Peter Eleftherios Baker (born July 2, 1967) is an American journalist and author. He is the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for MS NOW. He was a reporter for The Washington Post for 20 years. He has covered six presidencies, from Bill Clinton through Donald Trump.
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Early life and education
Baker was born in 1967, the son of tax attorney Eleftherios Peter ("Ted") Baker, whose "impoverished Greek immigrant" parents were originally surnamed "Bakirtzoglous", and computer programmer Linda (later Sinrod), daughter of electrical engineer and x-ray technology expert Malvern J. Gross. Baker attended Oberlin College near Cleveland, Ohio from 1984 to 1986, where he worked as a reporter and editor for the student newspaper, The Oberlin Review. He left Oberlin at the school's insistence because according to him, he "was not a good student." Baker never completed the coursework for an earned degree, although he was granted an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts by the school in 2021.
Career
After attending college, though not graduating, Baker worked for The Washington Times for two years. He joined The Washington Post in 1988 as a reporter covering Virginia news. He was there for 20 years, covering the White House during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. During his first tour at the White House, Baker co-authored the paper's first story about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal and was the paper's lead writer during the impeachment battle which ensued. He then published his first book, The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton through Scribner, a New York Times bestseller based on his coverage of the impeachment proceedings in Congress. During his next White House assignment, he covered the travails of Bush's second term, from the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina to Supreme Court nomination fights and the economy.