James Addison Baker III arrived at 1216 Bissonnet Street in Houston on the 28th of April 1930. His father James A. Baker Jr held a partnership at the law firm Baker Botts, which his great-grandfather founded in 1871.
Reagan appointed James Baker as White House Chief of Staff on the 29th of October 1980 following his election victory. He later became Secretary of the Treasury on the 29th of January 1985 after a unanimous Senate confirmation vote.
Baker entered East Berlin immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall in December 1989. He negotiated the Two Plus Four plan that unified Germany by March 1991 during discussions with Soviet leaders.
Baker also arranged the Plaza Accord in September 1985 with finance ministers from Japan France West Germany and the United Kingdom. The dollar depreciated forty percent over the following year and a half while top income tax rates reduced to thirty-five percent.
James Baker managed George W. Bush's legal team during the Florida recount following the 2000 presidential election. This role occurred after he returned to Baker Botts when government service ended in 1993.