 As Baker's senior staff person, he essentially ran day-to-day operations at the White House, and he maintained the strong links between the administration and the Republican Party.His most notable claim during this period was that, in 1987, as communications director at the White House, he approved and promoted (against diplomatic advice) Peter Robinson's draft speech made at the Berlin Wall, where President Reagan demanded that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev "tear down this wall".In 1990 he joined Reynolds Tobacco as head of its external relations program, and over the next 10 years he was responsible for the company's strategic operations against the growing anti-smoking forces.