Dean Baquet becomes The New York Times' 1st African American executive editor

The New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson's successor Dean Baquet has become the first African American to hold that post.

Abramson was fired from her post by Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of the paper and the chairman of The New York Times Company, after employees reportedly complained about her being too polarizing and mercurial.

In accepting the job, Baquet thanked Abramson, absent from the proceedings, for teaching him "the value of great ambition," The New York Times reported.

Baquet first joined the iconic newspaper in April 1990 as a metropolitan reporter.

After serving as a managing editor and editor of The Los Angeles Times, he joined The New York Times again in 2007, where he served as an assistant managing editor and Washington bureau chief.