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365  Biography is a treacherous art. While biographers may be able to outline a subject’s activities and accomplishments with some accuracy, their attempts to understand the inner mind—the feelings, emotions, intuitions, and passions that shape each person’s essence and frame his or her actions—usually remain elusive, the realm of poets, novelists, and a few self-aware diarists and memoirists. Captain James Addison Baker and his wife Alice lived in a reticent era; they kept no diaries ; and they did not retain their personal correspondence, as I discovered while reading one of their rare extant letters during the first week of research. Lawyers and bankers of Captain Baker’s day respected their clients’ trust, and their quotidian discussions and consultations go almost entirely unrecorded. Yet the delights of meeting figures from the past, of exploring bygone pathways, and of rummaging in archives and exhuming faded photographs far outweigh the perils of blind alleys and personalities forever shrouded in memory. Biography may be risky, but the rewards are great: only by absorbing stories from the past can we begin to understand our own. Icouldnothaveundertakenthisexploratoryjourneywithoutthehelp of many colleagues and fellow travelers. Ray Watkin Hoagland Strange believed Captain Baker deserved a biography, pursued that goal with the Rice Historical Society, and provided underwriting for the project. To her and to the Society, I am deeply indebted. Many members of Captain Baker’s extended family provided enthusiastic , good-humored help during every phase of this project. I am especially grateful to James A. Baker, III for sharing memories, photographs , and private papers and for providing an inspirational foreword to celebrate his grandfather’s life. Like his grandfather, Secretary Baker has practiced law, advised Houston’s businessmen and bankers, and served his community, but he did not heed Captain Baker’s admonition to “keep out of politics.” During a successful career in politics, James A. Baker, III led campaigns for Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. During a distinguished career in public service, he Acknowledgments book TAM Kirkland.indb 365 book TAM Kirkland.indb 365 5/30/12 2:48 PM 5/30/12 2:48 PM acknowledgments  366 served as 61st Secretary of State (G. H. W. Bush administration), 67th Secretary of the Treasury (Reagan administration), White House Chief of Staff for Reagan and Bush, and Under Secretary of Commerce (Ford administration). He returned to private life to become senior partner of his grandfather’s law firm and Honorary Chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at the university his grandfather founded. Stewart Addison Baker and Preston Moore Jr. devoted untold hours to sharing memories of their grandfather. Graeme Meyers Marston and Virginia Meyers Watt placed the archive of their mother, Alice Baker Jones Meyers, in my hands for the duration of my work. Betty Kyle Moore read an early draft with thoughtful care. She and Preston Moore Jr. made several important suggestions that expanded my understanding of Captain Baker the golfer and my appreciation of Alice Baker’s humanitarian influence, and they discovered a trove of priceless photographs . Malcolm Lovett Jr. provided important insights and a map of the Baker/Lovett enclave on Berthea. Addison Baker Duncan, a descendant of Judge Baker’s daughter Jeanette Baker Duncan, and Patricia Honea Schutts, a descendant of the Judge’s daughter Anna Bland Baker Thompson , transcribed letters that broadened my understanding of the family’s long held interest in higher education. John B. Boles, Evelyn T. Nolen, RoyL. Nolen, and Charles Szalkowski read earlier versions of the manuscript, and their insights immeasurably improved final copy. They also proved to be clever archival sleuths who uncovered Baker’s trail in unlikely places. Baker’s trail proved elusive, but numerous archivists illuminated the path. At Rice University Archivist Lee Pecht oversees the Woodson Research Center, ably assisted by Amanda Focke, Lauren Meyers, and Dara Flinn. For four years this outstanding team responded promptly to every request and, more important, made my archival visits fun. Joel Draut, archivist of the Photography Archives, Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library, offered valuable help identifying and finding early scenes of Houston. In Huntsville Cheryl Spencer and Paul Culp of Sam Houston State University Special Collections; James D. Patton, Walker County Clerk and historian; and Linda Pease, city Cultural Services Coordinator, discovered important information about the family’s Huntsville years. This project would not have been completed without the efforts of generous colleagues and friends. Angela Blanchard, President of Neighbook TAM Kirkland...

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