Wise negotiator
The key to success for any secretary of state, according to James A. Baker III, is a rock-solid relationship with the commander in chief. “You need a president who will support you, and defend you, and protect you even when you are wrong. I had that wonderful relationship with [George H. W. Bush],” said Baker, secretary of state from 1989 to 1992. “Nobody was going to get between me and my president.” The statesman was at Harvard last Thursday to receive the Great Negotiator Award. The annual honor, created by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, recognizes individuals whose “lifetime achievements in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution have had a significant and lasting impact.” During a program at Harvard Law School, Baker offered his insight and political perspective on his time as a senior government official for three presidents, a tenure peppered with delicate foreign negotiations. The Harvard Kennedy School’s...