Charles D. Baker Jr. (c. 1890–1971) was a prominent politician in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His father, Charles Duane Baker (born 1928), a Harvard graduate, was a buyer for the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. His mother, Alice Elizabeth "Betty" (née Ghormley) (1932–2016), remained at home. Baker's father was a conservative Republican and his mother a liberal Democrat; the family was often drawn into political arguments at the dinner table. In 1965 his father became vice president of Harbridge House, a Boston management consulting firm. Baker grew up with two younger brothers, Jonathan and Alex, in Needham, Massachusetts, before moving to Rockport. He grew up playing football, hockey, and baseball; he has described his childhood as "pretty all-American." In 1969, the Bakers moved to Washington, D.C., where the elder Baker was named deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Nixon Administration, becoming the department's assistant secretary for policy and international affairs the next year, and in both capacities serving under Secretary of Transportation and former Massachusetts Governor John Volpe. His father also served as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Reagan Administration under U.S. Representative Margaret Heckler. The Bakers returned to Needham in 1971, where Baker attended Needham High School. He served on the student council, played basketball, and joined DeMolay International, a youth fraternity organization. In a Bay State Conference championship basketball game, a ball he inbounded with two seconds left on the clock was tipped away by a player from Dedham High School, causing Needham to lose by one point. Baker graduated from Needham High School in 1975, alongside future Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy. Baker attended Harvard College and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, where, by his own admission, he was a C-student-turned-B-student. He later said he went to Harvard "because of the brand" and wrote, "With a few exceptions... those four years are ones I would rather forget." While at Harvard, Baker played on the JV basketball team. He then attended Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, where he received an MBA. After graduating, Baker served as corporate communications director for the Massachusetts High Technology Council. State government career In the late 1980s, Baker was hired as codirector of the newly founded Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based libertarian think tank. Lovett C. "Pete" Peters, the institute's founder, later recommended him to Bill Weld, the incoming Republican