JAMES A. BAKER III

Former Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and White House Chief of Staff

“I have always followed the ‘Prior preparation prevents poor performance’ mantra. I think those things made a difference. I was brought up to believe that if you start something, you finish it, or you do everything you can to finish it.”

Over the past half century, the U.S. government has had a fair number of individuals serve at the highest levels with extraordinary distinction and success. But it is difficult to think of any nonelected official who served in as many different roles with such great distinction or success—and such bipartisan admiration—as James A. Baker III.

Over a twelve-year period, in between running several successful presidential campaigns, Jim Baker served as President Ronald Reagan’s first chief of staff (his performance there is universally seen as the gold standard); as Reagan’s second-term secretary of the treasury (where he helped produce the country’s first major tax reform in more than a quarter century); and as President George H. W. Bush’s secretary of state (where he helped produce the coalition that ended Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait).

How were these results possible for a man whose family urged him to stay out of politics and government, who had been a lifelong Democrat, and who had also been the director of two campaigns against his future boss Ronald Reagan?

In this interview, Jim Baker describes his unlikely and unanticipated rise from Houston corporate lawyer to the heights of international diplomacy. The interview was held in May 2018, at Rice University’s Baker Institute, established after his government service to foster education and dialogue about public policy.

I had already been privileged to interview Secretary Baker many times, for he had become a senior counselor to Carlyle for twelve years following his government service. During that period, I traveled extensively with him, and could see firsthand the enormous respect with which he was held in absolutely every part of the world.

When you get to spend time with great or famous individuals, it is said that you see their flaws up close, and perhaps your admiration declines a bit. That was not the case here. From afar, I had admired Secretary Baker’s legendary government service. He always seemed to be so well organized, to surround himself with talented advisors, to achieve his key objective, to negotiate with unusual patience and skill, and to remember that the ultimate credit must be publicly given to the president for whom he was working.

As I came to know Jim Baker quite well, my admiration and respect for him increased—and it was extremely high to begin with. In part that was because of his human qualities as a friend and colleague, and in part because of the skills that he brought to any task: intellect, focus, knowledge, perspective, charm, and a well-developed sense of humor.

In the interview, he attributes his success, and his record of leadership in so many areas, to the mantra drilled into him as a youth by his father: Prior preparation prevents poor performance.

Jim Baker was always prepared. That preparation, combined with the other skills mentioned above, enabled him to achieve results other government leaders could only dream about.