Artikel James Baker / Central park

Mondeling Engels

Subject: James Baker

Text 3; ‘James Baker’
This interview takes place in London; James Baker is opening a new office. There of his family law firm Baker & Botts. He has, on the age of 68, a whole political career behind him. His grandfather always said: “If you want to be a good lawyer you have to do three things: work hard, study hard and stay out of politics.” But that wasn’t what James Baker was going to do! In 1952 James Baker graduated at Princeton, after that he spent two years in the military. The next 18 years he practised commercial law at Texas University’s law school. When his wife died in 1970, he had then settled for a life as a Texan lawyer. His friend, George Bush, suggested he run his Senate campaign as a way of distracting him from his loss. Till then he had been a Democrat, but the only reason for that was that all Texan lawyers were Democrats. Then he caught the political bug! He was a dominant figure in American politics during the 1980s. He ran each Republican presidential campaign between 1976 and 1992. He served as White House Chief of Staff from 1981 to 1985. Was Treasury Secretary from 1985 and 1989 and Secretary of State between 1989 and 1992. He even thought about a presidential run in 1996 but has since concentrate on law and business. Since then he has done a lot of other things, he established a James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, gave advise to Kofi Annan, his family law firm and the Carlyle Group, where his eldest son works as a lawyer. Baker remarried in 1973.

‘James A. Baker, III’
Baker was born in Houston (Texas) in 1930, he graduated in 1952 from Princeton. After two years in the United States Marine Corps he entered the University of Texas. James Baker has served in all kinds of government positions under three presidents, he led presidential campaigns for Ford, Reagan and Bush. From 1981 to 1985 Baker was Reagan’s White House Chief of Staff. He served from 1985 to 1988 as secretary of treasury under Reagan. And he was secretary of state from January 1989 till August 1992. Baker travelled to 90 foreign countries, especially during the Gulf War under president Bush. From August 1992 to January 1993, he was again Chief of Staff but then for president Bush. In 1991 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but that was not the only reward he received he got many more. Nowadays Baker s a senior partner in Baker & Botts and senior counsellor in the Carlyle Group, he works also for a number of non-profit organisations. He and his wife Susan Garret currently reside in Houston and have eight children and eight grandchildren.

Bronnen:

Website:
- www.sddt.com

Subject: Central Park

Text 16; ‘My 12 hours in Central Park’
15 years ago entering Central Park was a big risk, there were people getting mugged and even murdered. Nowadays it is one of the safest places in New York, according to the NYPD. People are getting married there and use the park as their playground. Every year there come around 15 million people to Central Park. You cannot go to New York without taking a visit to the park. It is not only the long but also the soul of Manhattan, everybody comes there and you can do everything you want. There are lakes, restaurants, statues and even a zoo in it. In this park are 26000 trees. The park has one of the densest concentrations elms in the United States. But that is not all; Central park has 700 film shoots a year and more then 1600 events.

‘History of Central Park’
Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the US. Many wealthy people admired the public grounds of London and Paris, they thought New York needed that too because of it’s international reputation. After three years of debating about this subject, the state gave in 1853 the authorisation to make a park. They gave about 700 acres of land in the centre of Manhattan to realise this. Then there came the question who would have political control over the park. The first Central Park Commission (1857-1870) was appointed then. They held in 1857 the first landscape design contest and selected the ‘Greensward Plan’ by F.L. Olmsted (the park’s superintendent), C. Vaux (an English architect) and A.J. Downing. So these designers made on sketches how Central Park had to look. Nowadays Central Park counts 843 acres.

‘Statues in Central Park’
There are many statues located throughout Central Park, most of which were donated by New York residents. Many of the statues, which are located in the Mall, were donated by ethnic groups to show their pride in their culture. An example is a statue of Ludwig von Beethoven by German Americans. The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ statue was donated by philanthropist George Delacorte in memory of his first wife. The ‘Civil War statue’ is a memorial for 58 men who gave their life defending the union.

‘Movies and TV Shows shot in Central Park’
Many movies and TV show have shot scenes in Central Park, for example the movies; ‘The Fisher King’ and ‘Balto’. ‘When Harry met Sally’ is also shot for a part here, they have a drink in a café there. The tune from the popular NBC’s show ‘The single guy’ is shot in Central Park, the biggest character from the show is sitting there on a bench.

Bronnen:

Website:
- www.centralpark.org