My 90 Days With An Incredible Man

 

From July to September of 1972, I was honored to have had an internship with James A. Baker III. At that time, he was Harris County campaign manager for Richard M. Nixon's reelection campaign. I just finished reading his 693-page biography-The Man Who Ran Washington. After my time with Mr. Baker, he went on to do incredible things in life as follows:

1976: Campaign manager for President Gerald Ford's reelection campaign.

1980: Campaign manager for Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign.

1981-1984: White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan.

1984: Campaign manager for President Reagan's reelection campaign. The president carried 48 of the 50 US states.

1985-1988: Secretary of the Treasury.

1988: Campaign manager for George Bush's presidential campaign.

1989-1991: Secretary of State. During his time in office the old Soviet Union collapsed. German was reunified. We had the Gulf War when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. We had the invasion of Panama and the arrest of General Manuel Noriega.

1992: Campaign manager for President Bush's reelection campaign.

2000: Campaign strategist for President Bush II's election campaign.

     A most-amazing fact came out at the end of the book. When the Soviet Union fell apart, Mr. Baker cultivated a friendship with a rising Russian politician named Vladimir Putin. To this day, Mr. Baker and Putin have a close friendship. Mr. Baker said that if we had given Russia aid at the time of the break-up of the old Soviet Union, we would not have the problems with them now.