Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III spoke about the Cold War and international U.S. leadership to a room brimming with journalists and about 40 GW students, faculty and staff members at a National Press Club luncheon Wednesday afternoon.

Baker relayed personal experiences from his 12 years as a member of the Reagan and Bush administrations. He told the audience about the relationship between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union, and their influence on other countries.

“In places as far-flung as Afghanistan or Central America or the Horn of Africa, the Soviets and their surrogates seemed on the march,” Baker said. “Our military . was still reeling from the experiences of Vietnam.”

But he said, “It’s been nearly seven years since the hammer and sickle flew over the Kremlin.”

He said the U.S. must learn from the lessons of the silent 40-year war.

“I want to focus my remarks on those lessons, particularly the importance of one quality – the quality of leadership – and how important that was in our ultimate victory in the Cold War,” he said.

Baker provided the audience with his assessment of the past three administrations. He acknowledged the differences between the Reagan and Bush presidencies, but noted that each president used his strengths to overcome obstacles.

The former statesman also shared a few thoughts about the Clinton administration’s foreign policy.

“I think in the first term that the Clinton administration got, as far as I was concerned, an `A’ on trade policy, on international economic policy,” Baker said.

But Clinton’s second term received lesser marks from Baker.

“Primarily because I think that the president backed off sending fast-track trade negotiating authority to the Congress,” he said.

Fast-track legislation is the most “important internationalist issue before this administration,” he said.

During the question and answer session, NPC President Doug Harbrecht, Washington news editor of Business Week, asked if domestic political trouble facing Clinton affected his ability to carry out foreign policy.

“I think (Clinton’s political problems) are affecting it because he has to be concentrating on what’s going on with Congress,” Baker said.

“Now, you have to ask yourself, how many political chits is the president going to use to pressure or cajole or plead with a congressman on a foreign policy issue when he might need to vote on something more important as an inquiry of impeachment,” Baker said.

He said he feels the world is looking to the U.S. for leadership – but the U.S. may not be delivering.

“James Baker reminded us of our responsibility internationally,” said Suzanne Clarke, coordinator of external relations for the School of Media and Public Affairs. “We need not only a domestic, but an internationally strong president.”

Clarke said the opportunity for GW students to hear Baker, an authority on national and international issues, speak on issues relevant in the current political forum is invaluable to their education.

“By hearing someone who was a part of history helps students connect what they have studied about previous events to current events,” Clarke said.

She said, in her experience, GW students are always willing to attend such events. Initially, NPC had asked for 15 GW members to attend but many more responded.

“It was so easy to find students to attend (the event),” Clarke said.

She said SMPA is trying to build a strong relationship with NPC so it can offer students other educational opportunities in the future.

The event was co-sponsored by CNN as part of a documentary series about the Cold War. The event also was aired on C-SPAN.