TY - BOOK AU - Baker,Peter AU - Glasser,Susan TI - The man who ran Washington: the life and times of James A. Baker III SN - 9780385540551 AV - E840.8.B315 B35 2020 U1 - 973.92092B 23 PY - 2020///] CY - New York PB - Doubleday KW - Baker, James Addison, KW - Statesmen KW - United States KW - Biography KW - Cabinet officers KW - Politics and government KW - 1981-1989 KW - 1989- KW - Distinguished Visitor KW - Class of Fall 2023 KW - Stephen M. Kellen Distinguished Visitor KW - John W. Kluge Distinguished Visitor KW - Class of Spring 2020 N1 - Includes bibliographical references (pages 657-663) and index; Prologue: The Velvet Hammer -- In the Magnolia City -- The warden's son -- God came today -- A long dark night -- Miracle man -- Out of the backroom -- The asterisk club -- Troika -- Shit detector -- Big leagues -- To the last drop of blood -- The ratfuck -- The dark side -- Morning in America -- Fencing master -- Black Monday -- The handler -- Jigsaw puzzle -- Fly fishing with Shevy -- The curtain falls -- Winners and losers -- Desert diplomacy -- Eyes of a killer -- From the souk to Madrid -- A call to action -- The cruelest turn -- The virus -- Scorched earth -- Grave and deteriorating N2 - "Co-authored by the Chief White House correspondent at The New York Times and the Washington columnist at the The New Yorker, this is a biography any would-be power broker must own: the story of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III, the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world. In the latter half of the twentieth century, no Republican won the presidency without his help, and the men he counseled in the Oval Office--Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush--defined more than one generation of American life. Campaign manager, chief of staff, treasury secretary, and ultimately secretary of state, James A. Baker III understood better than anyone how to make Washington work and how to pull the levers of power at home and abroad. A suave and profane Texas Democrat, Baker worked as a wealthy Houston lawyer until his best friend, George H. W. Bush, drew him into Republican politics. His first dramatic win was in 1976 as the delegate hunter who secured the Republican nomination for Ford against a challenge from Ronald Reagan. His next job, as Bush's campaign manager four years later, maneuvered Bush onto the ticket with Reagan and Baker into the most powerful office in Washington other than the Oval Office: White House chief of staff. In his years in the White House and in the cabinet, Baker was the avatar of a style of politics and governance that valued pragmatism and deal making over purity. He went from win to win--reforming the tax code, negotiating the first Middle East peace talks, managing the dissolution of the Soviet Union--until his capstone victory, as field marshal for the younger Bush's Florida recount battle, helped divide the country forever. In today's era of gridlock, The Man Who Ran Washington is an electrifying escape"-- ER -