By host Tom Ashbrook:

Former Secretary of State and longtime adviser to two generations of Bush presidents, James Baker, still gets plenty of questions about the tough battles of his long career in the political arena — about his work for Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, about Willy Horton and building the first Gulf War coalition, and about his central role in nailing the White House for George W. Bush in Florida in 2000.

One thing James Baker is not asked about anymore, he writes in his new memoir, is why he and George Bush Sr. did not push on to Baghdad and overthrow Saddam Hussein at the Gulf War’s end. The pitfalls are now painfully obvious.

Hear a conversation with James A. Baker III on a life in politics, and the deep challenge now in Iraq.

Guests:

James Baker. He served as Chief of Staff to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Under Secretary of Commerce to President Gerald Ford, Secretary of Treasury to President Reagan, and Secretary of State to President George H.W. Bush. He is author of the new memoir “Work Hard, Study… and Keep Out of Poltics.”