Biographical information on James Baker

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - NAME -- James A. Baker III

AGE-BIRTH DATE -- 76; born April 28, 1930, in Houston.

EDUCATION -- Bachelor's, Princeton University, 1952; J.D., University of Texas School of Law at Austin, 1957.

EXPERIENCE -- Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps, 1953-54; lawyer, Houston firm of Andrews & Kurth, 1957 to 1975; ran George H.W. Bush's unsuccessful Senate campaign, 1970; undersecretary of commerce under President Ford, 1975; ran Ford's unsuccessful election campaign, 1976; ran unsuccessfully to become Texas Attorney General, 1978; campaign manager for George H.W. Bush in GOP presidential primaries, 1980; White House chief of staff to President Reagan, 1981-85; secretary of treasury and chairman of President's Economic Policy Council, 1985-88; campaign chair for George H.W. Bush, 1988; secretary of state under Bush, 1989-92; White House chief of staff under Bush, 1992-93; personal envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for conflict over Western Sahara, 1997-2004; chief legal adviser for George W. Bush during the presidential election campaign, overseeing the Florida recount, 2000; appointed special presidential envoy for George W. Bush on Iraqi debt, 2003; senior partner at Baker & Botts, 2004-present.

FAMILY -- Wife, Susan; eight children and 17 grandchildren.

QUOTES -- "Our commission believes that there are alternatives between the stated alternatives, the ones that are out there in the political debate, of stay the course and cut and run. ... It is not appeasement to talk to your enemies."