some of his fiercest critics came to believe he had been right. Roger Wilkins, then a New York Times editorial writer who repeatedly condemned Ford over the pardon, wrote a letter to the former president just a month before his death to say he had changed his mind. “Ford was right,” Wilkins said shortly after the president passed away. Representative David Obey, a Democrat from Wisconsin, had thought at the time that the pardon was “the absolutely wrong thing to do,” but later concluded that Ford “served as a healing agent for the country.” Peter Baker, “38th President Leaves a Legacy of Healing,” Washington Post, December 28, 2006.
“The best man did not win”: James A. Baker III, letter to Gerald R. Ford, November 4, 1976, Ford Library.
“You were superb”: Gerald R. Ford, letter to James A. Baker III, November 18, 1976, Ford Library.
“I was determined that the investigations”: James Baker interview.
“When I found out there”: Spencer interview.
“He did one superb job”: Ford oral history.
“Grandma, what are those flags”: Audio recording of Houston Chamber of Commerce debate, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
“bitten by the bug”: James Baker, author interview.
“He probably saw it”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“reacquainted baby”: James Baker interview.
“They’re not printable”: Marjorie Williams, “He Doesn’t Waste a Lot of Time on Guilt,” Washington Post, January 29, 1989. Also in Marjorie Williams, Reputation, p. 65.
“One smart thing”: Ibid.
“Jim Baker’s election”: Undated campaign memo with answers to potential questions, Princeton archive.
“He never said, ‘and then’ ”: Charlie Black, author interview.
“Down here, Reagan routed us”: Ibid.
“a little suspicious”: Frank Donatelli, James A. Baker Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“It’s clear he did not have”: Frank Donatelli, author interview.
“My first impression”: Donatelli interview.
“Keep eye contact”: James Baker, notes on draft of talk to the League of United Latin American Citizens, July 22, 1978, Princeton archive.
eventually threatened to burn: Tony Kornheiser, “Cutting Chaff and Shooting Straight with Jim Baker,” Washington Post, January 18, 1981.
“candidate who brings his own baby”: Laurence I. Barrett, Gambling with History, p. 382.
“I can remember their shooting”: Doug Baker interview.
“If the Republicans had not fielded”: Transcript of interview with Bob Bullock, State Capital Dateline, February 1978.
“We were competing”: Pete Roussel, author interview.
“He’s arrogant, shallow”: Undated Baker campaign memo accompanying newspaper clips from February and March 1978, Princeton archive.
“Daniel May well be”: April 1978 political guide, Texas Monthly, p. 119.
“I didn’t know who the hell”: Mark White, author interview.
“There’s not much question”: Earl Newlin, “White, Baker Address Press Club,” Port Arthur News, February 23, 1978.
52 percent to 48 percent: White won 850,979 votes to 778,889 for Price. Dick J. Reavis, “A Death in the Family,” D Magazine, August 1981. Two years later, at the age of thirty-nine, Daniel was shot to death at home by his second wife, Vickie, a former Dairy Queen waitress. She was charged with murder but acquitted after she testified that Daniel beat her during an argument about their pending divorce and she accidentally fired a gun at him. The story later became a made-for-television movie called Bed of Lies. “Wife Acquitted in Death of a Politician,” Associated Press, October 31, 1981, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/31/us/around-the-nation-wife-acquitted-in-death-of-a-politician-in-texas.html.
“By all rights, he should”: Jim Cicconi, “Opposition and Issues Report,” May 8, 1978, Princeton archive.
8.6 percent of the more: Survey by Arthur J. Finkelstein & Associates, May/June 1978, Princeton archive.
“Jim Baker,”: Finkelstein concluded: Ibid.
“I’ve been busting my ass”: Frank Donatelli, author interview.
“One had the feeling”: Jonathan Bush, author interview.
“I plunged out of the car”: Ibid.
“Personally I oppose abortion”: Campaign issues binder, Princeton archive.
“No,” Baker’s aides wrote: Letter drafted by James Baker aides to David Higdon, May 24, 1978, Princeton archive.
“This doesn’t square”: James Baker, handwritten note, May 24, 1978, Princeton archive.
“I feel that consenting adults”: Campaign issues binder.
“I would be very concerned”: Ibid.
Of the office’s 14,922 pending cases: Jim Cicconi, memo to James Baker, January 27, 1978, Princeton archive.
Over the previous fifteen years: Texas Crime Rates 1960–2016, http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/txcrime.htm.
One poll showed that: Texas Crime Poll, Texas Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, Fall 1977.
“I believe the fundamental problem”: Patrick Martinets, “Candidate Assails System of Justice,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 22, 1978.
“specific instances where”: James Baker, memo to Pete Roussel, Jim Cicconi, and Frank Donatelli, March 22, 1978, Princeton archive.
thirty-seven-page position paper: Houston Chronicle, September 6, 1978.
“My opponent, Mark White”: Marjorie Williams, “Jim Baker Is Smooth, Shrewd, Tough and Cooly Ambitious. That’s Why Washington Loves Him,” Washington Post, January 29, 1989.
“If you write me off”: Memo, Dary Stone to David Dean, Nola Haerle, Steve Some, Bill Clements campaign, August 7, 1978, Bill Clements papers, http://tx.clementspapers.org/clementstx/88222?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=f8d5884da0174265e308&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=2 [inactive].
“You should be aware”: Ibid.
“Hey, no more debates”: White interview.
“That was, sort of, the beginning”: Michael Deaver, James A. Baker Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“George Bush is my friend”: Baker interview.
“You’re never going to”: John Baker, author interview.
“Most of the problems for Texas”: Dee Steer, “White Criticizes Opponent Baker,” Tyler Morning Telegraph, September 7, 1978.
“He’s come down here from”: “Mark White Blasts ‘Unemployed Baker,” Associated Press, printed in Daily Telegram of Temple, Texas, September 11, 1978.
“our chief vulnerability”: Cicconi, “Opposition and Issues Report.”
“He went through the roof”: White interview.
“a killer issue”: Cicconi interview.
“May I ask which party?”: Cheryl Coggins, “Baker Attracts Demo Voters,” San Antonio Express-News, October 15, 1978.
“almost as if Baker had just admitted”: Ibid.
“He was the worst retail politician”: Jim Barlow, author interview.
“We would be walking through”: Ibid.
“The Chronicle was protecting”: Ibid.
“I’ve always thought Baker”: Ibid.
Baker took 999,431 votes: Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
“Jimmy is the only one”: Fred McClure, author interview.
“Baker was a great politician”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“does not mean his exit”: Jim Barlow, “Jim Baker’s Defeat Tuesday Doesn’t Mean He Will Be Leaving Politics,” Houston Chronicle, November 11, 1978.
“Bush cannot look too hungry”: Undated memo, Baker files, Princeton archive.
the Asterisk Club: Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes, p. 790.
“I had read Hamilton Jordan’s book”: James Baker, author interview.
“central casting’s idea”: James Baker, George H. W. Bush Oral History Project, Miller Center, January 29, 2000.
“lifelong Republican”: Adam Clymer, “Bush, with a Promise of ‘Candor,’ Declares His G.O.P. Candidacy,” New York Times, May 2, 1979.
“principled, stable leadership”: Ibid.
“George, you’ve got to stop”: James Baker, author interview.
“We didn’t have a big gang”: Pete Teeley, author interview.
“He doesn’t pretend to be”: David Keene, author interview.
“He didn’t want to be”: Ibid.
“George Bush is a wonderful guy”: Ibid.
“Mount Vesuvius of press secretaries”: Matt Schudel, “Vic Gold, GOP Consultant and Writer Who Reveled in Political Theater, Dies at 88,” Washington Post, June 7, 2017.
“Vic was a sideshow”: Teeley interview.
“shouting match”: James Baker, handwritten note to Jonathan Bush, February 13, 1980, Princeton archive.
“I am sick and tired”: Ibid.
“Forget about my comment”: James Baker, memo to George Bush, February 14, 1980, Princeton archive.
“I have refereed my last argument”: James Baker, memo to Jonathan Bush, Bob Mosbacher, and Fred Bush, February 14, 1980, Princeton archive.
“Let’s put our differences”: Jonathan Bush, handwritten note to James Baker, April 9, 1980, Princeton archive.
“The hatchet is buried”: James Baker, handwritten note to Jonathan Bush, April 11, 1980, Princeton archive.
“Pres, that’s not what we’re”: James Baker interview.
“There are no amateurs”: Ibid.
Bush even called Fitzgerald: Susan Page, The Matriarch, pp. 103–4.
Both denied it: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 310.
“He’s a loser”: Karl Rove, author interview. See also Rove’s Courage and Consequence, p. 51, where Rove wrote that Fitzgerald also trashed both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. “We have a candidate who’s a loser, who’s got a son who’s a loser and now we’ve got a campaign manager who’s a loser,” he quoted her saying.
“She thought she was”: Keene interview.
“Have worst of all worlds”: James Baker, undated notes on envelope, Princeton archive. In response to a message from the authors, Fitzgerald sent an email saying, “I greatly respect and admire Mr. Baker. He is an amazing gentleman.” She did not respond to a follow-up email detailing specific incidents.
“She wants to run the campaign”: James Baker, handwritten notes, May 6, 1979, Princeton archive.
“Honey, you have to talk”: Susan Baker and James Baker, author interview.
“I’ll make it sound like”: Margot Hornblower, “Former ‘Asterisk’ Bush Basks in New Attention,” Washington Post, January 23, 1980.
“The impossible dream”: Caucus Iowa.
“I suppose I am out of the”: Walter R. Mear, Associated Press, January 22, 1980.
“In Iowa, we defined”: Baker interview.
“You’re not out there”: Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, Blue Smoke & Mirrors, p. 119.
“The clean fingernail Republican”: Hornblower, “Former ‘Asterisk’ Bush Basks in New Attention.”
“We propose this one-on-one encounter”: Jon L. Breen, letter to Bush campaign, February 11, 1980, Princeton archive.
“Jim soon became an asterisk”: Susan G. Baker, Passing It On, p. 53.
“I complained to him once”: Tony Kornheiser, “Cutting Chaff and Shooting Straight with Jim Baker,” Washington Post, January 18, 1981.
“I hope you each know”: James Baker, typed letter to Jamie, Mike, John, and Doug Baker, February 19, 1980, Princeton archive.
“It doesn’t work that way”: Germond and Witcover, Blue Smoke & Mirrors, p. 127.
“It’s important that we have”: Baker interview.
“None of us tried to”: Ibid.
“Turn Mr. Reagan’s microphone off”: Reagan’s Nashua Moment, video posted on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO2_49TycdE.
“I’ll get you someday”: Craig Shirley, Rendezvous with Destiny, p. 154.
“You’re never going to forget this”: Baker interview.
“After the debate”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald Strober, Reagan, p. 21.
Baker ran into David Broder: Baker interview.
“I don’t think any of us appreciated”: Ibid.
50 percent of the vote: Bill Peterson and Robert G. Kaiser, “The Eagle’s Nose Dive,”: Washington Post, March 22, 1980.
“What I’m saying is”: George H. W. Bush, speech, Carnegie Mellon University, April 10, 1980. Later, as vice president in 1982, Bush claimed he had never actually used the phrase “voodoo economics” and said no network had been able to find footage of him uttering it. Ken Bode at NBC News took up the challenge and unearthed a clip of the speech, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8hnM6xNjeU.
list of banned words: Kornheiser, “Cutting Chaff and Shooting Straight with Jim Baker.”
“It was a very good negative ad”: Ibid.
“Pete, you’ve got to be”: Teeley interview.
“Make sure Teeley doesn’t”: Ibid.
“Even with a Pennsylvania win”: Rich Bond, memo to James Baker, April 16, 1980, Princeton archive.
Bush did go on to beat Reagan: David S. Broder, “Bush Wins Pa.; Democratic Race Tight,” Washington Post, April 23, 1980.
“Bush’s major objectives”: Unsigned campaign memo, May 1, 1980, Princeton archive.
“I have never wanted to”: Bill Frenzel, letter to James Baker, May 14, 1980, Princeton archive.
Reagan had secured 870 delegates: Unsigned campaign memo, May 19, 1980, Princeton archive.
Bush prevailed in Michigan: Bill Peterson, “Bush Scores Upset Victory in Michigan Primary,” Washington Post, May 21, 1980.
They were running out of money: M. O. Hesse, memo to James Baker, May 12, 1980, Princeton archive.
“Jim turned off the phones”: Keene interview.
“If you can’t do California”: Bill Peterson and David S. Broder, “Bush All but Abandons California Race, Plans Think Session,” Washington Post, May 23, 1980.
“Baker says you don’t have”: Meacham, Destiny and Power, pp. 236–38.
“What in the hell”: James Baker interview.
“George, I think it’s time”: Meacham, Destiny and Power, pp. 236–38.
“I WILL NEVER GIVE UP”: Ibid.
“He is the most competitive guy”: James Baker interview.
“Jimmy wasn’t on the road”: Kornheiser, “Cutting Chaff and Shooting Straight with Jim Baker.”
“We still have a shot at it”: George Bush, Looking Forward, pp. 3–4.
“That gives you one hell”: James Baker interview.
“He had a hell of a tough job”: Nick Brady, author interview. Pete Teeley remembered that “there was a bit of friction there” particularly between “Barbara and Baker.” Teeley interview.
“My instinct was to keep fighting”: Douglas E. Kneeland, “Bush Says He’ll Quit Active Campaigning, Ending 2-Year Quest,” New York Times, May 27, 1980.
“I may have been mad”: Page, The Matriarch, p. 120.
He won seven contests: Bush won in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, along with the territory of Puerto Rico.
“I was so relieved”: Susan Baker, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“We had been married seven years”: Susan Baker interview.
sounded like more of a “co-presidency”: Haynes Johnson, David S. Broder, Lou Cannon, Bill Peterson, Martin Schram, and Felicity Barringer, “The Cement Just Wouldn’t Set on GOP’s Alliance,” Washington Post, July 17, 1980.
“No, that’s not right”: Richard Allen, author interview. Also Richard V. Allen, “George Herbert Walker Bush: The Accidental Vice President,” New York Times Magazine, July 30, 2000.
“Who else is there?”: Ibid.
“Hold everything”: Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 252.
“It’s not over yet”: Louise Sweeney, “Reagan’s Velvet Hammer,” Christian Science Monitor, January 2, 1981. Bruce Gelb, a Bush campaign worker, later gave Baker a framed medallion with a red, white, and blue ribbon emblazoned “Baker Says It’s Not Over Yet.”
“Is Ambassador Bush there?”: Germond and Witcover, Blue Smoke & Mirrors, pp. 188–89.
“George’s exodus was timely”: Paul Laxalt, Nevada’s Paul Laxalt, p. 312.
“What should I ask for?”: Keene interview.
“the Reagan team was in charge”: Margaret Tutwiler, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project.
“Jim Baker is the biggest phony”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 19.
combined rate reaching about 20 percent: In October 1980, inflation was 12.3 percent and unemployment was 7.5 percent. Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet.
“We can’t run out the clock”: Germond and Witcover, Blue Smoke & Mirrors, pp. 270–72.
“a stubborn man”: Bill Peterson, “Anderson’s Trying Days,” Washington Post, October 2, 1980.
Baker gave Reagan a card: Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, The Acting President, p. 81.
“It sort of wiped Anderson out”: James Baker interview.
Within fifteen minutes: Kathryn J. McGarr, The Whole Damn Deal, p. 264.
“We were outfoxed by Jim Baker”: Stuart E. Eizenstat, President Carter, p. 878.
“His confidence in his candidate”: Ibid., p. 873.
“He out-traded the people”: Jimmy Carter, author interview.
“You are moderate”: Debate Briefing Materials, Hoover Institution archive.
“Nancy looking daggers”: David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power, p. 162.
“Reagan looked relaxed”: Hamilton Jordan, Crisis, p. 355.
“There you go again”: Presidential debate, October 28, 1980, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN7gDRjTNf4.
“Are you better off”: Ibid.
“Carter on the issues”: Stuart Spencer, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, November 15–16, 2001.
“Are you serious?”: Tutwiler, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training oral history.
“What are you getting me into?”: Stuart Spencer, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center.
“Reagan’s geographer”: Lou Cannon, Governor Reagan, p. 328.
“Ed Meese couldn’t organize”: Stuart Spencer, author interview.
“a bumbling idiot”: Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, The Acting President, p. 79.
“the guy who carried the suitcases”: Ibid.
“Yes,” Deaver answered: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, pp. 124–25.
“Dad looks at half a glass”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, p. 52.
“jump-off-the-cliff”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 240.
“He was well mannered”: Fred Ryan, author interview.
“Baker met her image”: Ed Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 86–88.
“Oh no, no, no”: Spencer interview.
“You’ll guarantee he’ll work”: Ibid.
“If you become burdened”: Michael Deaver, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, September 12, 2002.
“I don’t know whether I can”: Ibid.
51 percent of the popular vote: The American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1980.
Reagan won 27 percent: “How Groups Voted in 1980,” Roper Center for Public Opinion, https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted-1980/ [inactive].
picked up thirty-five seats: Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives, http://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/Senate Historical Office, United States Senate. https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm.
“Let’s Make America Great Again”: “Political Ad: ‘Let’s Make America Great Again,’ Reagan, 1980.” Political Advertisement, New York, N.Y.; NBC Universal, November 28, 1979. Accessed January 17, 2015 from NBC Learn: https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/browse/?cuecard=4263 [inactive].
“I woke up and I just cried”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“The president’s going to talk”: Schieffer and Gates, Acting President, p. 81.
“I want you to be my chief of staff”: James Baker, author interview.
“He really believes in saving face”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
had it typed up: Typewritten list of duties and responsibilities, signed by James Baker and Edwin Meese, November 19, 1980, Princeton archive.
“I don’t want you in the room”: Deaver, Miller Center oral history.
“Attend any meeting which”: List of duties.
“I thought it over”: Ed Meese, author interview.
“OK—JAB III”: List of duties.
“It will become obvious”: Douglas E. Kneeland, “A Tough but Tactful Tactician,” New York Times, November 15, 1980.
“In the White House, cabinet rank”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 62.
“Mike and Jim Baker hit it off”: Margaret Tutwiler, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project.
“I went ballistic”: Spencer, Miller Center oral history.
“Now that did piss off”: Pete Teeley, author interview.
“Baker had a very different agenda”: Richard Viguerie, author interview.
“bad mouthing JAB”: Margaret Tutwiler, memo to Baker, undated on Office of the President-Elect stationery, taking dictation from Pete Teeley, Baker personal files.
“I was a sop”: Lyn Nofziger, Nofziger, p. 271.
“Can’t I just be”: Elisabeth Bumiller, “Margaret Tutwiler, at Crisis Central,” Washington Post, October 9, 1984.
“Reagan pretty much gave”: James Baker interview.
“Baker had all these lieutenants”: David Gergen, author interview.
“one of the most powerful alliances”: Schieffer and Gates, The Acting President, pp. 86–87.
“The worst thing Baker did”: Viguerie interview.
conversation with a political scientist: James A. Baker III, interview with A. James Reichley, December 15, 1980, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.
“Let me tell you something”: James Baker interview.
“Mr. President, I’ve given him”: Susan Baker interview.
“What if Sherman Adams died”: Michael Medved, The Shadow Presidents, p. 212.
roughly two-thirds bigger: The White House had roughly three hundred budgeted staff positions and others detailed from various departments at the beginning of Eisenhower’s presidency and roughly five hundred when Reagan came into office. Samuel Kernell and Samuel L. Popkin, Chief of Staff, p. 201.
“This is a tough job”: James Baker, letter to Mark White, December 6, 1980, Princeton archive.
“What happened to Jordan”: Richard Cohen, “Unfair Battering Taken by Hamilton Jordan,” Washington Post, December 7, 1980.
“Per JAB: clip & save”: Copy of Cohen column, with handwritten note dated December 9, 1980, Princeton archive.
“Restore power and authority”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” pp. 137–38.
“honest broker”: Handwritten notes, Princeton archive.
“Rumsfeld’s Rules”: “Rumsfeld’s Rules for ‘The Assistant to the President,’ ” Princeton archive.
“He had one of the best antenna”: Gergen interview.
“velvet hammer”: Louise Sweeney, “Reagan’s Velvet Hammer,” Christian Science Monitor, January 2, 1981.
“In the present crisis”: Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981, American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43130 [inactive].
“a respectable seven”: William Safire, “The Land Is Bright,” New York Times, January 22, 1981.
“no brilliant Hollywood producer”: James Reston, “Reagan’s Dramatic Success,” New York Times, January 21, 1981.
“About to inherit worst economic mess”: Chris Whipple, The Gatekeepers, p. 109.
“We thought he was a nut”: James Baker, author interview.
“We honestly thought he was”: Ibid.
“Jim had tremendous respect”: John Rogers, author interview.
“He was the most warmly ruthless man”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, p. 45.
“He wasn’t buddy-buddy”: Ed Meese interview.
“but he does not give back”: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 104.
“Neither one of them let”: Rogers interview.
“How many people do you know”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“Sounds great”: Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, The Acting President, p. 91.
“I ran the campaign that”: James Baker interview.
“Jimmy didn’t kiss his ass”: Stuart Spencer, author interview.
“He could have a wicked tongue”: Karen Morgan, author interview.
“that fucking Arab”: James Baker interview.
“What is the difference”: Transcript, MacNeil/Lehrer Report, January 26, 1981.
“didn’t seem too worried”: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 86.
“It was terrible”: Rogers interview.
“very sure of his authority”: Alexander M. Haig Jr., Caveat, pp. 74–75.
“reluctant to reveal”: Ibid., p. 83.
“the second most important person”: Martin Schram, “Inside Ed Meese Runs a Law-and-Order Streak,” Washington Post, March 15, 1981.
“Every single day Ed Meese”: Lou Cannon, President Reagan, p. 184.
“One by one, Baker gathered”: Haig, Caveat, p. 83.
“to go talk to Haig”: James Baker interview.
“He just had contempt for anyone”: Richard Allen, author interview.
“That didn’t go down real well”: James Baker interview.
“Baker’s a quicker study than Meese”: Allen interview.
“dogged critique of the paper”: Haig, Caveat, pp. 76–77.
“were disappearing in a haze”: Ibid.
“the vicar of American foreign policy”: George Gedda, “Haig Sworn in as ‘Vicar’ of Foreign Policy,” Associated Press, January 22, 1981.
“a lack of enthusiasm”: Bernard Gwertzman, “Haig Opposes Plan for New Bush Role but Reagan Moves,” New York Times, March 25, 1981.
“would never have dared”: Haig, Caveat, pp. 80–82.
“schoolboyish habit of scribbling”: Ibid., p. 83.
“How did we get to WW III”: James Baker personal files.
“A. Haig’s Relative Degrees of Crises”: Ibid.
“go to the source”: Don Oberdorfer and John M. Goshko, “U.S. Gives Warning on Cuba-Salvador Arms Flow; Haig Warns U.S. Will ‘Go to the Source’ to Block Arms to Salvador,” Washington Post, February 22, 1981.
“Give me the word”: Cannon, President Reagan, p. 196.
“In essence, he said, ‘Al, we agree’ ”: David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power, p. 172.
“He just thought he was crazy”: Allen interview.
should have three priorities: Cannon, President Reagan, p. 107.
“Let me tell you something”: Michael Deaver, James A. Baker Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice, January 30, 2007.
“Baker was constantly keeping”: Hedrick Smith interview.
“Shit detector”: Ibid.
“Do you know what’s happened”: Tom Matthews, “Reagan’s Close Call,” Newsweek, April 13, 1981.
“We don’t know what”: Del Quentin Wilber, Rawhide Down, p. 107.
“It doesn’t look good”: Michael K. Deaver, A Different Drummer, p. 137.
“P hit/fighting”: Wilber, Rawhide Down, pp. 112–13.
“It looks quite serious”: Herbert L. Abrams, The President Has Been Shot, p. 84.
“Now, he was ghostly pale”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” pp. 142–44.
“Who’s minding the store?”: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 21.
“Doctors believe bleeding”: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, pp. 9–10.
“that the President is unable”: United States Constitution, Twenty-fifth Amendment.
“I didn’t want people thinking”: James Baker, author interview
“I never talked to him”: Ibid.
“This thing is out of control”: Wilber, Rawhide Down, p. 186.
“Constitutionally, gentlemen”: Video of Haig news conference, March 30, 1981, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUKW0fL-OqY. See also Steven R. Weisman, “Bush Flies Back from Texas Set to Take Charge in Crisis,” New York Times, March 31, 1981.
mockery, including within the White House: Baker was forgiving of Haig’s performance and defended him on television afterward. “Al Haig served the country well on March 30, 1981,” Baker wrote in his memoir years after the fact. “At a very difficult time for our nation, he assured the people—on balance and despite the gaffe—that all was well.” Baker, “Work Hard,” pp. 148–49. Not everyone was convinced. Reviewing that line in a draft of the memoir, Margaret Tutwiler jotted in the margin a note to Baker: “Why are you saying this? Do you really believe this?” She did not think so. And she had a point. While working on the memoir, Baker dismissed Haig. “He did such a shitty job,” he told his ghostwriter, Tom DeFrank, in an unpublished interview, April 29, 1993, Princeton archive.
“The president is in good shape”: Wilber, Rawhide Down, pp. 189–90.
“I think that’s fine”: Ibid.
“I got criticized roundly”: James Baker interview.
“it turned out to be absolutely”: Ibid.
“I want to tell you”: Laurence I. Barrett, Gambling with History, p. 106.
“I am aren’t alive aren’t I”: Peggy Noonan, When Character Was King, p. 188.
“I should have known”: Matthews, “Reagan’s Close Call.”
“What makes you think”: Howell Raines, “Reagan Making Good Recovery, Signs a Bill; White House Working, Bush Assures Senate,” New York Times, April 1, 1981.
“I had hoped it was a KGB agent”: Wilber, Rawhide Down, p. 215.
“The vice president is not”: James Baker interview.
“I want you to stay here”: Max Friedersdorf, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, October 22, 2002, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/max-friedersdorf-oral-history-assistant-president.
“God bless you, Mr. President”: Chris Matthews, Tip and the Gipper, p. 73.
“closer to death than”: Tip O’Neill, Man of the House, p. 336.
“Speaker O’Neill will never be”: Richard Williamson memo to David Gergen, December 29, 1980, Princeton archive.
“That was the minor leagues”: O’Neill, Man of the House, p. 332.
“an exceptionally congenial”: Ibid., p. 401.
“We need to get back”: Agenda for April 6, 1981, Princeton archive.
rose from 55 percent: Gallup poll data collected by the American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php?pres=40.
“The honeymoon has ended”: David S. Broder, “Reagan Shot: End of a Dream,” Washington Post, April 1, 1981.
“Nobody was ever better”: Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 112.
“It didn’t matter how much”: Ed Rogers, author interview.
“Deaver and Baker had the attitude”: William Clark, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, August 17, 2003, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/william-p-clark-oral-history-assistant-president.
“Poppin’ Fresh, the doughboy”: Speakes, Speaking Out, pp. 90–91.
Baker and Deaver “were furious”: Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, The Acting President, pp. 112–13.
“It isn’t really undercutting Meese”: Hedrick Smith, author interview.
“Jim Baker looked like the efficient”: David Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, p. 45.
“You’d walk into his office”: Smith interview.
“Okay, what’s our story today”: Helene Von Damm, At Reagan’s Side, p. 180.
“You could pretty well”: Lou Cannon, author interview.
“Darman and I were sometimes”: David Gergen, author interview.
“He would say, ‘That’s a good’ ”: Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 95.
“It was a tortured process”: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 95.
“Candor and gentle persuasion”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 128.
“Almost all the other great leakers”: Marlin Fitzwater, author interview.
“I got the reputation”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, May 12, 1993, Princeton archive.
“Baker is one of the great leakers”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, p. 108.
“The Baker team were masters”: Ed Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 90–92.
“I would say that generally”: Ed Meese, author interview.
“It’s inappropriate for you”: Lesley Stahl, Reporting Live, pp. 166–67. According to the journalist Ann Devroy, the joke almost got out of control when a cameraman overheard Stahl taping her fake piece and tipped off Sam Donaldson of ABC News. ABC reporters fanned out on Capitol Hill trying to confirm it and Donaldson got through to Baker, who denied it but got suspicious as a result. See Devroy, “Prank News Report Has Press Buzzing, Reagan Laughing,” USA Today.
“He always had the longer checklist”: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 174.
“His staff would tell him he”: Ibid., pp. 134–35.
“He was absolutely tenacious”: Ibid., p. 127.
“He doesn’t ask you to come in”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“It was the main policymaking”: Kenneth Duberstein, author interview.
“a creature of the center”: Richard Darman, Who’s In Control?, p. 21.
“That gives my dad”: Jonathan Darman, author interview.
“Reagan’s in-box”: Evan Thomas, “Remembering Dick Darman,” Newsweek, January 24, 2008.
“He screams and throws paper”: Marlin Fitzwater, Call the Briefing!, p. 98.
“He was the only guy”: Stuart Spencer, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, November 15–16, 2001.
“a man whose talents”: Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 90–92.
“Dick was somewhat insecure”: Gergen interview.
“easily the most disliked man”: Martin Anderson, Revolution, p. 240.
“Is The Big Tax Cut Dead?”: Steven F. Hayward, “This Day in Gipper History,” National Review, March 30, 2011.
“was a fly in New Deal amber”: Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, p. 236.
“potentially gettable Democrats”: Darman, Who’s In Control?, p. 86.
“What’s happening to me”: Tony Kornheiser, “Tip O’Neill’s Toughest Inning: The Sermon on the Mount,” Washington Post, May 31, 1981.
“Leak story that White House”: Unsigned memo, May 6, 1981, Princeton archive.
“could well ignite an inferno”: Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, p. 188.
“They wanted the president”: James Baker interview.
“If there’s any doubt”: Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, p. 189.
“I was furious”: Ibid.
“Jim Baker carried around a bazooka”: Ibid., p. 13.
“He knew you were never”: Karen Morgan, author interview.
“Jim Baker made a few private runs”: Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, pp. 245–46.
“We stroked and we stroked”: Matthews, Tip and the Gipper, p. 126.
“Jim kept saying to me”: Duberstein interview.
“They put only one legislative ball”: O’Neill, Man of the House, p. 342.
“Not helpful”: Richard Williamson, memorandum to James Baker, July 23, 1981, Princeton archive. Asked by the authors, Baker said he did not remember referring to them as “kooks” but acknowledged he could have.
“Reagan shares the view”: Robert D. Novak, Prince of Darkness, pp. 370–71.
“With this, I burned bridges”: Ibid.
“the air crackled”: Sara Fritz, memorandum to colleagues, May 4, 1982, recording the party from the previous evening. Sara Fritz papers, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
“Dear Friend of Ronald Reagan”: Clymer L. Wright Jr., letter to Republicans, May 14, 1982, Princeton archive.
“Yes, there is undermining”: Ronald Reagan, letter to Clymer Wright, May 18, 1982, Princeton archive.
“Well—outa oily south Texas”: Lyrics, “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim,” Princeton archive.
“The ceaseless sniping”: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 128.
“I never knew until just”: Peggy Noonan, author interview.
“The accusation used to drive me crazy”: Stuart Spencer, author interview.
“On matters of policy”: David Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, p. 83.
“Frankly, we weren’t in a position”: Richard Viguerie, author interview.
“we would have not”: Noonan interview.
“tower over it like Ichabod Crane”: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, pp. 300–302.
“I want you to go into”: Ibid., pp. 308–9.
“the highest negatives of any candidate”: Elisabeth Bumiller, “Ed Rollins, Out on Front,” Washington Post, December 19, 1983.
“You’ve gotta go to the woodshed”: Ed Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 100–102.
“Now goddamnit, you walk out”: Ibid.
“the left was inherently totalitarian”: Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, pp. 1–2.
“a spare and stingy creature”: Ibid., p. 8.
“Trojan horse to bring down”: William Greider, “The Education of David Stockman,” Atlantic Monthly, December 1981 (published in November).
“David Stockman stuck a knife”: Michael K. Deaver, Nancy, p. 99.
“in that deliberate, dispassionate”: Helene Von Damm, At Reagan’s Side, p. 223.
“He didn’t like to fire people”: Ed Meese, author interview.
“I want you to listen up good”: Lou Cannon, President Reagan, pp. 261–63.
“The menu is humble pie”: Ibid.
“was politically disappointed”: Robert Kimmitt, author interview.
“It is not the business”: Ronald Reagan, News Conference, October 1, 1981, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=44327.
“We knew we had to win”: Kimmitt interview.
“ill served by a staff”: Charles Mohr, “Senate, 52–48, Supports Reagan on AWACS Jet Sale to Saudis; Heavy Lobbying Tips Key Votes,” New York Times, October 21, 1981.
“not-quite-national-security adviser”: David Rothkopf, Running the World, p. 224.
“regarded by his colleagues”: Alexander M. Haig Jr., Caveat, p. 85.
“I could see he had”: Richard Allen, author interview.
“decay of the Soviet experiment”: Ronald Reagan, Address to Members of the British Parliament, June 8, 1982, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42614.
“a witches’ brew of intrigue”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 26.
“What an ego!”: Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 96.
“I used to describe Al Haig”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, p. 86.
“I was convinced that”: Michael Deaver, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia.
He ordered the American ambassador: Patrick Tyler, A World of Trouble, p. 265.
“To me, the White House”: Haig, Caveat, p. 85.
“That son of a bitch”: Richard Reeves, President Reagan, p. 111.
“Happy birthday Jim”: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 172.
“trying to irritate”: Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 97.
“Clark told me that James Baker”: Haig, Caveat, pp. 300–301.
“decided that Haig was not”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, May 1993, Princeton archive.
“in a manner that seemed”: Robert C. McFarlane, Special Trust, pp. 199–200.
“At least he’s got a window”: Laurence I. Barrett, Gambling with History, pp. 240–41.
“with a white-knuckled animus”: McFarlane, Special Trust, pp. 199–200.
“I assumed that he”: Alexander M. Haig Jr., Inner Circles, p. 547.
“I was in there when”: James Baker, author interview.
“I don’t think anyone”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“We were all high-fiving”: Deaver, Miller Center oral history.
“Whoa there”: Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution, p. 163.
“He gave only one reason”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley, pp. 90–91.
“I was set up”: Tyler, A World of Trouble, p. 281.
“Baker is solely in charge”: Sara Fritz, memo summarizing interview with Fuller, June 17, 1982, Fritz papers.
fallen from 68 percent: Gallup poll data collected by the American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/popularity.php?pres=40.
“All right, goddamn it”: James Baker interview.
“extraordinarily cunning”: Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 86–88.
“among the slickest”: Lyn Nofziger, Nofziger, p. 280.
“The first was taking the job”: Ibid., p. 273.
“I did make a mistake”: James Baker interview.
“Why don’t you ask Lyn”: Nofziger, Nofziger, pp. 312–14.
“There’s your pass”: Ibid.
“He was right and we were wrong”: James Baker interview.
“(1) I’m not running”: Unsigned, undated memorandum showing poll numbers for trial heats in Texas Senate race, Princeton archive.
“Dad, why don’t you run”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“Had to expect that”: Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, p. 110.
“Without saying it”: John Baker, author interview.
“They clearly knew”: Ibid.
released on a $10,000 bond: “James Baker’s Son Arrested,” United Press International, December 10, 1982, https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/10/us/james-baker-s-son-arrested.html.
“It was a BS thing”: James Baker, author interview.
“Just say no”: “Nancy Reagan’s ‘Just Say No’ Campaign,” Addiction.com, July 7, 2012, https://www.addiction.com/6662/nancy-reagans-just-say-no-campaign/ [inactive].
Thirty-four percent of high school students: “Drugs and American High School Students, 1975–1983,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol1_1983.pdf.
“He had to balance”: Doug Baker, author interview.
reached a plea bargain: United Press International dispatch, December 13, 1984, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/12/13/John-C-Baker-son-of-White-House-Chief-of/8615471762000/.
“When I saw my dad”: John Baker interview.
“I think every one of our kids”: James Baker interview.
“Bo was the ringleader”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“people stabbing you in the back”: Chris Whipple, The Gatekeepers, p. 113.
Baker was “the conduit”: Alan Greenspan, author interview.
“This bill demonstrates”: Francis X. Clines, “Pension Changes Signed into Law,” New York Times, April 21, 1983.
“The commission he built was”: Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence, pp. 94–96.
“In our negotiations he was able”: Robert M. Ball, The Greenspan Commission, p. 67.
“as if he had been run over”: David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power, p. 152.
“Fellas, I’ve got a confession”: Ibid.
“Reagan really needed a chief of staff”: Whipple, The Gatekeepers, p. 111.
“rather like a grandfather”: Paul Kengor and Patricia Clark Doerner, The Judge, pp. 151–53.
“Nancy felt terribly guilty”: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, p. 52.
“I was just trying to keep”: James Baker interview.
“Why don’t you go talk”: Whipple, The Gatekeepers, p. 139.
“He also cultivated the press”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, pp. 250–51. That did not keep her from appreciating Baker. After leaving the White House, the two kept in touch and when it came time to plan out her funeral, she asked Baker to deliver a eulogy.
“I think it is important that”: Chase Untermeyer, When Things Went Right, p. 251.
“How long do I have to work”: Ibid.
“out of control, screaming”: Lyn Nofziger, Nofziger, pp. 286–87.
“Lynwood, what are we going to do”: Ibid.
“I think we did what we should”: Allen Pusey, “Aide Assesses Reagan at Midterm: Baker Admits Squabbles, Urges Donovan Resignation,” Dallas Morning News, January 9, 1983.
“Ray Donovan shouldn’t be”: Ibid. Years later, after Donovan left office, he was brought to trial but acquitted of charges of corruption involving his construction company, after which he famously asked, “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”
“inadvertent and regrettable”: James Gerstenzang, “Reagan Voices ‘Full Confidence’ in Donovan,” Associated Press, January 11, 1983.
“Jimmy Baker at year end”: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 288.
“I think he should get out”: Ibid.
“He was thrilled and went charging”: Ibid.
“Let Reagan be Reagan!”: Untermeyer, When Things Went Right, p. 262.
“This always struck me as odd”: Ibid., p. 285.
“legislative wizardry”: “Memo to Judge Clark,” Human Events, April 23, 1983.
“Light reading”: Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 289.
“I want you to know”: Ed Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 120–21.
“So that’s where he went”: Ibid.
“I got in this big argument”: Stuart Spencer, author interview.
“We wanted to get Rollins offline”: James Baker interview.
a 246-word item buried: David Hoffman, “Reagan Staff Had Carter Data Before ’80 Debate, Book Says,” Washington Post, January 9, 1983.
“a Reagan mole in the Carter”: Laurence I. Barrett, Gambling with History, p. 382.
“Baker was really torn apart”: David Keene, author interview.
“I came up through Watergate”: James Baker interview.
“You build a reputation”: Ibid.
“It is my recollection that”: James Baker, draft letter to Don Albosta, “dictated over the telephone,” June 22, 1983, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University.
“I did not know then”: James Baker, final letter to Albosta, June 22, 1983, Hoover archives.
“Say you saw it”: Bob Woodward, Veil, p. 310.
“It put the fear of God in me”: James Baker interview.
“He wasn’t quite suave enough”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 67.
“It was a double mistake”: Ibid.
“Baker was convinced”: Ibid., pp. 165–66.
“God knows what he just approved”: Robert C. McFarlane, Special Trust, p. 283.
“Stop these leaks”: Speakes, Speaking Out, p. 114.
“We should turn this right back”: Ibid.
“Anything Jim Baker says”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 119.
“I term Jim Baker an honest person”: Steve Goldberg, “Debate Prober Backs Baker,” Media General News Service, published in the Richmond News Leader, September 26, 1983.
“It wasn’t worth a damn”: James Baker interview.
But the Post examined it: Martin Schram, “Carter Book Seems to Have Aided Reagan in 1980 Debate,” Washington Post, June 27, 1983.
“Reagan was quite well briefed”: Jimmy Carter, author interview.
“rue the day”: Francis X. Clines, “James Baker: Calling Reagan’s Re-Election Moves,” New York Times Magazine, May 20, 1984.
“It ate away at him”: Jim Cicconi, author interview.
A poll showed that 70 percent: Harris Survey, Louis Harris & Associates, July 14–18, 1983.
“It ain’t fun to see your name”: John W. Mashek, notes from background interview with James Baker, July 8, 1983.
“He had months of hell”: Susan Baker interview.
more believable than Casey’s: Subcommittee on Human Resources, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, “Unauthorized Transfers of Nonpublic Information During the 1980 Presidential Election,”: May 24, 1984, https://archive.org/stream/DebategateReport/Debategate%20Report%20volume%201_djvu.txt.
“professional services”: Craig Shirley, Rendezvous with Destiny, p. 437.
“I was able to call Jim”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“little doubt”: Shirley, Rendezvous with Destiny, p. 607.
“Jim, you succeeded in reviving”: William Casey, draft letter to James Baker, March 25, 1985, Hoover archives.
“gets record straight”: Casey notes, Hoover archives.
“the two most awful things”: Susan Baker interview.
“Baker cared a great deal”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“I’ll be goddamned!”: Francis X. Clines, “James Baker: Calling Reagan’s Re-Election Moves,” New York Times Magazine, May 20, 1984.
“Mr. President, Mike tells me”: James Baker, author interview. Shultz later made a public threat to resign when the idea of a lie detector test came up again two years later. “The minute in this government I am told that I’m not trusted is the day that I leave,” he told a news conference in December 1985. Norman Kempster, “Shultz Says He Will Resign if Ordered to Take Lie Test,” Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1985.
“It’s easy to start a war”: James Baker interview.
“In short,” he wrote: Robert McFarlane, secret memorandum, September 10, 1983, Princeton archive.
“Syrian takeover of this country”: Second McFarlane memorandum, Princeton archive.
“I ask you to use all legitimate means”: Ronald Reagan, memorandum to William French Smith, September 14, 1983, Princeton archive.
“We’re seeking bipartisan support”: Lou Cannon and George C. Wilson, “Reagan Authorizes Marines to Call In Beirut Air Strikes,” Washington Post, September 13, 1983.
“Me”: Copy of article, Princeton archive.
he did not tell the reporter: James Baker, handwritten notes on White House stationery titled “Lou” and dated September 15, 1983, Princeton archive.
“(1) only if all are”: James Baker, handwritten notes on back of White House stationery, titled “Polygraph” and dated September 17, 1983, Princeton archive.
“We did not talk about matters”: Lou Cannon, letter to James Baker, September 28, 1983, Princeton archive.
“There was no leak but a gush”: David Gergen, memorandum, October 4, 1983, Princeton archive.
as close to Reagan as a “brother”: Douglas Martin, “William P. Clark, Influential Adviser in Reagan White House, Is Dead at 81,” New York Times, August 12, 2013.
“That’s how we’re going to”: Michael Deaver, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, September 12, 2002.
“Mr. President, don’t you think”: James Baker interview.
“How do we roll Clark today”: William Clark, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia.
“It was the only time Baker lost”: Paul Kengor and Patricia Clark Doerner, The Judge, pp. 247–48.
“Baker tried to convince her”: Ibid.
“a user” who claimed: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, pp. 242–43.
“not the brightest bulb in the chandelier”: Chris Whipple, The Gatekeepers, p. 113.
“rogue NSC adviser”: James Baker interview.
“We never knew where Clark”: Ibid.
“crime against humanity”: “Transcript of President Reagan’s Address on Downing of Korean Airliner,” New York Times, September 6, 1983.
“If the best this president”: “Insufficient Response,” Detroit News, September 7, 1983. Copy with Gergen’s notation in Princeton files.
“It just became almost intolerable”: Deaver, Miller Center oral history.
“I have a black, I have a woman”: Steven R. Weisman, “Watt Quits Post,” New York Times, October 10, 1983.
“Baker knew just how much”: Michael K. Deaver, Behind the Scenes, pp. 129–30.
“with brilliance” and a “deft touch”: George P. Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, pp. 320–21.
“roundtable” the decision: Deborah Hart Strober and Gerald S. Strober, Reagan, pp. 90–91.
“you can’t have the biggest leaker”: Edwin Meese 3rd, With Reagan, p. 114.
“I’m not sure that Mike Deaver”: Ed Meese, author interview.
“That was a close call”: Robert McFarlane, author interview.
“Fellas, I got a revolt”: Clines, “James Baker.”
“How could you do this?”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 92. Quoting Baker.
“This is the second time”: Ibid., p. 90. Deaver recalls the story this way, but he appeared to be referring to Hedrick Smith’s The Power Game, which actually quoted Deaver differently. In this account, Deaver yelled at Reagan, shouting, “You don’t have enough confidence in me to make me chief of staff!” See Smith, The Power Game, p. 324.
“I would never say that”: Ibid., Reagan, p. 90.
“I was getting mad”: Deaver, Miller Center oral history.
“Mr. President, when I came here”: Deaver, Miller Center oral history.
“God, what kind of jerk am I?”: Ibid.
“Jim took it well but Mike was pretty upset”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley, p. 187.
“If they hadn’t had that debate”: Robert Kimmitt, author interview.
“One thing I didn’t understand”: Peter Collier, Political Woman, p. 163.
“Iran-contra wouldn’t have happened”: Michael Deaver, James A. Baker Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“My decision not to appoint”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 448.
“How could this happen?”: Robert C. McFarlane, Special Trust, p. 263.
“Bud, what is the light at”: Lou Cannon, President Reagan, p. 453. Quoting McFarlane.
“This is not a consultation”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 273.
You’re on your own: John A. Farrell, Tip O’Neill and the Democratic Century, p. 617.
“Preposterous, knock it down hard”: Larry Speakes, Speaking Out, pp. 187–91.
“be careful what you say”: Ibid.
“That was treatment about as unfair”: Ibid.
“I may have made a mistake”: James Baker interview.
“It wasn’t just manufactured”: Strober and Strober, Reagan, p. 289.
send over documents: James Baker files, Princeton archive.
“When I found out, I was ecstatic”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“This is his life long dream”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, pp. 213–14.
“I think the president would be better served”: Lou Cannon, “Chief of Staff Baker Affirms Intention Not to Serve in a Second Reagan Term,” Washington Post, January 14, 1984.
“So Jim Baker’s going to get”: Bob Woodward, Veil, pp. 429–31. The ally was Anthony Motley, an assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.
“I want to call your attention”: James Baker, letter to Georgia Horner, August 28, 1984, Princeton archive.
“amiable dunce”: Arnold Sawislak, “Reagan Called ‘Amiable Dunce’ on New Washington Tape,” United Press International, October 10, 1981, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/10/Reagan-called-amiable-dunce-on-new-Washington-tape/3026371534400/.
“It’s true that hard work”: Lou Cannon, “The Truth in Reagan’s Humor,” Washington Post, April 27, 1987.
“I’d rather get 80 percent”: James Baker, author interview.
“That was Ronald Reagan”: Jim Cicconi, author interview.
“Once more acquisition”: Haynes Johnson, Sleepwalking Through History, p. 113.
expanding by 7.2 percent: Bureau of Economic Analysis, https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/iTable.cfm?reqid=19&step=3&isuri=1&1921=survey&1903=1#reqid=19&step=3&isuri=1&1921=survey&1903=1.
Unemployment stood at 8 percent: Bureau of Labor Statistics historical tables, https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000.
according to a study: Robert Pear, “Study of Reagan Domestic Policy Finds Good and Bad News,” New York Times, August 16, 1984.
“The debate in the last”: David E. Rosenbaum, “In Four Years, Reagan Changed Basis of the Debate on Domestic Programs,” New York Times, October 25, 1984.
Fifty percent of Americans: Gallup Poll, February 10–13, 1984. Fifty percent were satisfied, 46 percent were unsatisfied, and 4 percent had no opinion, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1669/general-mood-country.aspx.
“President Reagan has made”: Richard Reeves, “The Ideological Election,” New York Times Magazine, February 19, 1984.
“I can’t make a fool of myself”: David Stockman, The Triumph of Politics, pp. 374–75.
“was like a dog with a bone”: Lou Cannon, President Reagan, p. 382.
“All this past weekend”: Barry Goldwater, letter to William Casey, reproduced in The New York Times, April 11, 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/11/world/text-of-goldwater-s-letter-to-the-head-of-cia.html.
“first acts of deception”: Theodore Draper, A Very Thin Line, p. 22.
“I would like to get money”: Minutes, National Security Planning Group Meeting, June 25, 1984, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/2-NSPG%20minutes%206-25-84%20(IC%2000463).pdf.
“we should take a very close look”: Draper, A Very Thin Line, p. 76.
“If Reagan not run, what”: James Baker, handwritten notes, undated, Princeton archive.
“99 percent” confident: Undated summary of a “deep background” dinner Baker had with a reporter for U.S. News & World Report. Sara Fritz files, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/digitallibrary/personalpapers/fritz/box-004/40-414-004-005-2018.pdf.
to a dismal 35 percent: Gallup Poll, January 28–31, 1983. This was the lowest of Reagan’s eight years in office. https://news.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx.
Reagan’s four most recent predecessors: Lyndon Johnson faced challenges for the Democratic nomination in 1968 from Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy, ultimately convincing him to drop out of the race. Richard Nixon had to fend off two Republican congressmen who challenged him in 1972, Pete McCloskey of California from the left and John Ashbrook of Ohio from the right; neither was a serious threat, but Nixon growled about the “two gnats on my ass” and their campaigns delayed the time when the president could draw on the resources of the Republican National Committee, which had to stay ostensibly neutral. (See Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 327.) Gerald Ford, of course, had to first defeat Ronald Reagan in 1976 and Jimmy Carter had to get past Ted Kennedy in 1980.
“concrete steps we can take”: Memorandum, unsigned and undated, in a folder from 1983, Princeton archive.
“Ronald Reagan has always”: Ed Rollins, memorandum, March 23, 1983, Princeton archive.
sixty-three-page memo: Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 89.
“Let me give you a bit”: John Brady, Bad Boy, pp. 101–2.
“When her parents married”: Elisabeth Bumiller, “Margaret Tutwiler, at Crisis Central,” Washington Post, October 9, 1984.
“You’re fifty-four years old”: Ibid.
“tough and smarter”: James Baker, “Word Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 284. This is a good example of how buttoned-down Baker was in his first memoir, The Politics of Diplomacy; in that book, he quoted Nixon saying Tutwiler was “tough, mean and devious,” leaving out the more colorful term he later acknowledged. See Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 33.
“I’ve known Ronald Reagan”: Ed Rollins, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, pp. 129–30.
“Baker might have been”: Charles Black, author interview.
“Mondale—What If He’s Worse”: Clines, “James Baker.”
“splash, dash and glitter”: Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 179.
“hands that once picked cotton”: Ibid., p. 74.
shot up to 55 percent: Gallup Poll, January 27–30, 1984, https://news.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx.
from $74 billion: Historical Tables, Office of Management and Budget. See Table 1.1, Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-): 1789–2023, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/historical-tables/.
“Let’s tell the truth”: Walter Mondale, “Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco,” July 19, 1984, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25972.
raising taxes by $50 billion: Impact of Budget Proposals on State and Local Issues, House Committee on the Budget, February 9, 1985, https://books.google.com/books?id=pBskMENSvIgC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=deficit+reduction+act+of+1984+$50+billion+$11+billion&source=bl&ots=4D6MoGq0R7&sig=ACfU3U0FpTovDjBYxaTBXoa2J_smowmsgw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS_4_IoI_lAhVDmK0KHbxRA0QQ6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=deficit%20reduction%20act%20of%201984%20%2450%20billion%20%2411%20billion&f=false.
“In a very real sense”: Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 466.
“(a.) don't say”: James Baker, handwritten notes, undated, Princeton archive.
A memo prepared: Richard Reeves, President Reagan, pp. 226–27.
“My opponent has spent his”: Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 418.
“The president is ordering you”: Paul A. Volcker, Keeping At It, pp. 118–19.
speech from Pointe du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks at a Ceremony Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, D-day,” June 6, 1984, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=40018.
“First, the Olympics”: Marcia Forbes, quoted in the Long Beach Press-Telegram and cited in Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 463.
“It’s morning again in America”: Ronald Reagan Videos, History Channel, https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/ronald-reagan/videos/morning-in-america.
“It’s all picket fences”: Michael Beschloss, “The Ad That Helped Reagan Sell Good Times to an Uncertain Nation,” New York Times, May 7, 2016.
“I ♥ U.S.”: Time magazine, September 24, 1984, http://content.time.com/time/magazine/0,9263,7601840924,00.html.
55 percent to 37 percent: Cannon, President Reagan, pp. 538–39.
“Shut up!”: Ibid.
“Reagan has been so cocooned”: Ibid., p. 540.
“Doing everything we can”: Video, Associated Press, August 1, 1984, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JTtI3D6lqk.
“He didn’t seem alert”: Walter Mondale, The Good Fight, p. 300.
“I’m all confused now”: Transcript, October 7, 1984, Commission on Presidential Debates, http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-7-1984-debate-transcript.
66 percent to 17 percent: Adam Clymer, “Poll Finds Debate Gave Mondale a Small Gain,” New York Times, October 11, 1984.
“I stunk”: Spencer interview.
“What have you done”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 278.
“I had the briefing books”: Stuart Spencer, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“He was brutalized by”: Lou Cannon, “Sen. Laxalt Hits Debate Briefing,” Washington Post, October 12, 1984,
“What’s up?” Darman asked: Richard Darman: Who’s In Control?, pp. 132–35.
“cautioned him about Darman”: Spencer oral history.
Nancy was “insane”: Cannon, President Reagan, p. 546.
“took that very personally”: Person close to Darman, author interview.
“There’s a bear in the woods”: The Living Room Candidate, Presidential Campaign Commercials 1952–2016, Museum of the Moving Image, http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1984/bear.
financial questions about her husband: Zaccaro eventually did release his tax returns during the campaign. In January 1985, after the election, he pleaded guilty in New York to submitting fraudulent documents as part of a 1983 real estate deal. He was sentenced to 150 hours of community service. See Ralph Blumenthal, “Judge Sentences Zaccaro to Work in Public Service,” New York Times, February 21, 1985. More than two years later, a jury acquitted him in an unrelated case in which he was charged with trying to extort a bribe from a cable television company. See George James, “Jury Acquits Zaccaro of Seeking to Extort Cable Television Bribe,” New York Times, October 15, 1987.
“Let me help you with”: Transcript, Vice Presidential Debate, Philadelphia, October 11, 1984, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29425.
“We tried to kick a little ass”: Dale Russakoff, “Bush Boasts of Kicking ‘A Little Ass’ at Debate,” Washington Post, October 13, 1984.
Garry Wills compared Reagan’s performance: Garry Wills, Reagan’s America, pp. 228–30.
“Chuckle again”: Ibid., p. 232.
“Is there any doubt in your mind”: Transcript, October 21, 1984, Commission on Presidential Debates, http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=october-21-1984-debate-transcript.
“Yes, age is an issue”: Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It’s Over, p. 11.
“Well, I might just say”: Ibid.
“You’ll see that I was smiling”: Walter Mondale, interview with Jim Lehrer, May 25, 1990, Debating Our Destiny, PBS, https://web.archive.org/web/20001212070100/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/debatingourdestiny/dod/1984-broadcast.html.
He took a resounding 59 percent: Election of 1984, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1984.
“that’s just been arranged”: David S. Broder, “Reagan Wins Reelection in Landslide, Largest Electoral College Total Ever,” Washington Post, November 7, 1984.
“We have to play down”: Rollins, Bare Knuckes and Back Rooms, pp. 151–52.
“large lies told through”: William Greider, “Reagan’s Reelection: How the Media Became All the President’s Men,” Rolling Stone, December 20, 1984.
“As I remember it”: James Baker, letter to Joseph Alsop, December 4, 1984, Princeton archive. Baker enclosed $200 worth of Susan B. Anthony dollar coins that he had won in another wager with a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment plus a $50 check for the difference.
“I bet you didn’t know your guests”: James Baker, bcc copy of letter to Alsop, sent to Meg Greenfield, Princeton archive.
“Fuck yourself”: Lou Cannon, President Reagan, p. 555.
“You’re tired, aren’t you?”: James Baker, author interview. Also see Donald T. Regan, For the Record, pp. 243–45.
headed toward confirmation: Ed Meese was confirmed by the Senate on February 23, 1985, by a 63 to 31 vote, drawing the most negative votes of any attorney general nominee to that point since 1925. “Meese Confirmed After Delay of 13 Months,” CQ Almanac, 1985.
“Both parties are tired”: Memo, unsigned and undated, Princeton archive.
“Serious, substantive job”: Handwritten notes, undated and unsigned. Green Post-it note on top says they were prepared by Dick Darman. Princeton archive.
“I’ve brought you a playmate”: Bob Schieffer and Gary Paul Gates, The Acting President, p. 299.
“nodded affably”: Regan, For the Record, pp. 254–57.
“I’d have flipped out”: Stuart Spencer, Ronald Reagan Oral History Project, Miller Center, University of Virginia, November 15–16, 2001.
“If I was totally honest”: James Baker confidant who asked not to be named, author interview.
“friendly session”: Treasury Secretary Confirmation Hearing, C-SPAN, January 23, 1985, https://www.c-span.org/video/?125272-1/treasury-secretary-confirmation-hearing.
voting 95 to 0 to confirm: Presidential Cabinet Nominations, President Jimmy Carter through President George W. Bush, United States Senate, https://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/cabinettable.pdf.
“Isn’t it something”: Video of James Baker swearing-in, February 8, 1985, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Kf-sfyOw4.
“He couldn’t have been more”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“I am instructing”: Ronald Reagan, State of the Union address, February 6, 1985, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=38069.
about thirty thousand taxpayers: David E. Rosenbaum, “Treasury Study Cites Tax Disparity,”: New York Times, August 2, 1985
just 6 percent in 1983: Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Alan S. Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 11.
128 large, profitable companies: Robert S. McIntyre, “Corporate Income Taxes in the Reagan Years: A Study of Three Years of Legalized Tax Avoidance,” Citizens for Tax Justice, October 1984, https://www.ctj.org/pdf/1984ReaganYears.pdf.
eight times as much money: In 1974, PACs gave $12.5 million to congressional candidates, compared to $104 million in 1984. Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 18.
“I sort of like the tax code”: David E. Rosenbaum, “A Tax Bill for the Textbooks,” New York Times, October 23, 1986.
“It was a very apolitical”: Ronald Pearlman, author interview.
“a tin ear for politics”: James Baker interview.
“I’ve got to be the Sect.”: James Baker, handwritten notes scribbled on White House cover sheet for joint statement, January 8, 1985, Princeton archive.
“Dad hated that”: Jonathan Darman, author interview.
“Jimmy boy, you’re massaging”: Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 77.
“There were times of stress”: Pearlman interview.
“Ron, you describe this”: Ibid.
“Death and taxes may be”: Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on Tax Reform, May 28, 1985, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-nation-tax-reform.
“If the president’s plan”: “Democratic Party’s Response to the Tax Proposal,” New York Times, May 29, 1985.
by 28 percent after inflation: Stanley L. Engerman and Robert E. Gallman, The Cambridge Economic History of the United States, Volume 3: The Twentieth Century (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p. 500.
all-time record of $109 billion: United States Census, “U.S. Trade in Goods and Services—Balance of Payments (BOP) Basis,” June 3, 2016, https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.pdf.
One prominent economist: C. Fred Bergsten, director of what was then called the Institute for International Economics, quoted by Peter T. Kilborn, “Japan Invests Huge Sums Abroad, Much of It in U.S. Treasury Bonds,” New York Times, March 11, 1985.
“The Japanning of America Today”: Dave Schweisberg, “The Japanning of America Today,” United Press International, in the Durant (Okla.) Daily Democrat, October 17, 1982.
appreciated another 20 percent: American Economic Policy in the 1980s, ed. by Martin Feldstein (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), p. 301.
“diffusing protectionist pressures”: James Baker, memo to Ronald Reagan, September 20, 1985, Princeton archive.
10 percent to 12 percent: Jeffrey Frankel, The Plaza Accord, 30 Years Later, Harvard Kennedy School, September 20, 2015.
weaker dollar “is desirable”: Peter T. Kilborn, “U.S. and 4 Allies Plan Move to Cut Value of Dollar,” New York Times, September 23, 1985.
“What’s new is that we’re”: Ibid.
“Shultz got livid at me”: James Baker interview.
“I don’t think we would”: Martin Crutsinger, “U.S. Doesn’t Plan to Intervene in Currency Markets in Major Way,” Associated Press, September 24, 1985.
“EXTREMELY URGENT”: James Baker, memo to Malcolm Baldrige, September 24, 1985, Princeton archive.
“doesn’t speak for the administration”: James Baker, interview with U.S. News & World Report, cited in “Baker Says U.S. Wants Gradual Drop in Dollar,” United Press International, September 28, 1985.
slid by about 5 percent: Larry Thorson, “Dollar Slumps After Cooperation Agreement on Dollar,” Associated Press, September 23, 1985.
depreciated by 40 percent: Frankel, The Plaza Accord, 30 Years Later.
“A lot of people are tired”: Transcript, Larry King Live, CNN, September 2, 1987.
“I think I'd win”: Katie Rogers, “How Donald Trump Used Hollywood to Create ‘Donald Trump,’ ” New York Times, October 26, 2016.
“the Cadillac of committees”: Richard E. Cohen, Rostenkowski, p. 137.
“Rostenkowski and Baker”: Jim Jaffe, author interview.
“I have heard more about”: Dick Gephardt, statement, undated, Princeton archive.
“Cheap shot”: James Baker, handwritten note on Gephardt statement.
“Tax reform gets tougher”: James Baker, letter to Will Winston, September 20, 1985, Princeton archive.
“He came in there”: James Baker interview.
“We’re going to oppose you”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 22–25.
“It was garbage”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“Tax reform is one of”: James Baker, memo to Ronald Reagan, December 2, 1985, Princeton archive.
“suffer the worst defeat”: Editorial, Baltimore Sun, December 6, 1985, Princeton archive.
“I think this editorial is right”: James Baker, handwritten note to Nancy Reagan on a copy of the Baltimore Sun editorial, December 6, 1985, Princeton archive.
a vote of 223 to 202: David E. Rosenbaum, “Bill to End Budget Deficits Voted by House and Senate; Reagan Loses Key Tax Vote,” New York Times, December 12, 1985.
“The rule is going down”: Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 165.
“that was a very dark day”: James Baker interview.
“Mr. Speaker, when in your lifetime”: Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 168.
“He got up and talked about”: Cheney interview.
The president really needs you: Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 172.
258 to 168, with seventy Republicans: H.Res 343—A resolution providing for consideration of H.R. 3838, December 17, 1985, Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-resolution/343.
“Obviously, a big part of that”: Cheney interview.
“He had a great way of communicating”: Bill Bradley, author interview.
“I was astonished to read”: Jack Kemp, letter to James Baker, March 21, 1986, Princeton archive.
“If you are again ‘astonished’ ”: James Baker, letter to Jack Kemp, March 24, 1986, Princeton archive.
“I’ve got to tell you”: James Baker, draft letter to Bill Archer, undated, Princeton archive.
“He acted like he was”: Jeffrey Birnbaum, author interview.
“Did I get them back or what?”: James Baker interview.
“To hell with it”: Bob Packwood, diary entry, April 18, 1986. Packwood read the diary entries to the author and later published excerpts on Bloomberg BNA in a series of three pieces: “Juggling Budget Numbers and Votes: How the Tax Reform Act of 1986 Made It Through the Finance Committee,” January 19, 2017; “Juggling Budget Numbers and Votes: How the Tax Reform Act of 1986 Passed the Senate,” January 23, 2017; and “Juggling Budget Numbers and Votes: How the Tax Reform Act of 1986 Made It Through Conference and Into Law,” January 24, 2017.
“Bill and I in essence said”: Packwood diary entry, April 29, 1986.
unanimous 20 to 0 vote: Rosenbaum, “A Tax Bill for the Textbooks.”
“Jim, tell him to shut up”: Packwood diary entry, May 6, 1986.
stunning 97 to 3 vote: The three dissenters, all Democrats, were Senators Carl Levin of Michigan, Paul Simon of Illinois, and John Melcher of Montana. H.R. 3838—Tax Reform Act of 1986, June 24, 1986, Congress.gov. https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-bill/3838/all-actions?overview=closed&q=%7B%22roll-call-vote%22%3A%22all%22%7D.
“After Danny and I agreed”: Packwood diary entry, July 15–16.
They said tax reform was dead: “The Secretary Raps Tax Reform,” Washington Post, September 17, 1986.
“This is this stick-up-his-ass”: Jaffe interview.
“Jim is a relatively little part”: Bob Packwood, author interview.
“We look forward to studying it”: Birnbaum and Murray, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, p. 280.
“This is a triumph for”: Ibid.
bipartisan 292 to 136 vote: H.R. 3838—Tax Reform Act of 1986, June 24, 1986, Congress.gov. September25,1986, https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/house-bill/3838/all-actions?overview=closed&q=%7B%22roll-call-vote%22%3A%22all%22%7D.
“All of us here today know”: Ronald Reagan, “Remarks on Signing the Tax Reform Act of 1986,” October 22, 1986, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-signing-the-tax-reform-act-1986.
“For years to come”: David E. Rosenbaum, “A Tax Bill for the Textbooks,” New York Times, October 23, 1986.
“Can you believe this arms”: James Baker, handwritten note to Michael Deaver, November 14, 1986, Baker personal files.
there was a chance money: James Baker, Memorandum to the File, November 27, 1986, Baker personal files.
“We’ve got big problems”: James Baker, Memorandum for the File, November 27, 1986, Baker personal files.
“we’re dealing here with illegality”: James Baker, Memorandum for the File, November 25, 1986, Baker personal files.
“that was the biggest favor”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 205.
“You don’t hang up on”: James Baker, author interview.
“If, by some miracle”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 325.
“some overzealous investigation”: Robert Kimmitt, Memorandum for the Record, December 19, 1986, Baker personal files. Kimmitt sat in on the interview, conducted on December 18 by FBI Special Agents James Beane and Dan Dreibelbis, and took notes that he then memorialized into this memo.
“It’s the one lasting blot”: James Baker interview.
“I didn’t know the answer”: Ibid.
“I think I let the president down”: Robert McFarlane, author interview.
“I have wondered whether”: Ibid.
“Who’s This Man Calling?”: Time, March 3, 1986. The article inside, titled “Peddling Influence,” was written by Evan Thomas.
“Mike, you’ve made a big mistake”: Associated Press, December 16, 1987, http://articles.latimes.com/1987-12-16/news/mn-19735_1_ronald-reagan.
convicted of three counts: Philip Shenon, “Deaver Is Sentenced to Suspended Term and $100,000 Fine,” New York Times, September 24, 1988.
“I think he’s had the fastest rise”: Marjorie Williams, “The Perilous Rise of Michael Deaver,” Washington Post, July 13, 1987.
“what’s a virgin”: Zach Schonfeld, “Parental Advisory Forever: An Oral History of the PMRC’s War on Dirty Lyrics,” Newsweek, September 19, 2015.
“We were just mad mamas”: Ibid.
“modern-day witch hunt”: Ibid.
“I couldn’t understand how”: Schonfeld, “Parental Advisory Forever.”
“We don’t question their right”: Rock Lyrics Record Labeling, September 19, 1985, C-Span, https://www.c-span.org/video/?69484-1/rock-lyrics-record-labeling. See also Susan Baker, Passing It On, p. 80.
“an ill-conceived piece of nonsense”: Schonfeld, “Parental Advisory Forever.”
“I’m sure there are a lot”: Maureen Dowd, “Limelight Falls Upon Susan Baker’s Gospel Work,” New York Times, April 9, 1985.
“Susan Baker visited and wrote me”: Hillary Clinton, Living History, pp. 167–68.
“But there are none of us”: Lois Romano, “Jim Baker and the Logistics of Power,” Washington Post, April 30, 1985.
“We love you and we’re proud”: James Baker, letter to John Baker, May 28, 1986, Princeton archive.
“You can do what you want”: William L. Silber, Volcker, p. 255.
“I’m resigning”: Paul Volcker, author interview.
“Mr. Chairman, if you need”: Wayne Angell, author interview.
“I don’t know if he was in cahoots”: Volcker interview.
“The only conversation Baker had”: Angell interview.
“I don’t remember getting”: James Baker interview.
“Volcker is not cooperating”: Ibid.
would you be interested?: Alan Greenspan, author interview.
“You know, Ron, this thing”: Brian Mulroney, author interview.
“He was very much at ease”: Derek Burney, Getting It Done, pp. 124–25.
“The congressional people”: Mulroney interview.
“you can have your goddamn”: Burney, Getting It Done, pp. 118–20.
North American Free Trade Agreement: As president, George Bush negotiated NAFTA with Canada and Mexico and signed it in December 1992 after losing reelection to Bill Clinton. Upon becoming president, Clinton secured revisions to the agreement that satisfied his labor and environmental concerns and then submitted it for approval in Congress. The House voted for it 234 to 200 and the Senate 61 to 38.
“Had it not been for Jim”: Mulroney interview.
“as white as these walls”: James Baker interview
“The market drops five”: Ibid.
plunged by 508 points: Lawrence J. De Maria, “Stocks Plunge 508 Points, a Drop of 22.6%,” New York Times, October 20, 1987.
“I never saw an elk”: James Baker interview.
“I said, ‘Put him on’ ”: Alan Greenspan, author interview.
“I’m concerned about money supply”: Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley, p. 538.
“should not expect us”: Peter T. Kilborn, “U.S. Said to Allow Decline of Dollar Against the Mark,” New York Times, October 18, 1987.
“There is nothing wrong”: Ronald Reagan, Informal Exchange with Reporters, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/informal-exchange-with-reporters-27.
“a Herbert Hoover type of response”: Greenspan interview.
“The way Jim set the thing up”: Ibid.
“Stock market or no stock market”: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 695.
“If you’re looking at the biggest”: Robert Shiller, author interview.
“It conceivably could have made”: James Baker interview.
“I didn’t want to be the most”: Ibid.
dozens of letters: A folder of these letters resides in the Princeton archive.
“People used to ask me”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank for his own memoir, May 1993, Princeton archive.
“a thin, tinny ‘arf’ ”: George Will, “George Bush: The Sound of a Lapdog,” Washington Post, January 30, 1986.
“Fighting the ‘Wimp Factor’ ”: Margaret Garrard Warner, “Bush Battles the ‘Wimp Factor,’ ” Newsweek, October 12, 1987. The cover line was “George Bush: Fighting the ‘Wimp Factor.’ ”
“along the lines of”: Tom DeFrank, author interview.
“Yeah, stop lying about my record”: Bob Dole, interview with Tom Brokaw, NBC News, February 16, 1988, https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=33616 [inactive].
“I’m sort of running against”: Bernard Weinraub, “Bush Nomination Seems Assured as Dole Leaves Republican Race,” New York Times, March 30, 1988.
“We’ve got to get him over”: Richard Ben Cramer, What It Takes, pp. 991–92.
“I don’t want to do that”: Pete Teeley, author interview.
“You know I really don’t”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, p. 312.
“The best thing I can do”: Hugh Sidey, “The Presidency: What Friends Are For,” Time, March 21, 1988.
“On reflection I think it would be”: Richard Nixon, letter to George Bush, May 15, 1988, Princeton archive.
“I’m really going to need you”: James Baker interview.
“He did it so softly”: Kenneth Duberstein, author interview.
“He’s taken his licks”: President Reagan’s Remarks Announcing the Resignation of James A. Baker III as Secretary of the Treasury and the Nomination of Nicholas F. Brady with James Baker and Nicholas Brady’s Remarks in Press Room on August 5, 1988, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPFwGRbfzLQ.
“I can promise you”: James Baker interview.
“I’m sure you’re not going”: Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence, pp. 111–13.
“born with a silver foot”: Adam Clymer, “Democrats Use Humor and Scorn in Mounting Attack Against Bush,” New York Times, July 20, 1988.
“a man who was born”: Ken Herman, “Hightower: Bush Is a ‘Toothache of a Man,’ ” Associated Press, July 20, 1988, https://www.apnews.com/fc25d54 b02502d315b62bc9c5f09d009.
“in case George is too squeamish”: Clymer, “Democrats Use Humor and Scorn in Mounting Attack Against Bush.”
“Where was George?”: Ibid.
“The good thing about”: Tom Raum, “Bush Says Democrats ‘Frantic Name-Callers,’ Confirms Dole on Veep List,” Associated Press, July 20, 1988, https://www.apnews.com/3b9c9f355d1066295656ab688163dd90.
“This election is not about ideology”: Michael Dukakis, Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, July 21, 1988, American Presidency Project, the University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25961.
commanding 17-point: Dukakis led with 55 percent to 38 percent for Bush in a Gallup poll taken on July 21, 1988, the last day of the Democratic National Convention. “Dukakis Lead Widens, According to New Poll,” New York Times, July 26, 1988.
“weak and intermittent”: Gary MacDougal, memo to George Bush, July 8, 1988, cc’d to James Baker. Princeton archive.
“Lee was running on paranoia”: Craig Fuller, author interview.
“nervous about getting layered”: Ed Rogers, author interview.
“He was very upset”: James Baker, author interview.
“They were very different personalities”: Frank Donatelli, author interview.
“an insecure kid”: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, a documentary produced by Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker, directed by Stefan Forbes. Interpositive Media Productions, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwhdDv8VrM.
“Southern pol”: Rogers interview.
“Baker didn’t know”: Ibid.
“How do we know”: George W. Bush, Decision Points, pp. 43–44.
“all blood on the floor”: David Remnick, “Why Is Lee Atwater So Hungry?,” Esquire, December 1986.
“You need to earn your spurs”: Peter Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 183.
“He was nervous about Baker”: George W. Bush, author interview.
“We’d just come through”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview. For clarity, she is referred to in the manuscript by the name she used at the time, Janet Mullins.
“I had my jacket off”: Ibid.
“It was chaos”: Robert Zoellick, author interview.
“a pretty loose ship”: Donatelli interview.
leading in twenty-four states: John Dillin, Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 1998, https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0919/apolls.html.
“I wanted it totally kept”: George H. W. Bush, author interview.
“If you’re Bush, you don’t like”: Mullins Grissom interview.
“strange and unbelievable”: George H. W. Bush diary, quoted in Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 326. Asked about it after Meacham’s book was published, Trump asserted that Atwater asked him, not the other way around. This Week, ABC News, November 8, 2015, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-donald-trump-ben-carson/story?id=35044135.
“surprisingly strong support”: Gerald M. Boyd, “Bush Prunes Running-Mate List; Doles, Quayle and 3 Others Stay,” New York Times, August 13, 1988.
“I don’t know who leaked that”: Dan Quayle, Standing Firm, pp. 23–24.
“There may be a problem”: Craig Fuller, author interview.
“He thought it was unfair”: George W. Bush interview.
“None of us were right”: Fuller interview.
“By the time Bush said”: Charlie Black, author interview.
“Dad you can tell me!”: David Hoffman, “Bush Picks Quayle, ‘Man of the Future,’ As Running Mate,” Washington Post, August 17, 1988.
“I thought, ‘Oh crap, I lost’ ”: Dan Quayle, author interview.
“Hang on for the veep”: Ibid.
“this decision is revocable”: Quayle, Standing Firm, pp. 4–6.
“it was the last laugh”: Ibid.
“I have to get there”: Quayle interview.
“Where’s Quayle?”: Hoffman, “Bush Picks Quayle.”
“Hot” and “pumped up”: Fuller interview.
“Let’s go get ’em!”: Hoffman, “Bush Picks Quayle.”
“A Leader for the Future!”: James Baker, handwritten notes, undated, Princeton archive.
“It was not a happy group”: Dick Darman, Who’s In Control?, pp. 188–90.
“there’s a total meltdown”: Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 24.
“This is totally ridiculous”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 326.
“Do you think you got”: Campaign list of potential questions, undated and unsigned, Princeton archive.
“The intended effect”: Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 37.
“There has been no serious discussion”: Campaign talking points, August 18, 1988, Princeton archive. Although his skepticism was well documented and he later clashed in the Bush administration with Quayle, Baker later would insist he had not been flatly opposed to Quayle’s selection as much as dubious about its advisability. “That’s not true and I would argue to you that he was the right choice at that time,” Baker told us in an interview. “Why do I say that? We won all but ten states.” Baker said he was sympathetic to Bush’s desire to bring in a new generation. “I can’t say I was in favor of Quayle. I wasn’t in favor of anybody.”
“Through conversations with”: Robert Kimmitt, memorandum to James Baker, August 25, 1988, Princeton archive.
“It was Dad who changed”: George W. Bush interview.
“It was my decision”: George H. W. Bush diary, August 21, 1988, as cited in Herbert Parmet, George Bush, p. 349.
“How dumb”: James Baker interview.
“the vision thing”: Robert Ajemian, “Where Is the Real George Bush?,” Time, January 26, 1987.
“I want a kinder and gentler nation”: George Bush, Address Accepting the Presidential Nomination at the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, August 18, 1988, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25955.
“My opponent won’t rule out”: Ibid.
“We all knew it was a good line”: Fuller interview.
“lips are organs”: Peggy Noonan, What I Saw at the Revolution, p. 319.
“We got overruled”: Fuller interview.
“the nature of the problem”: Agenda for strategy session, James Baker office, August 25, 1988, Princeton archive.
“Our biggest prob.”: James Baker, handwritten notes, August 25, 1988, Princeton archive.
“Anytime GB has been on attack”: Ibid.
“Baker would oversee”: John Brady, Bad Boy, pp. 179–80.
“driving up the opposition’s negatives”: Thomas Edsall, “Why Bush Accentuates the Negative,” Washington Post, October 2, 1988.
“Lee, who was plenty happy”: Black interview.
“What is it about the Pledge of Allegiance”: Steven V. Roberts, “Bush Intensifies Debate on Pledge, Asking Why It So Upsets Dukakis,” New York Times, August 25, 1988.
most states had similar programs: Robin Toner, “Prison Furloughs in Massachusetts Threaten Dukakis Record on Crime,”: New York Times, July 5, 1988.
showing a series of inmates: Bush-Quayle 1988 Campaign, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmwhdDv8VrM.
called “Weekend Passes”: National Security Political Action Committee, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9KMSSEZ0Y.
Baker did not write his letter: Stephen Engelberg, Richard L. Berke, and Michael Wines, “Bush, His Disavowed Backers and a Very Potent Attack Ad,” New York Times, November 3, 1988.
“Anybody who believes that”: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.
“If I can make Willie Horton”: Marie Cocco, Saul Friedman, Ellis Henican, Susan Page, Gaylord Shaw, Patrick J. Sloyan, Myron S. Waldman, and Catherine Woodard, “Smears and Fears: the ’88 Campaign,” Newsday, November 6, 1988.
“who for all I know”: Sidney Blumenthal, “Willie Horton and the Making of an Election Issue,” Washington Post, October 28, 1988.
“the only question is whether”: Richard Stengel, “The Man Behind the Message,” Time, August 22, 1988.
“the biggest mistake”: Eric Benson, “Dukakis’s Regret,” New York, June 17, 2012. Just how decisive was the Willie Horton ad? John Sides, an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, argued in a piece on washingtonpost.com that the impact of the Horton ad was overstated: “It’s Time to Stop the Endless Hype of the ‘Willie Horton’ Ad,” January 6, 2016. He cited among other things a study by Tali Mendelberg that found that politicians use racial codes but that they lose their appeal once exposed. Mendelberg, “The Race Card: Campaign Strategy, Implicit Messages and the Norm of Equality, 2001, http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7090.html.
“the dark prince of political advertising”: Stengel, “The Man Behind the Message.”
“Baker and I would do”: Doro Bush Koch, My Father, My President, p. 249.
“transcendent dorkiness”: Bill Turque, a reporter with Newsweek, quoted in Thomas B. Rosenstiel and John Balzar, “ ‘Mr. Malaprop’: Poor Media Play May Be Bush’s Bane,” Los Angeles Times, June 29, 1988.
“sexy Reagan White House”: Ibid.
“You cannot afford to lie back”: “Strategy for September 25, 1988 Debate,” Memorandum for Bush from “The Debate Team,” September 20, 1988, Princeton archive.
“Prohibit nativity scenes”: James Baker, handwritten notes on memorandum from Vic Gold to Baker for debate preparation, September 15, 1988, Princeton archive.
“brand a woman a criminal”: Presidential Debate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, September 25, 1988, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29411.
“I’m going to do a heck of a lot better”: Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars?, p. 434.
“Energy Level: Slower to”: James Baker, handwritten notes on Bush/Quayle stationery, September 30, 1988, Princeton archive.
“I served with Jack Kennedy”: Video clip of vice presidential debate, October 5, 1988, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWXRNySMW4s.
“knocked it right out”: Richard Stengel, “Ninety Long Minutes in Omaha,” Time, October 17, 1988.
“cheap shot”: “ ‘A Cheap Shot’—Reagan; ‘A Plus for Us’—Dukakis: Bentsen’s Quayle Jab Heats Race,” Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1988.
“When you think about”: E. J. Dionne, “Revival for Democrats,” New York Times, October 7, 1988.
“snapping point”: Cathleen Decker, “Declares He Reached a ‘Certain Snapping Point’: Quayle Says He’ll Direct Own Campaign,” Los Angeles Times, October 13, 1988.
“I am my own handler”: Eileen Putman, “Quayle: ‘I’m My Own Handler’ Now,” Associated Press, October 12, 1988.
“I’ve had all the advice”: Quayle, Standing Firm, pp. 68–69.
“justified at being steamed”: Germond and Witcover, Whose Broad Stripes and Bright Stars?, p. 444.
“threatens to dismiss”: Lucy Howard, “Conventional-Wisdom Watch,” Newsweek, October 24, 1988.
“Governor, if Kitty Dukakis”: Presidential Debate at the University of California in Los Angeles, October 13, 1988, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29412.
from 49 percent to 42 percent: Roger Simon, “Questions That Kill Candidates’ Careers,” Politico, April 20, 2007
“Well, this debate’s gone”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 398.
“We’re all sitting around the table”: Sig Rogich, author interview. See also Brady, Bad Boy, p. 193. Craig Fuller said in an interview with the authors that Bush actually had a similar picture taken of him at a firing range “with one of those crazy hats.” Fuller worried through the last days of the campaign that the picture would be found, making Bush look as foolish as Dukakis had, but it never was. Craig Fuller, author interview.
“Let’s not forget, it’s about winning”: Rogich interview.
“I’m fed up with it”: Josh King, “Dukakis and the Tank,” Politico, November 17, 2013.
“How much lower”: Transcript, Face the Nation, CBS News, October 30, 1988. A few days later, on November 3, Baker gave a speech at the National Press Club defending the campaign against the negativity critique as well, claiming the mudslinging of 1988 had really begun at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. But history has not accepted his version. James Baker, speech at National Press Club, November 3, 1988, transcript in Princeton archive.
“I just cannot let myself”: John Balzar, “Already, Bush Camp Hears Whispers About Transition,” Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1988.
“Nobody in this room believes me”: George Bush press conference quoted in ibid.
“I am assuming that Jim said yes”: Barbara Bush, Barbara Bush, pp. 240–41.
“Baker doesn’t like it at all”: Fuller interview.
“Battle of the Handlers”: Time, October 3, 1988, http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19881003,00.html.
“That just cut me to the quick”: James Baker interview.
“You need to think about this”: Fuller interview.
“I’m a jealous wreck”: James Baker interview.
“We walked into the Nebletts’ ”: Barbara Bush, Barbara Bush, p. 246.
“We need to wait on Michigan”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 275.
forty states to take 426 electoral votes: Election of 1988, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1988.
“the capital’s leading wise man”: Steven V. Roberts, “Out of Texas, the Capital’s Leading Wise Man,” New York Times, December 29, 1987.
“a close friend of the next president”: Joe Holley, “Robert S. Strauss, Texas Lawyer and Political Insider, Dies at 95,” Washington Post, March 19, 2014.
“I’m terribly partisan”: Ibid.
“I want to get you and Jim Wright together”: James Baker, unpublished interview with Peter Ross Range, ghostwriter for a never-completed memoir by Robert Strauss. Files at Akin Gump.
the new president was ready to talk: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 49–50.
“That was the holy grail”: James Baker, author interview.
“very, very sensitive about”: George H. W. Bush diary, July 16, 1989.
“the alternate president”: Ibid., January 2, 1989.
“This is a very special occasion”: George H. W. Bush, Remarks at the Swearing-in Ceremony for James A. Baker III as Secretary of State, January 27, 1989, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16630.
“As you mentioned, Mr. President”: Ibid.
“The totalitarian era is passing”: George Bush, Inaugural Address, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/247448.
“moment rich with promise”: Ibid.
“Now is not the time”: Talking points for James Baker meeting with Yitzhak Shamir and Moshe Arens on April 5–6, 1989, Princeton archive.
“This is not a friendly takeover”: Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 26.
“I’m going to be”: James Baker interview.
“Nothing comes between me”: Ibid.
“mostly a bantering one”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 19–20.
“like an arm right into”: Brent Scowcroft, author interview.
“Dick, damn it”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“We all knew each other”: Ibid.
“He was so tightly wound”: Lorne Craner, author interview.
“came to the State Department”: David L. Mack, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, October 24, 1995, https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Mack,%20David%20L.toc.pdf.
“Jim Baker ran policy”: Chas W. Freeman Jr., Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, April 14, 1995, https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Freeman,%20Chas.toc.pdf.
“felt the action would be”: Dennis Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 219.
“a disarming smile”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 3–4.
“empty cannons of rhetoric”: Ibid., p. 5.
“Don’t you think you all”: Jeffrey A. Engel, When the World Seemed New, pp. 86–87.
the “Finlandization” of Eastern Europe: George H. W. Bush diary, January 9, 1989.
“Our purpose is to assure”: George H. W. Bush, letter to Mikhail Gorbachev, January 13, 1989, Princeton archive.
“I lead a strange country”: Henry Kissinger, Memorandum to Brent Scowcroft, January 17, 1989, Princeton archive.
“In my view Gorbachev is”: Ibid.
“For Baker, the world was”: Aaron David Miller, author interview.
“He has a less complicated approach”: Henry Kissinger, author interview.
“He knew the time was right”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview.
“Work w/Congress”: James Baker, handwritten notes on a copy of talking points for cabinet meeting, January 23, 1989, Princeton archive.
“They couldn’t just walk away”: Bernard Aronson, author interview.
“It has now turned into”: James Baker, talking points for call with George Mitchell, undated, Princeton
“We want to wind this thing down”: Jim Wright, Worth It All, p. 223.
“This was to be the pattern”: Ibid., pp. 224–25.
“Baker would tell a dirty joke”: Mullins Grissom interview.
“He has a compelling presence”: Maureen Dowd and Thomas L. Friedman, “The Fabulous Bush and Baker Boys,” New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1990.
“I’m one of the few Republicans”: James Baker interview.
“They were probably as close”: Jimmy Carter, author interview.
“Baker knew we had a losing hand”: Aronson interview.
“Today, for the first time”: George H. W. Bush, Statement on the Bipartisan Accord on Central America, March 24, 1989, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=16840.
“We all have to admit”: Bernard Weintraub, “Bush and Congress Sign Policy Accord on Aid to Contras,” New York Times, March 25, 1989.
“Unease Is Voiced”: Robert Pear, “Unease Is Voiced on Contra Accord,” New York Times, March 26, 1989.
“Within minutes”: Boyden Gray, author interview.
“Baker was absolutely livid”: Aronson interview.
“up to the job”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 10, 1989.
“This was the first”: James Baker interview.
“He was mad”: Gray interview.
“Basically, it’s a restoration”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Says Accord on Contra Aid Enhances Powers of the President,” New York Times, March 27, 1989.
“I guess we bombed out there”: Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 39.
“Not really”: Ibid.
“Everything is rotten”: Carey Goldberg, “Reformer Turned Master Diplomat,” Los Angeles Times, December 21, 1990.
“giving Jimmy a few suggestions”: George H. W. Bush diary, March 4, 1989.
“sounds like an imperious demand”: Pavel Palazchenko, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, pp. 128–29.
he was “savaged”: Richard Reeves, President Kennedy, p. 173.
“What were they waiting for?”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs, p. 501.
“pragmatist,” not a “zoological”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, 27–29.
“cold fellow”: Ibid.
“Can’t help but get impression”: James Baker, “Key Impressions from the Trip,” March 7, 1989, Princeton archive.
“decidedly listless debut”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, pp. 45–46.
“mush,” as Baker put it: Jeffrey A. Engel, When the World Seemed New, p. 133.
“Don’t just do something”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 34.
“Cheney looked at Scowcroft”: Robert M. Gates, From the Shadows, p. 462.
“If we don’t regain leadership”: Ibid.
“If I had to guess today”: John M. Broder, “Cheney Predicts Gorbachev Will Fail, Be Ousted,” Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1989.
“Cheney, you’re off the reservation”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“I got it,” he said: Ibid.
“Dump on Dick”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, pp. 54–55.
“his personal observations”: Marlin Fitzwater, White House daily briefing, May 1, 1989, Federal News Service transcript.
“we wanted to see”: Terence Hunt, “Bush Says He Hopes Gorbachev’s Reforms Succeed,” Associated Press, May 1, 1989.
“The president has said”: James A. Baker III, speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, May 4, 1989, Federal News Service transcript.
“we damn near tanked”: James Baker, author interview.
“You have to stay the course”: James Baker, notes of meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, May 11, 1989, Princeton archive.
“the Eeyore of Sovietology”: David Ignatius, “Why Bob Gates Is the Eeyore of Sovietology,” Washington Post, May 28, 1989.
“Baker is one of the foxiest”: Don Oberdorfer, The Turn, pp. 344–45.
“invented reasons to come back”: Ibid.
“We hope the Soviet changes”: Engel, When the World Seemed New, pp. 137–39.
“Containment worked”: George H. W. Bush, Remarks at Texas A&M University Commencement Ceremony, College Station, May 12, 1989, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=17022.
“drugstore cowboy”: Bernard Weinraub, “U.S. Questions Moscow Pledge on Sandinistas,” New York Times, May 17, 1989.
“a bit of a phony”: “Quayle Calls Gorbachev’s Proposals a Bit Phony,” Cox News Service, May 20, 1989, https://www.deseretnews.com/article/47311/QUAYLE-CALLS-GORBACHEVS-PROPOSALS-A-BIT-PHONY.html.
“fought virtually every proposal”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 93–94.
“Don’t keep telling me why”: Ibid.
“The shorter the missile”: James Graham Wilson, The Triumph of Improvisation, p. 133. Wilson traces the quote originally to Volker Rühe, a West German defense spokesman, during a 1987 trip by George Shultz to discuss the issue.
“Sometime very late tonight”: Robert Zoellick, author interview.
“Let Europe be whole and free”: George H. W. Bush, Remarks to the Citizens in Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany, May 31, 1989, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=17085.
“Grab your sticks”: Engel, When the World Seemed New, pp. 167–68.
“President Bush was the desk officer”: James Baker interview.
“We deplore the decision”: George H. W. Bush, President’s News Conference, June 5, 1989, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=17103.
“While angry rhetoric might”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 89.
“would like to not increase”: Notes of meeting shared with the authors on condition that the note taker not be identified.
“I’m not briefing”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“They may be able to clear”: James Baker, Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, June 22, 1989, Federal News Service transcript.
“Jim Baker does not want”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 104.
“Baker dropped China”: David Rothkopf, Running the World, p. 290.
“I believe that the domestic situation”: Transcript of meeting between James Baker and Qian Qichen, Waldorf-Astoria hotel, New York, September 28, 1989, Princeton archive.
“as friends, to resume”: Toast by the Honorable Brent Scowcroft, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Beijing, December 9, 1989, New York Review of Books, June 23, 2011.
“embarrassingly meager”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 112–14.
“My day in Paris”: George H. W. Bush diary, July 31, 1989.
“almost passive stance”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Senate Leader Asserts U.S. Fails to Encourage Change in East Bloc,” New York Times, September 19, 1989.
“When the president”: Don Oberdorfer, “Baker Answers Critics of U.S. Policy,” Washington Post, September 20, 1989.
“I also believed we should”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 138–39.
“total autonomy”: Oberdorfer, The Turn, pp. 371–72.
“crossed a threshold”: Ibid. pp. 373–74.
“Can I tell you how difficult”: Karen Groomes Morgan, author interview.
“We almost had major crisis”: James Baker, handwritten note to Tom Brokaw, October 19, 1989, Princeton archive.
“That was a real bonding experience”: Robert Gates, author interview.
“is likely to fall far short”: Robert Gates, draft of speech to 17th National Collegiate Security Conference, Georgetown International Relations Association, draft dated October 24, 1989, for conference on October 26, Princeton archive.
“I believe his text as revised”: Brent Scowcroft, memo to James Baker, October 24, 1989, Princeton archive.
“No way,” he scribbled: James Baker, handwritten note on Scowcroft memo, Princeton archive.
“in some places directly contradicts”: James Baker, memo to George Bush, October 25, 1989.
“You’re breaking a lot of china”: James Baker interview.
the conflict found its way: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Blocks Expert’s Speech About Gorbachev’s Chances,” New York Times, October 27, 1989.
“It is most unfortunate”: Robert Gates, handwritten note to James Baker, October 28, 1989, Princeton archive.
“I felt I’d played by the rules”: Gates interview.
“No, I don’t want to be president”: Morton Kondracke, “Quayle, Baker Square Off,” Washington Times, October 31, 1989.
“Mr. P—We have successfully avoided”: James Baker, handwritten note on copy of Kondracke column, Princeton archive.
“I keep hearing the critics”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 148.
“The East German Government”: J. Stapleton Roy, typed memo to James Baker, November 9, 1989, Princeton archive.
“Something we’ve wanted”: James Baker, handwritten notes on a news dispatch dated November 9, 1989, Princeton archive.
images of jubilant crowds: The East German government had no intention of opening the wall dividing Berlin, but was merely issuing a new temporary travel regulation to take the pressure off as East Germans transited to the West via other countries. When government spokesman Günter Schabowski read the new regulation, he was asked when it would go into effect; he shrugged and said, “Ab sofort”: Right away. Michael Meyer, “Günter Schabowski, the Man Who Opened the Wall,” New York Times, November 6, 2015. See also the gripping account of the day by Mary Elise Sarotte in The Collapse.
“Of course, I welcome”: George H. W. Bush, Remarks and Question-and-Answer Session with Reporters on the Relaxation of East German Border Controls, November 9, 1989, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=17783.
“This is a sort of great victory”: Ibid.
“a historic moment”: Tom Brokaw, NBC Nightly News, November 9, 1989, https://www.nbcnews.com/video/tom-brokaw-on-reporting-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-355151939923.
“God bless America”: James Baker, handwritten notes, November 10, 1989, Princeton archive. See also Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Rebuilding a House Divided, p. 295.
last wall jumper: Sarotte, The Collapse, pp. 13–14.
“Ich bin ein Berliner”: John F. Kennedy, Remarks at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/JFK-Speeches/Berlin-W-Germany-Rudolph-Wilde-Platz_19630626.aspx.
“tear down this wall”: Ronald Reagan, Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/research/speeches/061287d. For a good account of the debate over including the line in Reagan’s speech, see James Mann, The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan.
“given little thought”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 187–89.
“Virtually no West German”: Philip Zelikow and Robert Blackwill, memo to Brent Scowcroft, March 20, 1989. Cited in Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, p. 28.
“This is the real opportunity”: Robert Zoellick, draft memorandum, May 15, 1989, Princeton archive.
“We were all caught”: Dieter Kastrup, author interview.
“When Helmut Kohl gave”: Horst Teltschik, author interview.
avoid being “stampeded”: William J. Burns, The Back Channel, p. 55.
“the end of history”: Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” The National Interest, Summer 1989.
“Germany will not unify”: Francis Fukyama, author interview.
“the triumph of the West”: Fukuyama, “The End of History?”
“Mitterrand was not”: Teltschik interview.
“We beat the Germans twice”: Helmut Kohl, Memoirs, as quoted by Carsten Volkery, “ ‘The Germans Are Back!,’ ” Spiegel, September 11, 2009.
“a possible PR ploy”: Richard M. Nixon, letter to George H. W. Bush, November 16, 1989, Princeton archive.
“unprofessional at best”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 160.
“This is the end of my non-agenda”: Ibid., p. 163.
“I have been called cautious”: Ibid., pp. 164–65.
“seasick summit”: Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 160.
“Mr. Baker, this is a drowning rat”: Ibid., p. 161.
“We share the values”: Zelikow and Rice, Germany, p. 18.
“What about calling them democratic values?”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 162.
“Gorby went out of his way”: James Baker, handwritten notes on cable by James Dobbins to United States Consulate in Leningrad, Princeton archive.
“inherited my tendency”: Genscher, Rebuilding a House Divided, p. 15.
“What Baker learned very fast”: Teltschik interview.
“If I’d been in Baker’s position”: Dan Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 145.
“We were in fact appalled”: Kastrup interview.
Two previous secretaries of state: John Foster Dulles in 1954 and William Rogers in 1972 visited East Berlin but never left the city. In addition to being the first American secretary of state to visit East Germany outside Berlin, Baker was also the last. “Secretaries of State Visits Abroad,” Department of State, https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/history/sectravels/dest7.html.
“would enhance the stature”: James Dobbins, Foreign Service, pp. 108–9.
“Baker’s mind was quick”: Ibid.
“Baker seemed not to forgive me”: Tom Heneghan, “Envoy Says Baker Froze Him Out Over German Unity,” Reuters, February 24, 1994.
“It was terrible”: James Baker, author interview.
“The process here is irreversible”: Notes taken from the East Germany visit by an American official and shared with the authors on condition of anonymity.
“A lot of people wish”: Ibid.
“If we had known”: Bob Woodward, The Commanders, pp. 55–56.
“comic-opera coup”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 186.
“I think we ought to go”: Woodward, The Commanders, pp. 145–46.
“No news on #1”: James Baker, handwritten notes, December 20, 1989, Princeton archive.
“You must understand that”: James Baker, talking points, December 24, 1989, Princeton archive.
“It’s not a political matter”: James Baker, handwritten notes, December 24, 1989, Princeton archive.
“even a hypothetical possibility”: Mark A. Uhlig, “Nicaraguan Opposition Routs Sandinistas,” New York Times, February 27, 1990.
55 percent of the vote: “Observing Nicaragua’s Elections, 1989–1990,” The Carter Center, May 1990, https://www.cartercenter.org/documents/1153.pdf.
“the intelligence was given to me”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 20, 1990.
“poisoning the well”: Ibid.
“I hope that you’ll make”: Jimmy Carter, author interview.
“They were like sky high”: Bernard Aronson, author interview.
“It was a much more important defeat”: Ibid.
“Very close friend”: George H. W. Bush, author interview.
“That empowered him”: Aaron David Miller, author interview.
“Baker seemed to spend”: Dobbins, Foreign Service, pp. 103–4.
“He’d tell it like it was”: Bush interview.
“This is a place where you and I”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 13, 1990.
“a visible lightness”: Robert Kimmitt, author interview.
“Well, I’m not sure about Jim!”: Notes of October 30, 1990, meeting shared with the authors on condition that the note taker not be identified.
“They’re good friends”: Dan Quayle, author interview.
“If you’re so smart”: James Baker interview.
“Like most siblings”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 19.
“I hope that you can find”: James Baker, letter to John Simpson, director of the Secret Service, January 3, 1990, Princeton archive.
“Brent and Jim did get”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 36.
“He demanded more loyalty”: Robert Gates, From the Shadows, pp. 456–57.
“Baker’s frequent invoking”: Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 101.
“reunification appears inevitable”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 7, 1990.
“We’ve got to lead”: Ibid., February 24, 1990.
“We called it the cat table”: Horst Teltschik, author interview.
“Hans-Dietrich, we understand you”: Dieter Kastrup, author interview.
who exactly first conceived the idea: William J. Burns, The Back Channel, p. 55.
“You had to make it appear”: Dennis Ross, author interview.
“Two Plus Four and not”: Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Rebuilding a House Divided, p. 340.
“iron-clad guarantees”: Memorandum of Conversation, James Baker and Eduard Shevardnadze, February 9, 1990. National Security Archive.
“Events are moving rapidly”: Notes of meeting taken by an American official and provided to the authors on condition of anonymity.
“I saw our negotiator yesterday”: Ibid.
“I say Four Plus Two, you say”: Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, pp. 182–83.
“A neutral Germany does not”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs, pp. 528–29.
“The NSC got to him pretty quickly”: Condoleezza Rice, author interview.
“membership, membership, membership”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 10, 1990.
“Bye-bye, Commies!”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Asks Bulgaria for Fair Election,” New York Times, February 11, 1990.
“wild and wooly”: Andrew Carpendale, memorandum to ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, May 24, 1993, Princeton archive.
“Hit the roof twice”: Notes by unnamed Baker aide written on announcement of conventional forces caps, Princeton archive.
“If I’m ever put”: Ross interview.
“I had a long talk with Helmut Kohl”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 13, 1990.
“He believed that Baker had”: Zelikow and Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, p. 194.
“He said you had said”: James Baker, handwritten note to Mikhail Gorbachev, March 28, 1990, Princeton archive.
“We must find a solution”: Eduard Shevardnadze, The Future Belongs to Freedom, p. 139.
“Tell us what you need”: Pavel Palazchenko, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, pp. 198–99.
for Gorbachev was now “critical”: George H. W. Bush diary, March 7, 1990.
“another Munich”: Andrew Rosenthal, “Bush Delays Action on Lithuania, Not Wanting to Harm Gorbachev,” New York Times, April 25, 1990.
Senate voted overwhelmingly: The Senate voted 73 to 24 on May 1, 1990, to approve a nonbinding resolution urging Bush not to act on any trade agreements with the Soviet Union until it lifted its oil embargo and blockade on Lithuania. All but two Republicans voted against Bush on the measure. Joan Mower, “Senate Urges Halt to U.S.-Soviet Trade Agreement,” Associated Press, May 2, 1990.
“After the Baker conversation”: George H. W. Bush diary, April 18, 1990.
“Anchor Germany to West”: James Baker, handwritten notes from meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, May 18, 1990, Princeton archive.
“Taking Baker to the Cleaners”: William Safire, “Taking Baker to the Cleaners,” New York Times, May 21, 1990.
“The right wing is jumping on us”: George H. W. Bush diary, May 22 and May 23, 1990.
“Jim would come to me”: Colin Powell, author interview.
between 2,900 and 3,350 miles: Warsaw Pact Theater Forces—1985, Central Intelligence, September 1985, https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88T00565R000200250002-1.pdf. The CIA’s own estimates were lower than those of the Defense Intelligence Agency, placing the range between 1,600 and 2,500 miles.
“It became a totem”: Richard Burt, author interview.
“He looks at Baker”: Ibid.
“Rick, you’re probably pissed”: Ibid.
would not a united Germany: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 282–83.
“It was as if everybody”: Robert Blackwill, author interview.
“I’m gratified that you and I”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 282–83.
“practically assaulted”: Zelikow and Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, pp. 276–79.
“They say Mitterrand has 1,000 lovers”: James Baker, memo on conversation with Mikhail Gorbachev, Embassy in Paris, November 19, 1999, Princeton archive.
“Drinking decaffeinated coffee”: American summary of Camp David meeting, June 2, 1990, Princeton archive.
“virtually open rebellion”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 282–83.
“We are in full agreement”: Zelikow and Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, pp. 280–82.
“administration officials said they”: Andrew Rosenthal, “Summit Talks End with Warmth but Fail to Resolve Key Issues,” New York Times, June 5, 1990.
produced “no real progress”: R.W. Apple Jr., “The Doubts That Linger: Question of Germany Remains Intractable,” New York Times, June 4, 1990.
“deeply agitated”: Genscher, Rebuilding a House Divided, p. 455.
“Well, I will disturb him”: Kastrup interview.
“He was not in the best of moods”: Ibid.
“a dour autumnal breakfast”: Douglas Hurd, Memoirs, p. 389.
“taking into account”: Agreed Minute to the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, September 12, 1990, http://treaties.fco.gov.uk/docs/fullnames/pdf/1991/TS0088%20(1991)%20CM-1756%201990%201%20OCT,%20NEW%20YORK%3B%20TREATY%20ON%20GERMANY%20DECLARATION%20SUSPENDING%20OPERATION%20OF%20QUADRIPARTITE%20RIGHTS%20&%20RESPONSIBILITIES.pdf [inactive].
“The late night flurry”: Hurd, Memoirs, p. 389.
“The new Germany is here”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Four Allies Give Up Rights in Germany,” New York Times, September 13, 1990.
“He did not want to fail again”: Pavel Palazchenko, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, p. 205.
“Do you recall the subject”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 4–6.
“the State Department operations center”: Palazchenko, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, p. 206.
“I could not imagine”: Eduard Shevardnadze, The Future Belongs to Freedom, pp. 99–100.
20 percent of the world’s: World Proven Crude Oil Reserves by Country, 1980–2004, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), https://www.opec.org/library/Annual%20Statistical%20Bulletin/interactive/2004/FileZ/XL/T33.HTM.
“For several hours”: Shevardnadze, The Future Belongs to Freedom, pp. 101–2.
“I gave him the assurance”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, June 3, 1993, Princeton archive.
“It was one of the most difficult decisions”: Shevardnadze, The Future Belongs to Freedom, pp. 101–2.
“brutal and illegal invasion”: Bill Keller, “Moscow Joins U.S. in Criticizing Iraq,” New York Times, August 4, 1990.
“The Cold War breathed”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 16.
“the first post–Cold War crisis”: The State Department Policy Planning Office entitled a memo “The First Post-Cold War Crisis” on August 4, 1991. William J. Burns, The Back Channel, p. 58.
“We didn’t pay any attention”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, June 1, 1993, Princeton archive.
While we take no position: R. Jeffrey Smith, “State Department Cable Traffic on Iraq-Kuwait Tensions, July 1990,” Washington Post, October 21, 1991.
“we have no opinion on”: Excerpts from Iraqi Document on Meeting with U.S. Envoy, New York Times, September 23, 1990. This was released by the Iraqi government, translated by ABC News, and published by the Times. The State Department never confirmed or denied its authenticity. Another version has circulated with somewhat different wording. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/23/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-excerpts-from-iraqi-document-on-meeting-with-us-envoy.html. Glaspie later said the Iraqi account was doctored and omitted the first part of her sentence about Arab-Arab disputes in which she said she stressed “that we would not insist on settlements being made in a nonviolent manner, not by threats, not by intimidation and certainly not by aggression.” See Thomas L. Friedman, “Envoy to Iraq, Faulted in Crisis, Says She Warned Hussein Sternly,” New York Times, March 21, 1991.
“differences are best resolved”: Rick Atkinson, Crusade, p. 52.
“She was lied to by him”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 310–11.
“What you want me to do”: Jim Mann, “Baker Denies U.S. Misled Iraq About Stand on Invasion,” Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1990.
“Washington’s greatest self-positioner”: Michael Kinsley, “James A. Baker, Please Resign,” Washington Post, October 18, 1990.
“We were being accused”: Baker interview with DeFrank, June 1.
“She didn’t do anything wrong”: James Baker, author interview.
“was invented by Tariq Aziz”: Randa Takieddine, “The US Ambassador to Baghdad Tells the Story of Her Famous Meeting with Late Iraqi President,” Al Hayat, March 15, 2008, http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19873.htm.
“She didn’t tell us”: Tariq Aziz, “The Gulf War: Oral History,” Frontline, PBS, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/aziz/1.html.
“Watch these guys”: Dan Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 192.
“In the end, you will have”: John Sununu, The Quiet Man, pp. 164–66.
“Too cute by half, Dick”: James Baker interview.
“You’ve bought yourself”: Richard Darman, Who’s in Control?, pp. 264–65.
“prediction was closer”: Ibid.
“He cut the deal because”: Dan Quayle, author interview.
led the conservative opposition: The Senate approved the agreement 54 to 45, with nineteen Republicans siding with Bush and twenty-five opposing him. United States Senate, Roll Call on the Conference Report (H.R. 5835 Conference Report), October 27, 1990, https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=101&session=2&vote=00326. The House passed the deal 228 to 200, with just forty-seven Republicans voting yes and 126 voting no. United States House Clerk, Final Vote Results for Roll Call 528, October 26, 1990, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1990/roll528.xml.
“He hated Newt after”: Jonathan Darman, author interview.
“We just saw the train wreck”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview.
“This will not stand”: George Bush, Remarks and an Exchange with Reporters on the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, August 5, 1990, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=18741.
effectively declared war on Iraq: Colin L. Powell, My American Journey, pp. 466–67.
“What’s the matter, Brent?”: Quayle interview.
“arguably the most famous”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 276.
“one smart son of a bitch”: Colin Powell, author interview.
“I know you’re aware of”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 277.
“Jim Baker is worried that we”: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 441.
“a de facto member”: George Crile, My Enemy’s Enemy, p. 236.
“grave consequences”: William Claiborne, “U.S. Ships Fire Warning Shots at Iraqi Tankers; Baghdad Escalates Threat Against Foreigners,” Washington Post, August 19, 1990.
“Everybody said you’ve got”: James Baker interview.
“We want one fact”: James Baker, handwritten notes of call with Eduard Shevardnadze, August 22, 1990, Princeton archive.
“Jim Baker’s many abilities”: Margaret Thatcher, The Downing Street Years, pp. 782–83.
“Well, all right, George”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 351–52.
“the crunch point”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, May 1993, Princeton archive.
“Jim, what do you really think”: Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 208.
“It was at that point”: Elizabeth Winston Jones, author interview.
“Jim really is an enigma”: Powell interview.
“Look at Baker’s relationship”: Robert Zoellick, author interview.
“minister without portfolio”: Elaine Sciolino, “Guardian of Baker’s Door at State: A Quick Study Who Rose Rapidly,” New York Times, February 23, 1990.
“A good age”: Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, pp. 80–82.
“Eduard, that would be”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 290–92.
“impassioned almost to the point”: Ibid.
“You can’t do that”: Dennis Ross, Doomed to Succeed, pp. 237–38.
“to resolve all remaining conflicts”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 290–92.
“Why don’t you just do it”: Dennis Ross, author interview.
“Mr. President, isn’t this”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, pp. 290–92.
“To bring it down to the”: David Hoffman, “Baker Calls Iraqi Threat to ‘Economic Lifeline,’ ” Washington Post, November 14, 1990.
“I knew what he was trying”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 399.
“a brake on any immediate impulse”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Seen as a Balance to Bush on Crisis in Gulf,” New York Times, November 3, 1990.
“the ablest of the president’s men”: Mary McGrory, “Baker’s Tempering Touch,” Washington Post, November 15, 1990.
$53.7 billion from other countries: William Diefenderfer and Robert Howard, “How to Fund a War,”: American Legion Magazine, October 28, 2011.
“Why the hell do I have”: Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, pp. 97–99. Also Richard Haass and Nicholas Burns, author interviews.
“He nearly threw me off”: Haass interview.
“Gorbachev is close”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 403.
“The first thing we must do”: Michael Duffy and Dan Goodgame, Marching in Place, pp. 157–58.
“Mr. Secretary, you know you”: Woodward, The Commanders, pp. 319–22.
“History now has given us”: Paul Lewis, “U.N. Gives Iraq Until Jan. 15 to Retreat or Face Force; Hussein Says He Will Fight,” New York Times, November 30, 1990.
“If Iraq does not reverse”: Ibid.
“Yemen’s perm. rep. just”: James Baker, handwritten note to Robert Kimmitt, November 29, 1990, Princeton archive.
“Baker would have happily”: David L. Mack, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, October 24, 1995, https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/Mack,%20David%20L.toc.pdf.
warned against “hasty actions”: Lewis, “U.N. Gives Iraq Until Jan. 15 to Retreat or Face Force.”
“China can’t go for military means”: James Baker, handwritten note, November 29, 1990, Princeton archive.
approved the resolution 12 to 2: Lewis, “U.N. Gives Iraq Until Jan. 15 to Retreat or Face Force.” The next day, Baker met with Qian Qichen in Washington, the first such official meeting in a year. Qian either forgot the deal Baker had offered or conveniently ignored it, because the Chinese protested when the minister was not scheduled to see Bush too. Rather than cause a storm, Baker opted to take Qian to see the president even though the Chinese did not vote yes on the resolution.
“An historic moment”: Robert Kimmitt, handwritten note to James Baker, November 29, 1990, Princeton archive.
“I want to talk to you”: Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 346.
“He was more willing to”: Brent Scowcroft, author interview.
“We wanted everybody in”: Mullins Grissom interview.
“The threat of force is not”: Notes of meeting shared with the authors on condition that note taker not be identified.
“I’m like, guys, we don’t”: Mullins Grissom interview.
“Bush did not like Mitchell”: Ibid.
“That’s part of why I knew”: Ibid. Years later, Mitchell said he did not remember specifically sending messages to Baker through Mullins, but “that may well have occurred.” From Mitchell’s point of view, “it made sense to have continuing discussions to try to work things out.” George Mitchell, author interview.
“dictatorship is coming”: Bill Keller, “Shevardnadze Stuns Kremlin by Quitting Foreign Ministry and Warning of ‘Dictatorship,’ ” New York Times, December 21, 1990. Keller translated the phrase as “dictatorship is approaching,” though in the years since it has been more commonly rendered as “dictatorship is coming.”
“Hard-liners are taking over”: James Baker interview.
“I was shitting in my pants”: Stephen Hadley, author interview.
“I had to scrape an incensed Bandar”: Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, p. 103.
“I was extremely nervous”: Brent Scowcroft, author interview.
“The whole world was looking”: Gamal Helal, author interview.
“He never forgot that”: Colin Powell, author interview.
“the eyes of a killer”: Hadley interview.
“We wanted to make sure”: Helal interview.
“I remember how urbane”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Tom DeFrank, July 1, 1993, Princeton archive.
“He knew that the pictures”: Karen Groomes Morgan, author interview.
“Our purpose ought not”: Memorandum of Conversation, Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 1991.
“Unless you withdraw from Kuwait”: “Text of Letter from Bush to Hussein,” New York Times, January 13, 1991.
“That is why I can’t accept”: Memorandum of Conversation.
“sort of like the sword of Damocles”: Hadley interview.
“The only question is by what path”: Memorandum of Conversation.
“one of the toughest days”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 444.
“You could tell by the look”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“Baker-Aziz meeting”: Dan Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 223.
“in over six hours of talks”: “Remarks by Baker at News Conference in Geneva on Standoff in the Gulf,” New York Times, January 10, 1991.
“Everyone was, especially him”: Groomes Morgan interview.
“When I talked to you”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Talks of Fast Strike if Kuwait Deadline Passes; Support in Congress Seen,” New York Times, January 12, 1990.
“because I knew they were going”: James Baker interview.
voted for the war resolution 250 to 183: Final Vote Results for Roll Call 9, H.J. Res. 77, House Clerk, January 12, 1991. Voting yes were 164 Republicans and 86 Democrats; voting no were 179 Democrats, three Republicans and one independent. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1991/roll009.xml.
52 to 27, with ten Democrats: Roll Call Vote on the Joint Resolution, S.J. Res. 2, United States Senate, January 12, 1991. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa was the only Republican to vote no. Senator Alan Cranston, a California Democrat, did not vote. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=102&session=1&vote=00002.
“I’m convinced I’ve done”: James Baker interview.
“You could hear it in his voice”: Zalman Shoval, author interview.
“so that I could try”: Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs, p. 556.
“John, bring me a big martini”: Ibid.
“The liberation of Kuwait has begun”: Andrew Rosenthal, “U.S. and Allies Open Air War on Iraq; Bomb Baghdad and Kuwaiti Targets; ‘No Choice’ But Force, Bush Declares,” New York Times, January 17, 1991.
“If they’ve been hit”: Rick Atkinson, Crusade, pp. 82–85.
“We are going after western Iraq”: Ibid.
“They were very, very funny”: Robert Gates, author interview.
“You cannot do this, Prime Minister”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 388.
“We may now have to act”: Moshe Arens, Broken Covenant, pp. 205–6.
“I didn’t sense any real sympathy”: Moshe Arens, author interview.
“The Ministers continue to believe”: James Baker and Alexander Bessmertnykh, joint statement, January 29, 1991, Princeton archive.
“Was Baker out of line?”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 460–61.
“His face turned ashen”: Ibid.
“was furious”: Ibid.
“got that steel jaw he gets”: Marlin Fitzwater, author interview.
“Sorry about the way”: James Baker, handwritten notes, January 30, 1991, Princeton archive.
“He should fire him for this”: Monica Crowley, Nixon in Winter, p. 33.
“Baker bends over backward”: Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 335.
“What’s it do for you”: Michael Duffy and Dan Goodgame, Marching in Place, pp. 163–65.
“Margaret and I were both”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview.
“We have done the job”: Michael R. Gordon and Bernard E. Trainor, The Generals’ War, pp. 414–16.
“We were all in agreement”: Cheney interview.
“It hasn’t been a clean end”: George H. W. Bush diary, February 28, 1991. Cited by Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 487.
“the Iraqi military”: George Bush, Remarks to Raytheon Missile Systems Plant Employees in Andover, Massachusetts, February 15, 1991, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19308 [inactive].
“there’s an incentive for some”: Dick Cheney, interview with CNN, February 16, 1991.
“there would be no tears”: James Baker, interview with CNN, February 17, 1991. 428 tried to immediately caveat that by adding, “That is a statement of fact, not a statement of a goal or a war aim.” Nonetheless, it came across as something of a goal.
“Lebanonization of Iraq”: James A. Baker III, “Why the U.S. Didn’t March to Baghdad,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 1996.
“We are not prepared to go”: Doyle McManus and John M. Broder, “Did Not Mislead Rebels, U.S. Says,” Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1991.
“We are suffering”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Sees and Hears Kurds’ Pain in a Brief Visit at Turkish Border,” New York Times, April 9, 1991.
One hundred and forty-eight: Nese F. DeBruyne, “American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics,” Congressional Research Service, April 26, 2017, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf.
about a quarter of them: Mark Thompson, “The Curse of ‘Friendly Fire,’ ”: Time, June 11, 2014.
shot up to 89 percent: Gallup Historical Presidential Job Approval Statistics: High Individual Measurements, https://news.gallup.com/poll/116677/presidential-approval-ratings-gallup-historical-statistics-trends.aspx.
enjoying an 84 percent: A Newsweek poll conducted by Gallup on March 1, 1991, found that 39 percent had a very favorable opinion of Baker and 45 percent a mostly favorable view for an overall 84 percent, compared with 8 percent who were unfavorable. Polls compiled by the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut, http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/cf/action/ipoll/ipollBasket.cfm.
only 44 percent of Americans: ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted March 1 to March 4. Roper Center.
“It doesn’t get any better”: James Baker interview.
“has not received one cent”: Clifford Krauss, “White House Rebukes Israeli Envoy,” The New York Times, February 16, 1991.
“Baker took it personally”: Dennis Ross, author interview.
“outrageous and outside”: Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on Statements Made by Ambassador Zalman Shoval of Israel, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, December 15, 1991, https://bush41library.tamu.edu/archives/public-papers/2712.
“Yesterday your Ambassador”: James Baker, letter to Yitzhak Shamir, undated draft, Princeton archive.
“very laudatory towards Bush”: Zalman Shoval, author interview.
“had been absolutely right”: Moshe Arens, Broken Covenant, pp. 206–7.
“This Bush-Baker move against”: Ibid.
“I think Baker scared”: Aaron David Miller, author interview.
“When he would blow up”: Ross interview.
“Can’t underestimate difficulty”: Memo titled “Post-Gulf War,” February 1, 1991, Princeton archive.
“We’ve just seen an earthquake”: William J. Burns, The Back Channel, p. 67.
“Take adv. of our unique position”: James Baker, handwritten notes of discussion with George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, March 6, 1991, Princeton archive.
“not going to fly around”: Dennis Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 218.
“settlements ought not”: Ibid., pp. 220–21.
“It’s a misunderstanding”: Moshe Arens, author interview.
“The thing that he wanted”: Dan Kurtzer, author interview.
“all the notes of warmth”: Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 224.
“reasonable middle ground”: Statement to AIPAC by Secretary of State Baker, 22 May 1989, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.israel.org/MFA/ForeignPolicy/MFADocuments/Yearbook8/Pages/59%20Statement%20to%20AIPAC%20by%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Baker-.aspx.
“For Israel, now is the time”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker, in a Middle East Blueprint, Asks Israel to Reach Out to Arabs,” New York Times, May 23, 1989.
“The first twenty minutes”: Kurtzer interview.
“Nice job, fellas”: William J. Burns, author interview.
“Your Israeli-Arab speech”: Richard Nixon, letter to Baker, May 22, 1989, Princeton archive.
“Certainly, Baker’s words”: Yitzhak Shamir, Summing Up, pp. 200–3.
Senators from both parties: Kurtzer later concluded that the speech used unnecessarily inflammatory words and could have accomplished the same goal in a less provocative way. “You don’t ask anybody to give up a dream,” he said. Instead, Baker should have pressed Israel for specific, practical moves. “The idea was right but not the phraseology.” Kurtzer interview.
“I think he belongs to that”: Arens interview.
“It is astonishing that”: “Israel Criticizes Report,” Washington Post, March 22, 1990.
“I’m going to kick out”: Kurtzer interview.
“Come on, he’s the deputy”: Burns interview.
“When we move to direct”: Transcript, Hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Federal News Service, June 13, 1990.
“No one is going to create”: Ross interview.
“He said you have finally”: Note to James Baker, signed “csj,” meaning probably Caron Jackson, June 13, 1990, Princeton archive.
“Disgusting.” “Distasteful.”: White House comment sheets, June 14, 1990, Princeton archive.
“One reason he’s been successful”: Condoleezza Rice, author interview.
“Every one of his counterparts”: Ross interview.
“Everybody’s got a red line”: Margaret Tutwiler, author interview.
“Jim has this ability to”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“We know there is a state”: Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace, pp. 68–69.
“Those guys could fuck up”: Burns, The Back Channel, p. 73.
“I guess that it was okay”: Ross, The Missing Peace, pp. 68–72.
“We were there for you”: Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 246.
“a message to Baker”: “Arab Stabs Four Women in Jerusalem, Three Dead,” Associated Press, March 10, 1991. The fourth woman later died.
“visibly affected”: Shamir, Summing Up, pp. 226–27.
“the best years of my life”: Joel Brinkley, “Yitzhak Shamir, Former Israeli Prime Minister, Dies at 96,” New York Times, June 30, 2012.
“I think Baker sized him up”: Arens interview.
“an ever-flexible pragmatist”: Shamir, Summing Up, pp. 200–201.
“In my grandmother’s”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“He was genuinely touched”: Shamir, Summing Up, p. 230.
“toughest Arab domino”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 447.
“ultimate endurance contest”: Ibid., p. 454.
“I give up”: Ibid.
“Well, you know, Mr. President”: Ibid., p. 456.
“the dead cat”: Ross, The Missing Peace, p. 76.
“Underneath that Texas affability”: Robert Gates, author interview.
“Baker was a master of the”: Richard Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, pp. 97–99.
“This better be important”: Ed Djerejian, author interview.
“I need for you to stand up”: Notes provided to authors on the condition that the note taker not be identified.
“We must be assured that”: Zalman Shoval, Jerusalem and Washington, p. 185.
“Jim Baker’s word—good”: Ross, Doomed to Succeed, pp. 247–48.
“Don’t let the PLO block”: Notes provided to authors on the condition that the note taker not be identified.
“If this package I have prepared”: Ibid.
“an endurance machine”: Tutwiler interview.
“Take one hour per day”: Preston Moore, letter to James Baker, April 25, 1991, Princeton archive.
“I hate you. I hate Jim Baker”: Miller interview.
“We’re up against”: George Bush, The President’s News Conference, September 12, 1991, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=19969.
“I’m gonna get him”: Gamal Helal, author interview.
“Go to hell”: Ibid.
“Take care”: Ross, Doomed to Succeed, pp. 247–48.
“The ball is in your court”: Notes provided to authors on the condition that the note taker not be identified.
“My people look at me”: Ibid.
“We come from different”: Ibid. See also Baker, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 507.
“With you people, the souk never closes”: Ibid. See also Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 249.
“Do you think I’m going to”: Ross interview.
travel 251,134 miles: State Department count, Princeton archive.
“Mr. America”: Helal interview.
“I guess we closed the souk”: Ross, Doomed to Succeed, p. 249.
“blowhard”: Ross, The Missing Peace, p. 275.
“irresponsible”: Talking points for James Baker meeting with Feisal Husseini, October 30, 1991, Princeton archive.
“odd setting”: Shamir, Summing Up, p. 237.
“Today, Israel and her Arab neighbors”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Israel and Arabs, Face to Face, Begin Quest for Mideast Peace,” New York Times, October 31, 1991.
“faking facts and history”: R. W. Apple Jr., “Mideast Foes List Demands and Trade Angry Charges Across Conference Table,” New York Times, November 1, 1991.
“Don’t let them get public”: Talking points for James Baker phone call to Yitzhak Shamir, November 3, 1991, Princeton archive.
“We just landed”: George H. W. Bush, letter to James Baker, October 30, 1991, Princeton archive.
“Baker’s remarkable, stubborn”: Shamir, Summing Up, p. 228.
“One of the raps on me was”: James Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter Thomas DeFrank, April 29, 1993, Princeton archive.
“I’m going to the White House”: Kurtzer interview.
“There goes another vacation”: Michael R. Beschloss and Strobe Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 423.
“No leverage”: Serhii Plokhy, The Last Empire, pp. 75–77.
“What a flake!”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 104.
“engaging and pleasant”: George Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 510–11.
“Maybe the thing to do”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, p. 429.
“We decided he should”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, p. 520.
“disturbing development”: George H. W. Bush, News Conference, Kennebunkport, Maine, August 19, 1991, Federal News Service transcript.
“misguided and illegitimate effort”: Andrew Rosenthal, “Bush Condemns Soviet Coup and Calls for Its Reversal,” New York Times, August 20, 1991.
“My problem is that, during”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 526–27.
“know anything about foreign policy”: Monica Crowley, Nixon in Winter, pp. 20–21.
“if Baker doesn’t stop drooling”: Ibid., p. 25.
“I thought we needed to”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“They never really cottoned up”: Dan Quayle, author interview.
“We’d have a cabinet meeting”: James Baker, author interview.
“Fuck you, Kemp!”: Robert Gates, From the Shadows, pp. 456–57. See also Morton Kondracke and Fred Barnes, Jack Kemp, 240–42.
“a quarterback who had just been”: Marlin Fitzwater, Call the Briefing!, pp. 350–51.
“I thought there was going”: Gates, From the Shadows, pp. 456–57.
“I deeply regret”: Jack Kemp to James Baker, undated note, Princeton archive.
“I have your very thoughtful”: James Baker to Jack Kemp, May 23, 1991, Princeton archive.
“A COUP IS BEING ORGANIZED”: Jack F. Matlock Jr., Autopsy of an Empire, pp. 540–44.
“he should not literally”: James Dobbins, Foreign Service, p. 117.
“not use military force”: Milan Panic, Prime Minister for Peace, p. 42.
“We don’t have a dog”: J. F. O. McAllister, “Atrocity and Outrage,” Time, August 17, 1992.
“You’re the first journalist”: Steven Weisman, author interview.
“I convinced no one”: James A. Baker III, The Politics of Diplomacy, p. 480.
“a wall with a crew cut”: Ibid., p. 481.
“a major failure of U.S. diplomacy”: Panic, Prime Minister for Peace, p. 42.
“U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!”: “300,000 Albanians Pour into Streets to Welcome Baker,” New York Times, June 23, 1991.
“On behalf of President Bush”: Ibid.
“We’re not doing contingency planning”: The meeting took place on June 25, 1991. Bartholomew Sparrow, The Strategist, pp. 452–53.
“What you are telling us”: Plokhy, The Last Empire, p. 78.
“Is that really all right?”: Ibid., p. 26.
“Some people have urged”: George H. W. Bush, Remarks to the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Ukraine in Kiev, Soviet Union, August 1, 1991, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-supreme-soviet-the-republic-the-republic-the-ukraine-kiev-soviet-union.
“Chicken Kiev” speech: William Safire, “Ukraine Marches Out,” New York Times, November 1991.
“We were very nervous”: James Baker interview.
“There’s no question I was”: Cheney interview.
“it would be good if you”: Memorandum of Conversation, August 20, 1991, George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
switched sides and ordered: Peter Baker, “Coup That Wasn’t Stirs Russians’ Mixed Emotions,” Washington Post, August 17, 2001.
“The Embassy’s assessment”: Typewritten notes, undated and unsigned, Princeton archive.
“Excuse me, I’ve got to”: James Dobbins, author interview.
“I have been trying to”: Dobbins, Foreign Service, pp. 125–26.
“Oh my God, that’s wonderful”: Memorandum of Conversation, August 21, 1991, Bush Library.
“We could get an authoritarian”: Bush and Scowcroft, A World Transformed, pp. 541–43.
“Support for the center”: Plokhy, The Last Empire, p. 211.
“Mistake to say ‘no’ ”: Ibid., p. 264.
90 percent voted for independence: Francis X. Clines, “Ex-Communist Wins in Ukraine; Yeltsin Recognizes Independence,” New York Times, December 3, 1991.
“The USSR, as a subject of”: The Belavezha Accords, December 8, 1991, Russian Presidential Library, https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619792.
“The Soviet Union as we’ve”: David Hoffman, “ ‘Soviet Union as We’ve Known It’ Is Gone, Baker Says,” Washington Post, December 9, 1991.
“I think the Soviet situation”: James Baker, memorandum to George H. W. Bush, December 10, 1991, Princeton archive.
“The simple fact of the matter”: James Baker, “America and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire: What Has to Be Done,” address delivered at Princeton University, December 12, 1991, Federal News Service transcript.
“It is a letting-go”: Doyle McManus, “Baker Appeals for Global Aid for Republics,” Los Angeles Times, December 13, 1991.
“call to action”: Baker, “America and the Collapse of the Soviet Empire.”
“seemed small compared with”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Presents Steps to Aid Transition by Soviets,” New York Times, December 13, 1991.
“a Marshall Plan”: McManus, “Baker Appeals for Global Aid for Republics.”
58 percent told pollsters: New York Times/CBS News poll, August 26–29, 1991, https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/public-perspective/ppscan/31/31025.pdf.
“much too hasty in saying”: Beschloss and Talbott, At the Highest Levels, pp. 452–53.
“Nothing could be further”: Pavel Palazchenko, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze, pp. 353–54.
“That will be the judgment”: Notes shared with the authors on condition that the note taker not be identified.
“Welcome, you are on Russian”: Ibid.
“Ukraine and others will”: Ibid.
“This is kind of a coup”: Ibid.
“an extraordinary discussion”: James Baker, typewritten notes from telephone call with George H. W. Bush, January 29, 1992.
“The Bush and Baker idea”: Crowley, Nixon in Winter, p. 75.
“I don’t have a blank check”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Bush Cites Limits on Aid to Russia,” New York Times, March 12, 1992.
“Spent trillions of dollars”: James Baker, handwritten notes on talking points, March 30, 1992, Princeton archive.
“The American people are fed up”: Thomas L. Friedman, “Bush and Baker Press Aid to Russia but Meet Worries About Costs,” New York Times, April 10, 1992.
“They’re justifying themselves”: Petr Aven and Alfred Kokh, Gaidar’s Revolution, pp. 362–74.
“Is there something”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview.
“In 1988, fighting Dukakis”: Donald M. Rothberg, “Ailing Republican Chairman Apologizes for Hardball Tactics,” Associated Press, January 14, 1991.
Atwater was “Machiavellian”: Neely Tucker, “ ‘Lee Atwater Story’: Riveting Ruthlessness,” Washington Post, September 26, 2008.
“by pushing it to the edge”: Susan Baer, “Baker Praises Atwater at D.C. Memorial Service,” Baltimore Sun, April 5, 1991.
“We were pulling our hair out”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“I would say to my husband”: Susan Baker, unpublished interview with ghostwriter for husband’s second memoir, January 25, 2006, Princeton archive.
“(NOT RGD)”: Handwritten notes, November 25, 1991, Princeton archive.
“JABIII—for 1 year only—part-time”: Ibid.
“You have just done”: James Baker, note to John Sununu, December 3, 1991, Princeton archive. Reflecting on his fall years later, Sununu did not blame Baker. In fact, he concluded that he should have emulated Baker and done more to reach out to reporters to build a better relationship. “Probably the biggest mistake I made was not taking his advice,” Sununu said. “He really recommended I continue his practice of off-the-record briefings with the press, but the president didn’t want me to do that.” John Sununu, author interview.
“I’ve got major stuff”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“threw me under the bus”: Ibid.
“global bureaucrats”: Robin Toner, “Buchanan, Urging New Nationalism, Joins ’92 Race,” New York Times, December 11, 1992.
“America First”: Maureen Dowd, “Buchanan’s Alternative: Not Kinder or Gentler,” New York Times, January 15, 1992.
“a wonderful fight for Bush”: David S. Broder, “Shame of the GOP…,” Washington Post, December 7, 1991.
“I think it is important to your re-election”: James Baker, handwritten note to George Bush, December 9, 1991, Princeton archive.
the economy was in a “freefall”: Andrew Rosenthal, “Bush Camp Renews Strategy Debate,” New York Times, January 25, 1992.
“Message: I care”: Ibid.
winning 38 percent of the vote: New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Office, https://sos.nh.gov/1992RepPresPrim.aspx [inactive].
“That was a wakeup call”: Sam Skinner, author interview.
“if I had it to do over”: Dick Williams, “Bush Sorry for Breaking Promise of No New Taxes; ‘If I Had It to Do Over, I Wouldn’t,’ He Says,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, March 3, 1992.
“That admission is the worst”: Bob Woodward, “Primary Heat Turned Deal into a ‘Mistake,’ ” Washington Post, October 6, 1992.
“Change vs. more of the same”: Michael Kelly, “Clinton and Bush Compete to Be Champion of Change,” New York Times, October 31, 1992.
“causing pain in my marriage”: Dan Balz, “Clinton Concedes Marital ‘Wrongdoing,’ ” Washington Post, January 27, 1992.
“I didn’t inhale”: Gwen Ifill, “Clinton Admits Experiment with Marijuana in 1960’s,” New York Times, March 30, 1992.
“our worst political nightmare”: Fred Steeper, Memorandum to Robert Teeter and Charlie Black, Re: Taking Risks, March 11, 1992, reproduced in the appendix of Peter Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 648.
“I’ll be like a mechanic”: Susan Baer, “What Would Perot Do? Campaigner Has Record of Hands-On Style,” Baltimore Sun, June 23, 1992.
“if Jim Baker would just step up”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 426.
“BAKER’S 4-LETTER INSULT”: Ed Koch, “BAKER’S 4-LETTER INSULT,” New York Post, March 6, 1992.
followed with a piece saying: William Safire, “Blaming the Victim,” New York Times, March 19, 1992.
acknowledged in a book: Edward I. Koch, The Koch Papers, p. 91.
“Well, AIPAC won’t like that”: James Baker, author interview.
“It was a political comment”: Ibid.
“Hey Jimmy, I’ve got my”: Jack Kemp, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, October 6, 2008, Princeton and Rice. Kemp’s account raises some questions. He said that he had gone to the White House that day to accompany Bush on a trip to Los Angeles following riots sparked by the acquittal of police officers who beat African American motorist Rodney King. But the riots took place nearly two months after Koch’s column was published. Since Kemp was speaking more than sixteen years later, it is possible he confused the timeline.
“Nothing could be further”: James Baker, letter to Melvin Salberg and Abraham Foxman, March 5, 1992, Princeton archive.
“I respectfully suggest that”: Benjamin Gilman, letter to James Baker, March 17, 1992, Princeton archive. According to exit polls, George Bush drew about 29 percent of American Jews in his 1988 contest with Michael Dukakis.
“I don’t accept that Jim would”: George Bush, letter to Ed Koch, March 6, 1991, Princeton archive.
“I don’t believe he was”: Abraham Foxman, author interview. A review of Baker’s public life finds little if any convincing evidence beyond that disputed episode to suggest that Baker was overtly anti-Semitic. But it is true that he grew up in Texas in an era when he knew few if any Jews and he was not sensitized to the subject as Americans of later generations would be. And he remained deeply skeptical of some of Israel’s policies, particularly under Yitzhak Shamir, which to some critics fed the impression of anti-Semitism.
“Shamir lost the election”: Arens interview.
“Baker was determined not”: Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace, pp. 82–84.
“They wanted the lead”: James Baker, author interview.
an estimated 140,000: “Focus: The Former Yugoslavia,” International Center for Transitional Justice, 2009, https://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-FormerYugoslavia-Justice-Facts-2009-English.pdf.
“the administration at high levels”: Don Oberdorfer, “U.S. Aide Resigns over Balkan Policy,” Washington Post, August 26, 1992.
“The last year of the administration”: Richard Haass, author interview.
“I talked to the president”: Skinner interview.
“It’s a bit unfair”: FitzGerald “Gerry” Bemiss, letter to James Baker, May 31, 1992, Princeton archive.
“Your personality is improving”: Lynn Martin, letter to James Baker, July 14, 1992, Princeton archive.
“Dick, don’t you see?”: Colin Powell, author interview.
“You need to ask Baker”: Senior Bush administration official who asked not to be identified, author interview.
“I think they felt like Jim”: Powell interview.
“He didn’t want to leave”: John Baker, author interview.
“one last Hail Mary”: Ross, The Missing Peace, pp. 85–87.
“I think I really need some help”: James Baker interview.
“the Democratic Party has revitalized itself”: Steven A. Holmes, “Perot Says Democratic Surge Reduced Prospect of Victory, New York Times, July 17, 1992.
“Tell him you share his”: James Baker, notes for ghostwriter, September 27, 2005, Princeton archive.
“The president is obviously”: David Paton, letter to James Baker, July 22, 1992, Princeton archive.
“In coming back, he knew”: Addison Baker Duncan, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
commissioned a secret poll: Fred Steeper, Memorandum Re: Vice President, July 20, 1992. Reproduced in the appendix of Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, pp. 703–4.
Baker polled better than Quayle: A public poll at that time showed that Baker polled better than Quayle. Gallup found that 40 percent of voters would be more likely to vote for Bush if Baker was his running mate instead of Quayle while 32 percent said they would be less willing and the rest said it would not make much difference or had no opinion. Gallup Poll, Gallup Organization, July 24–26, 1992.
called Quayle to make clear: Colin L. Powell, My American Journey, pp. 553–54.
“I was just thinking of ways”: George W. Bush, author interview.
“with George’s knowledge”: Unpublished draft of memoir, September 20, 2005, Princeton archive.
“I told the president our”: Ibid.
“Yes,” Quayle answered: Ann Devroy and David S. Broder, “Private Talks Leave Quayle on Ticket; Departure Weighed in Discussions,” Washington Post, July 25, 1992.
“Baker had agreed”: Ibid.
“It was exciting to think that”: Marlin Fitzwater, Call the Briefing, p. 354.
“Marlin, has the president”: Ibid., p. 355.
more than 700,000 miles: Altogether, his staff calculated his total travel at 700,131 miles to 125 countries (many of them repeat visits). “Travel fact sheet—1989–1992,” August 31, 1992, Princeton archive.
“whirlwind of history”: Remarks of Secretary of State James Baker, The Loy Henderson Room, The State Department, Federal News Service, August 13, 1992.
“As I listened to that”: George H. W. Bush, note to James Baker, August 13, 1992. In George Bush, All the Best, George Bush, p. 565.
“That was the cruelest”: Aaron David Miller, author interview.
“abortion on demand”: Pat Buchanan 1992 Republican Convention Address, C-SPAN, August 17, 1992, https://www.c-span.org/video/?31255-1/pat-buchanan-1992-republican-convention-address.
“You can bet your life”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 512.
“so that people couldn’t”: Dan Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 351.
“When you got in a meeting”: Thomas Scully, George H. W. Bush Oral History Project, Miller Center, September 2–3, 1999.
“Baker’s been MIA”: Maureen Dowd with Thomas L. Friedman, “Baker Re-Emerges as Bush’s Campaign Chief, Only to Be Hit with Criticism,” New York Times, October 11, 1992.
“hiding in the conference room”: Ibid.
“Jim Baker told people what”: Quayle, Standing Firm, p. 351.
“What are you doing”: Baker associate who asked not to be identified, author interview.
“Ross, that’s just bullshit”: James Baker interview.
“He waxed very emotional”: Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 514.
“Open new markets”: Bush Campaign Debate Briefing Book, Princeton archive.
“What I’m going to do is say”: The First Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debate, transcript, Commission on Presidential Debates, October 11, 1992, https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/october-11-1992-first-half-debate-transcript/.
“Shit, we never talked about that”: James Baker interview. The Newsweek reporters who compiled a book reconstructing the campaign after the election had a different version. They reported that Baker had known Bush would make the suggestion at the debate, although he was unhappy about it and groused to colleagues that he would only give the assignment a year before returning to the State Department. Along with Baker’s appointment, Bush was supposed to announce that he would fire his current economic team of Nick Brady, Dick Darman, and Michael Boskin but forgot, leaving it to aides to put the news out after the debate. Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 516. But in an interview with the authors, Baker insisted the idea “came as a total and absolute and complete surprise to me.”
“an incredible acknowledgment”: Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, Mad as Hell, pp. 475–76.
“his handler-in-chief”: Greg McDonald, “Bush Has New Role in Mind for Baker; Economy May Be Next Duty,” Houston Chronicle, October 13, 1992.
“I like the speech”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 516.
“the Invisible Man”: Ibid.
“She was all over me”: James Baker interview.
“Barb, get off his case”: Ibid.
“How has the national debt”: The Second Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debate, transcript, Commission on Presidential Debates, October 15, 1992, https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/october-15-1992-second-half-debate-transcript/.
“The person responsible for”: The Third Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debate, transcript, Commission on Presidential Debates, October 19, 1992, https://www.debates.org/voter-education/debate-transcripts/october-19-1992-debate-transcript/.
39 percent said Clinton: New York Times/CBS News Poll. Robin Toner, “Contest Tightens as Perot Resurges and Clinton Slips,” New York Times, October 25, 1992.
“The man and I are very close”: C. Boyden Gray, Memorandum to the File, October 22, 1992. Baker personal files. Baker had Gray, the White House counsel, listen in on the conversation, which took place on October 22, and make a record of it in writing.
“consult with Ross”: Ken Langone, I Love Capitalism!, pp. 171–73.
“those people”: James A. Baker III, Memorandum to File, October 21, 1992.
“impetuous” and “sounded flaky”: Ibid. In his book, Langone concluded that Baker did not realize how close he was to Perot and had someone else reach out to the candidate. By doing so, Langone believed, Baker had scotched the possibility of a deal that would have saved Bush’s presidency.
“Taxes and Trust, Stupid”: Goldman et al., Quest for the Presidency, 1992, p. 591.
“I just need you to know”: Mullins Grissom interview.
“They wanted us to contact the Russians”: James Baker, Note for File, October 6, 1992. Baker personal files.
“My dog Millie knows more”: Michael Wines, “Candidates Aim at Crucial States, and Each Other; Bush, Buoyed by Polls, Scrambles to Rebuild Winning Coalition,” New York Times, October 30, 1992.
“ ’86 Weinberger Notes”: Robert Pear, “ ’86 Weinberger Notes Contradict Bush Account on Iran Arms Deal,” New York Times, October 31, 1992.
“Bush Stance, Iran-Contra”: Walter Pincus and George Lardner Jr., “Bush Stance, Iran-Contra Notes at Odds,” Washington Post, October 31, 1992.
“It looks like a blowout”: Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 521.
Clinton won 43 percent: Election of 1992, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://presidency.proxied.lsit.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1992.
“Had we not had Ross Perot”: James Baker interview.
38 percent of his voters: Steven A. Holmes, “An Eccentric but No Joke,”: New York Times, November 5, 1992.
Of the eleven states: Bush lost Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin by 5 or fewer percentage points. Together they had 107 electoral votes; if all of them flipped, Bush would have won with 275 to 263 for Clinton. From data posted by the American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, http://presidency.proxied.lsit.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1992.
“People were tired of us”: James Baker interview.
“Afterward, Barbara and I finished”: Susan Baker, author interview.
“the Iran-contra cover-up”: The others pardoned were: Robert McFarlane, the former national security adviser; Elliott Abrams, former assistant secretary of state; and three former CIA officials, Clair E. George, Duane R. Clarridge, and Alan D. Fiers Jr. All five were charged, convicted, or pleaded guilty to various crimes related to misleading Congress. David Johnston, “Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails ‘Cover-Up,’ ” New York Times, December 25, 1992.
“Everybody’s emotions were raw”: John Baker interview.
“a fraught period”: Brent Scowcroft, author interview.
“Losing is hard, losing is tough”: James Baker interview.
“I think Bush felt a certain degree”: Dennis Ross, author interview.
“I don’t remember being upset”: Barbara Bush, author interview.
“I was really frustrated because”: George W. Bush interview.
“Who needs this?”: Bob Woodward, Shadow, p. 208.
“Jim Baker is still all uptight”: Ibid., p. 210.
“Jim Baker has lost all interest”: Ibid., pp. 211–13.
“Baker is a nervous wreck”: Ibid.
“It’s ruining Jim Baker’s life”: Ibid.
“His disappearance is the talk”: Mary McGrory, “Missing and Presumed Injured,” Washington Post, December 22, 1992.
“An ugly editorial by Mary McGrory”: Woodward, Shadow, pp. 211–13.
“prosecutor with a politician’s flair”: Sharon LaFraniere, “DiGenova’s Legacy,” Washington Post, February 29, 1988.
“What Baker made perfectly clear”: Janet Mullins Grissom, author interview.
“This wasn’t about me”: Ibid.
“At the end of the interview”: Michael Zeldin, author interview.
“Today, a Kafkaesque journey”: David Johnston, “File Search in 1992 Race Wasn't Illegal,” New York Times, December 1, 1995.
“I just want you to know”: James Baker, author interview.
“I still think it was the right call”: William Barr, author interview. Janet Mullins Grissom was even less forgiving than Baker. When Barr came to see her to explain herself, she called him a coward. “You need to know that I will make it my mission in life that you will never, ever be confirmed for any office in any administration as long as I’m working in Washington, D.C.,” she recalled telling him. As it happened, Barr managed to make a comeback in Washington anyway. In 2018, he was appointed to a second tour as attorney general by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in early 2019.
“What would I be?”: Edward William Barnett, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“I would be happy to do”: Ibid.
“I think you ought to explain”: Ibid.
“It was a brilliant strategy”: Dan Briody, The Iron Triangle, p. 82.
“I didn’t take up much”: David Rubenstein, author interview.
“I knew what the answer was”: Preston Moore, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“Baker very cleverly approaches”: Edward Djerejian, author interview.
“We discussed the liberation”: Seymour M. Hersh, “The Spoils of the Gulf War,” The New Yorker, September 6, 1993.
“There is nothing I enjoy more”: Addison Baker Duncan, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice.
“In seeking contracts”: Hersh, “The Spoils of the Gulf War.”
“Seymour, you really tried”: James Baker interview.
Taken aback by Baker's anger: Seymour Hersh, email to authors.
“The Carlyle Group, in short”: Michael Lewis, “The Access Capitalists,” The New Republic, October 18, 1993.
“If the piece is suggesting”: James Baker interview.
he earned $2.4 million: General Summary, 1994 Payments Received. This year-to-date summary included $1,010,921 from Baker Botts through August, $374,994 from Enron through September, and $173,076 from Carlyle. A separate summary of honoraria prepared by the Washington Speakers Bureau showed that Baker earned $893,000 in fees in 1994, Princeton archive.
“I came home one day to Susan”: James Baker interview.
“When you see these people”: Rubenstein interview.
“the A list” for Republicans: Andrew Rosenthal, “While in Houston to Help Bush, Many Have Eyes on 1996,” New York Times, August 17, 1992.
“essentially do nothing”: Andrew Carpendale, memo to James Baker, July 28, 1993, Princeton archive.
“show that you have a sense”: Ibid.
“the surest sign yet”: Maureen Dowd, “Baker, Lieutenant to Reagan, Salutes North,” New York Times, October 5, 1994.
“In my view”: Rad Sallee, “Baker Acts Like Contender but Ducks Question; Candidacy ‘Not Ruled Out,’ He Says in Speech,” Houston Chronicle, November 22, 1994.
with 28 percent of the Republican vote: CBS News Poll, January 2–3, 1995.
“You don’t want your legacy”: Dennis Ross, author interview.
“What I told him was”: Andy Card, author interview.
“I’ll be your poster child”: Elizabeth Winston Jones, author interview.
“First of all, you have passionate enemies”: Unsigned and undated memo to James Baker. Margaret Tutwiler identified its author as Dick Darman, Princeton archive.
“what do I want to do”: Unsigned memo to James Baker, June 10, 1994. Margaret Tutwiler confirmed that she was its author, Princeton archive.
“I’m over whatever short virus”: “Former Secretary of State No Longer Interested in Presidential Run,” Associated Press, May 10, 1995.
“If he were selected to be”: David Paton, author interview.
“What it came down to was”: Doug Baker, author interview.
“I knew I could do that job”: James Baker and Susan Baker, author interview.
“But honey,” she said: Ibid.
“Yeah, I think you ought to”: James Baker interview.
“He could probably have gotten”: Winston Jones interview.
“stop calling it a memoir”: James Baker, handwritten note on letter from Neil Nyren, Putnam publisher, January 17, 1995, Princeton archive.
“He wanted to be remembered”: Derek Chollet, author interview.
“Connotes victim of events”: James Baker, handwritten notes on memorandum from Andrew Carpendale, January 17, 1995, Princeton archive.
“He was loud, he was boisterous”: Peter Bass, author interview.
“He was still then very much”: Chollet interview.
“In retrospect, it may have been”: Draft manuscript pages, Princeton archive.
“I want to register”: Andrew Carpendale, memorandum to James Baker, January 23, 1995, Princeton archive.
“You alone will have to bear”: Ibid.
“Andrew was saying something”: Chollet interview.
Of course, Carpendale lost: As it was, Carpendale was wrestling with his own demons, a bipolar disorder that he had hidden from friends who only in hindsight would recognize the signs. After Baker’s book was done, Carpendale headed back to California but never got over being absent from the center of the action. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, he tried to enter government again, only to have his calls go unreturned. In May 2002, at age forty-one, he committed suicide in Palo Alto. See Tia O’Brien, “ ‘Brilliant’ Foreign Policy Analyst Remembered as Sharp Wit, Playful,” San Jose Mercury News, May 26, 2002.
“The man famous for spinning”: Michiko Kakutani, “A Political Insider with Bush Tells of the Outside,” New York Times, October 5, 1995.
“What do you think about Baker?”: George W. Bush, author interview.
“When he went down”: David Rubenstein, author interview.
he arranged for George W.: Bill Minutaglio, First Son, pp. 64–65.
Baker steered a Princeton friend: Ibid., pp. 202–3.
“George W. Bush wanted”: Andy Card, author interview.
“I think you know I would”: James Baker, handwritten note to George H. W. Bush, November 11, 1998, Princeton archive.
“I read that nutty story”: George H. W. Bush, handwritten note to James Baker, November 13, 1998, Princeton archive.
“In international policy”: Robert Novak’s syndicated column ran in various newspapers across the country, including in the New York Post on February 22, 2001, under the headline “George W.’s Righty Brain Trust.”
“horrible Novak column”: George H. W. Bush, letter to Brent Scowcroft, cc’d to James Baker, February 25, 1999, Princeton archive.
“I feel badly about the slight”: George W. Bush, handwritten note to James Baker, February 25, 1999, Princeton archive.
“It is important for you”: James Baker, handwritten note to George W. Bush, March 2, 1999, Princeton archive.
“Probably best if you destroy this”: Charles Powell, letter to James Baker, September 2, 1999, Princeton archive.
listed his predictions: James Baker, handwritten notes, November 2, 2000, Princeton archive.
Michigan went for Gore: 2000 Official Presidential General Election Results, Updated December 2001, Federal Election Commission, https://transition.fec.gov/pubrec/2000presgeresults.htm.
a lead of about 6,000 votes: Abby Goodnough, “Recounting Becomes Issue, Not Just in Florida,” New York Times, November 10, 2000.
a meager 1,784 votes: David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr., “How Bush Took Florida: Mining the Overseas Absentee Vote,” New York Times, July 15, 2001.
“Quickly, Openly, Calmly”: James Baker, handwritten notes, November 8, 2000, Princeton archive.
“We’re heading to the Supreme Court”: Gloria Borger, Bush v. Gore: The Endless Election, CNN documentary.
“Where is he?”: James Baker, author interview.
“Well, Chris, we’re not here”: Ron Klain, author interview.
“He didn’t spend one minute”: Ibid.
“I just can’t conceive that”: Jack Danforth, author interview. Ultimately, Theodore Olson would prove Danforth wrong. The federal courts took the case. “The next time I saw Jim Baker,” Danforth said later, “he said, ‘I told you so.’ ”
“Come on, we’ll give you”: Bill Daley, author interview.
go into overtime since 1876: In 1876, Democrat Samuel Tilden beat Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in the national popular vote, but disputes in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina left the winner of the Electoral College undecided for weeks after Election Day. Congress set up a special electoral commission composed of lawmakers and Supreme Court justices, which ultimately voted 8 to 7 to award the disputed Electoral College votes to Hayes, putting him in the White House.
Improbably, 3,407 votes: Jonathan N. Wand, Kenneth W. Shotts, Jasjeet S. Sekhon, Walter R. Mebane Jr., Michael C. Herron, and Henry E. Brady, “The Butterfly Did It: The Aberrant Vote for Buchanan in Palm Beach County, Florida,” American Political Science Review, April 25, 2001, http://sekhon.berkeley.edu/elections/election2000/butterfly.april.pdf.
roughly 2,800 ballots: Ibid.
Another 19,000 ballots in: Don Van Natta Jr., “Democrats Tell of Problems at the Polls Across Florida,” New York Times, November 10, 2000.
More than 26,000 ballots: Raymond Bonner with Josh Barbanel, “Democrats Rue Ballot Foul-Up in a 2nd County,”: New York Times, November 17, 2000.
nearly 10,000 votes: Van Natta, “Democrats Tell of Problems at the Polls Across Florida.”
hit the “clear” button: Ibid.
sheriff’s deputies tracked down: Ibid.
shrunk to a mere 327 votes: David Firestone and Michael Cooper, “Bush Sues to Halt Hand Recount in Florida,” New York Times, November 12, 2000.
appointed nearly every member: In fact, Chiles had appointed five of the seven members of the Florida Supreme Court and had jointly appointed the sixth along with Jeb Bush. The seventh was appointed by another Democratic governor, Bob Graham.
“We run the risk that if”: Joshua Bolten, author interview.
“He asked tough questions”: Theodore Olson, author interview.
“At the end, he said something”: Benjamin Ginsberg, author interview.
“We were still debating this”: Olson interview.
“Yes, we are going forward”: Ibid.
“My dad called and he goes”: Douglas Baker, author interview.
“He can give you a look”: Card interview.
“Baker’s response”: Karl Rove, Courage and Consequence, p. 201.
said he received a call: Jeffrey Toobin, “The Dirty Trickster,” The New Yorker, May 23, 2008.
“Baker says, ‘No, no’ ”: Ted Cruz, author interview.
“We’re getting killed”: Jeffrey Toobin, Too Close to Call, pp. 45–47.
“We needed for Bush and Cheney”: G. Irvin Terrell, James A. Baker III Oral History Project, Princeton and Rice, February 6, 2014.
“the undertaker”: Rubenstein interview.
“looking like one of those”: Michael Powell, “The Wise Old Men, Leading Us Through Gray Areas,” Washington Post, November 15, 2000.
“if Warren Christopher were”: Republican in the room at the time who asked not to be named, author interview.
“He looked strong”: Daley interview.
Some 51 percent of Americans: American Viewpoint poll, November 22, 2000.
forty-seven lawsuits: Steve Newborn, “Why So Many Recount Lawsuits? Go Back to 2000,” WLRN Miami, November 15, 2018, https://www.wlrn.org/post/why-so-many-recount-lawsuits-go-back-2000.
“Just answer their questions”: Michael Carvin, author interview. See also Toobin, Too Close to Call, pp. 133–34.
“We all knew I was a sacrificial lamb”: Carvin interview.
“Two weeks after the election”: Baker Reaction to FL Supreme Court, November 21, 2000, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/documents-related-the-2000-election-dispute/1121.
“He wanted the threat”: Frank Donatelli, author interview.
“When a court speaks”: Anthony Lewis, “Playing with Fire,” New York Times, November 25, 2000.
“Maybe Al Gore was afraid”: Roger Simon, Divided We Stand, p. 276.
“Voter fraud!”: Dana Canedy and Dexter Filkins, “A Wild Day in Miami, with an End to Recounting, and Democrats’ Going to Court,” New York Times, November 23, 2000.
“and delivered the following message”: Terrell oral history.
“I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush”: Harris Declares Bush Florida Winner, November 26, 2000, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/documents-related-the-2000-election-dispute-29.
“a very loose standard”: Baker on Florida Results, November 26, 2000, American Presidency Project, University of California at Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/presidential-documents-archive-guidebook/documents-related-the-2000-election-dispute-23.
“Florida is a state where”: Robert Zelnick, Winning Florida, p. 138.
“I thought your point was”: Transcript of Oral Argument, Bush v. Gore, December 11, 2000, https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2000/00-949.pdf.
“That was one of those”: Ginsberg interview.
“What does it say?”: Cruz interview.
seemed to agree with them: David Margolick, “The Path to Florida,” Vanity Fair, March 19, 2014.
“Good evening, Mr. President–elect”: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 362.
“It’s Big Time”: Ibid.
“Hello, Mr. Vice President-elect”: Ibid. See also Dick Cheney, In My Time, pp. 296–97.
the five justices who made up: Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas voted in the majority while Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer were in dissent.
“this is terrible”: She later explained that she was not upset about the outcome but because the networks were calling the election before the polls closed in California. Her husband, John O’Connor, however, told others at the party that she had been distressed by Al Gore’s apparent victory because she would not be able to retire if a Democrat were in the White House to pick her replacement. Evan Thomas, First, p. 323.
two independent recounts: The first study, by USA Today, the Miami Herald, and Knight Ridder, found that Bush would have actually increased his vote margin under the counting standards advocated by the Gore campaign. If every hanging chad and dimpled ballot had been counted, Bush would have won by 1,665 votes, instead of 537, the study found. The only scenario that would have possibly given Gore a chance was if only ballots with a clean punch were counted, the opposite of what Gore sought. In such a case, the study found Gore with three more votes than Bush out of 6 million cast—so razor-thin close that it would be impossible to conclude that Gore would necessarily have won, because different counters might have assessed the ballots differently enough to change the margin by four votes. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2001-04-03-floridamain.htm. The other study, by a consortium of eight news organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, found that neither the limited statewide recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court nor the recount sought by Gore in the four Democratic counties would have changed the ultimate outcome. The only scenario for a Gore victory in this study was if Florida had conducted a broader recount in every county, something neither sought by Gore nor ordered by the Florida Supreme Court. Judge Terry Lewis, who was overseeing the recount, said later that he was thinking about ordering a reexamination of ballots rejected by machines. The machines had purportedly recorded more than one vote for president, which theoretically might have resulted in a Gore victory, but neither side had asked that such ballots be counted. In other words, if the U.S. Supreme Court had not issued its controversial ruling in Bush v. Gore and the process had gone forward as ordered by the Florida high court, Bush still would have won, http://www.factcheck.org/2008/01/the-florida-recount-of-2000/ or http://www.nytimes.com/images/2001/11/12/politics/recount/preset.html.
“It’s easy to construct a scenario”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“I don’t think it was a contrived”: Card interview.
“We’ve got a real mess”: Ben Rhodes, author interview.
sixty-six American troops: http://icasualties.org.
estimated 2,865 civilians: Iraq Body Count, https://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/.
“It was like, shit!”: Leon Panetta, author interview.
“He looked like he was turning”: Rhodes interview.
While many veterans: Robert Zoellick served as trade representative and deputy secretary of state, Robert Kimmitt as deputy treasury secretary, Margaret Tutwiler as ambassador to Morocco and undersecretary of state, and Doug Baker as a deputy assistant commerce secretary and White House aide.
“All I’m going to say to you is”: Robert Draper, Dead Certain, p. 282.
“Jim Baker is who we call”: Charles Schwartz, author interview. Schwartz described Baker as the bin Laden family’s “favorite politician”: Steve Coll, The Bin Ladens, pp. 425–26.
“The name turned out to be”: James Baker, author interview.
“I remember sitting with my dad”: Mary-Bonner Baker, author interview.
“She was as close to perfect”: James Baker, letter to George W. Bush, June 20, 2002, Princeton archive.
“would be very expensive”: Brent Scowcroft, “Don’t Attack Saddam,” Wall Street Journal, August 15, 2002, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1029371773228069195.
“he never commented on it”: Brent Scowcroft, author interview.
“The president was honked off”: Colin Powell, author interview.
“Although the United States could”: James A. Baker III, “The Right Way to Change a Regime,” New York Times, August 25, 2002.
“I was really concerned”: James Baker interview.
“Dad was smart enough”: Will Winston, author interview.
“I’m confident that he gave me”: George W. Bush, author interview. Authors also spoke with Condoleezza Rice, Andy Card, and Stephen Hadley and none remembered specifically whether Baker got in touch first.
“It was subtle”: Andy Card, author interview.
“Against that background”: Remarks by the Vice President to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 103rd National Convention, August 26, 2002, https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/08/20020826.html.
“I’m clearly more of a hard rock”: Dick Cheney, author interview.
“When I was secretary”: Matt Bryza, author interview.
“They’re looking at each other”: Ibid.
“the only negative experience”: James Baker interview.
some $130 billion in obligations: Martin A. Weiss, “Iraq’s Debt Relief: Procedure and Potential Implications for International Debt Relief,” Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2011, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33376.pdf.
“You know, Jim”: Condoleezza Rice, author interview.
“This was literally a shit show”: Gary Edson, author interview.
“I don’t think anybody else”: Ibid.
The liberal Nation magazine: Naomi Klein, “James Baker’s Double Life,” The Nation, October 12, 2004, https://www.thenation.com/article/james-bakers-double-life/.
“I’ll tell you one thing”: James Baker interview.
“Dave, you told me you would”: Ibid.
“I thought it was kind of a crazy deal”: David Rubenstein, author interview.
Myers ran her piece: Lisa Myers, “Influence Peddling Charged over Iraq’s Debt,” NBC News, October 13, 2004, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6242360/ns/nbc_nightly_news_with_brian_williams-nbc_news_investigates/t/influence-peddling-charged-over-iraqs-debt/#.VxmVdGMydg3.
“This was like the most boldface”: Lisa Myers, author interview.
“I think he thought going into”: John Baker, author interview.
“The decision not to go”: Baker acquaintance, notes provided to author.
“I don’t think I should be considered”: James Baker, letter to George W. Bush, June 16, 2004, Princeton archive.
Please, Andy, don’t ask me: James A. Baker III, “Work Hard, Study…and Keep Out of Politics!,” p. 390.
“But we should be prepared to”: James Baker, letter to George W. Bush, January 18, 2005, Princeton archive.
“some of our friends on the Left”: Ibid.
“Your 1/11/05 speech”: George W. Bush, handwritten note to James Baker, January 19, 2005, Princeton archive.
“He’d shown himself to be”: Stephen Hadley, author interview.
“I was seventy-five years old”: James Baker interview.
“Jim, you need to get off”: Mark White, author interview.
“the CIA of the business world”: Greg Schneider, “Connections and Then Some,” Washington Post, March 16, 2003.
“You dip a very, very, very”: Neil Nyren, email to James Baker, November 8, 2005, Princeton archive.
“I think what he really wants”: James Baker, note to staff, November 9, 2005, Princeton archive.
“we foresaw happening some”: James Baker, email to Neil Nyren, November 28, 2005, Princeton archive. Nyren then retreated. “I understand what you’re saying and I’ve said my piece,” he replied. But as with his first memoir, Baker’s advisers warned him that he was opening the door to legitimate criticism if he ignored other items. Hancock noted that Baker did not disclose that the conference he was to attend on the day of the September 11 attacks was sponsored by the Carlyle Group and included investors with the last name of bin Laden. “If I were a critical reviewer and I wanted to argue that you were not telling ‘the whole truth,’ I would use this as an example,” Hancock wrote. He won half the battle. In the final version, Carlyle’s role in sponsoring the conference was included, but the name bin Laden was nowhere to be found. Daryl Hancock, note on draft of chapter 13, dated March 12, 2006, Princeton archive.
“The White House view was”: Peter Feaver, author interview.
“We needed frankly a brand name”: Rice interview.
“It was extremely hard for him”: Ed Djerejian, author interview.
“You really going to take this on?”: Powell interview.
“He obviously did not like”: Lee Hamilton, author interview.
“The only thing we have in common”: Peter Baker, Robin Wright, and Dafna Linzer, “From Hundreds of Sources, Panel Forged Consensus,” Washington Post, December 7, 2006.
“I was a Democrat”: Rhodes interview.
“Well, Colin,” Baker said: Bob Woodward, The War Within, p. 52.
“He’s the one guy who could”: Ibid.
“There was this palpable sense”: Rhodes interview.
“He thought it was important”: Vernon Jordan, author interview.
“Are Americans—Republicans”: Woodward, The War Within, pp. 110–11.
voters swept Republicans out: John M. Broder, “Democrats Gain Senate and New Influence,” New York Times, November 10, 2006.
“I think we have a different ball game”: James Baker interview. In a separate interview, Hamilton did not recall the line but did not dispute it.
two of the panel’s forty-four advisers: Baker, Wright, and Linzer, “From Hundreds of Sources, Panel Forged Consensus.”
“Every interaction they had”: Rhodes interview.
“He didn’t want to use language”: Charles Robb, author interview.
“That was really Baker’s argument”: Feaver interview.
“He wanted to make it”: Robb interview.
“Look, I think the president”: Joshua Bolten, author interview.
“Jim knew his way around”: Panetta interview.
“I was upset”: Rhodes interview.
“support a short-term redeployment”: Iraq Study Group report, p. 50, https://www.thepresidency.org/sites/default/files/pdf/iraq_study_group_report.pdf [inactive].
“Baker hung a lot on that sentence”: Bolten interview.
“The situation in Iraq is grave”: Iraq Study Group report, p. 6.
“We do not recommend”: David E. Sanger, “Panel Calls for New Approach to Iraq,” New York Times, December 6, 2006.
“worthy of serious study”: Peter Baker and Robin Wright, “Bush Appears Cool to Key Points of Report on Iraq,” Washington Post, December 8, 2006.
“It got characterized both”: Hadley interview.
“We could either attack”: Ibid.
“leaving Washington unindicted”: In the Doonesbury cartoon that ran on March 29, 1987, Garry Trudeau’s characters host a radio show offering a “salute to Jim Baker” which starts, “Born in a log cabin in 1930, James A. Baker III has never been indicted…”
“eulogist in chief”: James Baker, author interview.
“closest adviser”: Nancy Reagan Funeral Service, C-Span, March 12, 2016. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4584653/user-clip-nancy-reagan-funeral-service.
“I see some eerie parallels”: James Baker interview.
“We thought he was a grade-B”: Ibid.
“I think you should put in a call”: Brian Mulroney, author interview.
“I really think you need”: James Baker interview.
“You do not need to abandon”: James Baker, memo to Donald Trump, Baker personal files.
“Jim, you do not want to do this”: Tom Brokaw, author interview.
“He’s probably his own worst enemy”: James Baker interview.
“none of the above”: Mark K. Updegrove, The Last Republicans, p. 398.
“I’m a conservative”: James Baker interview.
“The current sorry spectacle”: Andrew Cockburn, “Kerry, Iran and the Wisdom of James Baker,” Harper’s, November 15, 2013.
“Time to talk to a wise man”: Peggy Noonan, “To Lead Is to Negotiate,” Wall Street Journal, October 4, 2013.
“You represent”: Barack Obama, video tribute, Kennedy Center, November 12, 2013.
“I’m hopeful Trump will listen”: James Baker interview.
“Don’t say that I will vote”: Ibid.
“Egregious. Inappropriate. Wrong”: James Baker interview.
“one inch to the east”: Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed, pp. 182–83.
“a cascade of assurances”: National Security Archive, “NATO Expansion: What Gorbachev Heard,” December 12, 2017, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early.
“the topic of NATO expansion”: Maxim Korshunov, “Mikhail Gorbachev: I Am Against All Walls,” Russia Beyond the Headlines, October 16, 2014.
“putting money down a rat hole”: Bartholomew Sparrow, The Strategist, p. 445.
“Willie Horton, you could”: James Baker interview.
“I don’t think I’m anywhere”: Ibid.
“I know when to slow down”: Ibid.
“I thank God”: Susan Baker, Passing It On, p. 36.
“The responsible center in American politics”: Peter Baker, “From Obama and Baker, a Lament for a Lost Consensus,” New York Times, November 28, 2013.
“You made me cry”: Witness who asked not to be named, author interview.
“Where are we going, Bake?”: James Baker interview.
“Having someone there”: George H. W. Bush, author interview.
his friend’s “decency”: James Baker, eulogy for George H. W. Bush, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Houston, December 6, 2018.
“This is where I’ll be”: James Baker interview.