Yale Bulletin and Calendar

September 20-27, 1999

Volume 28, Number 5

Ex-Secretary of State will present talk at YCIAS

James A. Baker III, who has served in senior positions under three U.S. presidents, will present the annual George Herbert Walker Lecture at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies (YCIAS) on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

Baker will speak on the topic "Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy on the Threshold of a New Century" at 4 p.m. in the auditorium of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. A reception will follow his talk, which is free and open to the public.

Baker served as the nation's 61stsecretary of state from January 1989 through August 1992 under President Bush. During his tenure, he traveled to 90 foreign countries as the United States confronted the challenges and opportunities of the post-Cold War era. In 1991 he organized the first comprehensive Middle East peace conference. He resigned as secretary of state to run President Bush's unsuccessful re-election campaign in 1992. He also chaired Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.

Baker also served as secretary of the treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Reagan, and was Reagan's White House Chief of Staff from 1981 to 1985. While in that post he also was a member of the National Security Council and a senior foreign policy adviser. He was a senior adviser to Reagan in 1980 during Reagan's presidential campaign.

Baker is currently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker & Botts and the senior counselor to The Carlyle Group, a merchant banking firm in Washington, D.C. He is the honorary chair of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. In 1997, he was appointed the personal envoy of the United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan to mediate direct talks between parties to the dispute over Western Sahara.

Baker is author of the 1995 book "The Politics of Diplomacy," in which he reflects on the years of revolution, war and peace during his tenure as Secretary of State. He has received numerous awards for distinguished public service, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991.

The George Herbert Walker Jr. Lecture Fund was established in 1986 by George Herbert Walker III in memory of his father to support lectures in international studies at YCIAS. The elder Walker was a graduate of the Yale College Class of 1927 and served as a fellow on the Yale Corporation. He was also a director of the Yale Alumni Fund and received the Yale Medal, the University's highest honor.

Previous Walker lecturers have included retired General Brent Scowcroft, former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and current Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright, among others.

For further information about the lecture, contact Lauress Ackman at 432-3413 or via e-mail at lauress.ackman@yale.edu.

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