The Cool Texan: Master of the Game

By Jacob V. Lamar

May 1980. With only a few primaries remaining, Ronald Reagan had the Republican nomination sewn up. Yet one challenger, George Bush, doggedly stayed in the race. Bush's campaign manager and best friend, James Baker, pleaded with him to withdraw. Bush refused. Finally Baker announced at a press conference that Bush was pulling out of the California primary because of lack of funds. Bush, in New Jersey, was shocked when he learned from reporters of Baker's statement and immediately flew to Houston to confront his campaign manager. The incident came close to ending Bush and Baker's friendship. But Bush's retreat ultimately helped him win the vice-presidential spot. It also helped Baker get a top job with Reagan.

Eight years later, Baker is philosophical about the '80 campaign. "We've been through 30 years of good times and bad times together," says Baker of Bush, "and they've only strengthened the friendship and understanding between us."

James Addison Baker III might just be the best thing George Bush has going for him. Since stepping down as Treasury Secretary, Baker, 58, has played a crucial role in reviving Bush's once listless campaign with cool efficiency and uncanny political instincts. Baker brought order to a chaotic campaign that had been run by a committee of six senior advisers. "We're making decisions and sticking with them," he says. "They may not always be right, but they're being made." Yet Baker is no dictator. A tactful Texan, he never fails to seek advice from his lieutenants and listens carefully before making a decision.

Though he is a workaholic who puts in 14-hour days at the office, Baker exudes serenity. He is apt to crack jokes at his daily 7:30 a.m. staff meeting and has started a "most outrageous tie" competition, encouraging the driven and serious topsides of the campaign to try to outdo one another in flaunting garish neckwear.

Working out of an office two blocks from the White House, Baker commandeers a war room dominated by two large U.S. maps dotted with pins marking the movements of Bush, Dan Quayle, Michael Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen. His desk is a conference table that seats twelve and is stacked with Baker's ubiquitous "things to do" lists. He makes or takes up to 100 phone calls a day, speaking with Bush about 16 times. His only break comes with a lunch of cottage cheese and tuna with Tabasco sauce. Once an avid ham-and-eggs man, Baker now watches his cholesterol.

Like Bush, he is a son of privilege. But the native Texan Baker -- a man who can look natural wearing an elegant suit while chewing a wad of Red Man tobacco -- manages to display the image of Eastern polish mixed with Southwestern earthiness that Bush looks silly trying to project. The family law firm, Baker & Botts, which his great-grandfather joined in 1872, is one of the largest and most prestigious in Houston. Baker was educated at the Hill ! School in Pennsylvania and at Princeton, earned a law degree at the University of Texas, and served in the Marines. Because of anti-nepotism rules at Baker & Botts, he practiced corporate law at Andrews & Kurth.

Baker never considered a life in politics until 1970, when a country-club friend named George Bush, then a Congressman, asked Baker to work on his Senate campaign. Grieving over the death of his first wife, Baker was ready to try something new. Bush ultimately lost the race (to Bentsen), but Baker proved to be a talented tactician, delivering 61% of the votes in the Houston area. Bush is godfather to eleven-year-old Mary Bonner, Baker's daughter by his second wife.

At the White House, Baker became famous for deftly using the press to his advantage in contests with rivals. He was less successful in getting the Administration around policy reefs. Though himself a pragmatist allied with then Budget Director David Stockman, Baker was unable to wean Reagan from supply-side economics enough to curb the deficit. But in a town that reveres opportunists, Baker is generally held in awe. He has positioned himself well. "No matter what happens, Baker is likely to win," says Bruce Thompson, who worked with Baker at Treasury. "If Bush becomes President, Baker could be Secretary of State. If the Democrats win, Baker could be appointed ((by Texas' Republican Governor)) to Bentsen's Senate seat." And why would a man who has run the White House and served in the Cabinet want the less powerful office of U.S. Senator? "He needs a political base," says a Baker associate, "for when he runs for President himself."

With reporting by Dan Goodgame/Washington