Researching James Baker

Born in Houston, Baker attended The Hill School and Princeton University before serving in the United States Marine Corps. After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, he pursued a legal career. He became a close friend of George H. W. Bush and worked for Bush's unsuccessful 1970 campaign for the United States Senate. After the campaign, he served in various positions for President Richard Nixon. In 1975, he was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Gerald Ford. He served until May 1976, ran Ford's 1976 presidential campaign, and unsuccessfully sought election as the Attorney General of Texas.

Baker ran Bush's unsuccessful campaign for the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, but made a favorable impression on the Republican nominee, Ronald Reagan. Reagan appointed Baker as his White House Chief of Staff, and Baker remained in that position until 1985, when he became the Secretary of the Treasury. As Treasury Secretary, he arranged the Plaza Accord and the Baker Plan. He resigned as Treasury Secretary to manage Bush's successful 1988 campaign for president. After the election, Bush appointed Baker to the position of Secretary of State. As Secretary of State, he helped oversee U.S. foreign policy during the end of the Cold War and dissolution of the Soviet Union, as well as during the Gulf War. After the Gulf War, Baker served another stint as White House Chief of Staff from 1992 to 1993.

Baker remained active in business and public affairs after Bush's defeat in the 1992 presidential election. He served as a United Nations envoy to Western Sahara and as a consultant to Enron. During the Florida recount following the 2000 presidential election, he managed George W. Bush's legal team in the state. He served as the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, which Congress formed in 2006 to study Iraq and the ongoing Iraq War. He serves on the World Justice Project and the Climate Leadership Council. Baker is the namesake of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

Baker's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death, and two additional novels have been posthumously published. First-edition copies of his earlier works have become collector's items. His novel Testosterone was adapted to a film of the same name, though it was not a financial success. Two other books have been optioned for films, but they have not been produced.

Baker was a member of the Sussex team in two of the three roundarm trial matches against All-England in 1827 to decide whether roundarm bowling should be legalised.

He was born in London, the son of Samuel Baker, and was educated at the Collegiate School, Gloucester and at Cambridge University. In 1855, Baker married Sarah Louise White. He entered the Indian Navy in 1845, taking part in a survey of the Arabian coast and the suppression of the slave trade. Baker later joined the British Army and fought in the Crimea.

In 1858, he left the army as a very junior subaltern, and was admitted to Magdalene College, Cambridge, being awarded a BA in 1862 and MA in 1865. It was shortly before Baker's arrival in Cambridge that a decision was taken to form the University Rifle Volunteers and in 1860, Baker was appointed first commanding officer with the rank of major, being promoted to lieutenant-colonel later that year, and gazetted full colonel in 1906.

During this time, Baker was much involved with the suggestion of a "military degree", a scheme supported by the Prince Consort, but lost on his untimely death. Baker also devised a new plan for the mobilisation of the volunteer forces, having them concentrate on railway centres, and which was implemented in part.

Like many army officers of the day, Baker acted as a freelance, unpaid, intelligence gatherer, and Baker was author of the book Turkey in Europe as well has several confidential reports to the prime minister, Lord Beaconsfield. He was employed for a time as one of the private secretaries of the Duke of Westminster.

In 1885, he came with his family to British Columbia, settling first at Skookumchuck and later near the present site of Cranbrook. Baker was involved in plans to develop coal deposits in Crowsnest Pass area and later in plans to construct a railway connecting British Columbia and Alberta through the Pass. Eventually, he and his partners came to an agreement with the Canadian Pacific Railway. The choice of a route passing through Cranbrook and bypassing Fort Steele led to the development of Cranbrook as the major centre in the area. Baker served in the provincial cabinet as Provincial Secretary and Minister of Education, Immigration and Mines. In 1900, he retired to England. He died in Inglewood, Parkstone, Dorset at the age of 76.

Baker supported a head tax on the entry of Chinese and Japanese person into the province.

His brother Samuel was a British explorer, and another brother Valentine was a British soldier who served in Turkey. A third brother, John Garland Baker, was the first English tea planter in Ceylon. Overshadowed by his brothers, Baker's achievements are often overlooked.

Baker Street in Nelson and in Cranbrook were named after Colonel Baker.

In June 2019, he was selected to represent the Samoa cricket team in the men's tournament at the 2019 Pacific Games. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for Samoa, against Papua New Guinea, on 8 July 2019.