Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabinet-level positions, he was a general in the U.S. Army, serving first as the vice chief of staff of the Army and then as Supreme Allied Commander Europe. In 1973, Haig became the youngest four-star general in the U.S. Army's history.
Haig was born and raised in Pennsylvania. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and served in the Korean War, during which he served as an aide to general Alonzo Patrick Fox and general Edward Almond. Afterward, he served as an aide to defense secretary Robert McNamara. During the Vietnam War, Haig commanded a battalion and later a brigade of the 1st Infantry Division. For his service, Haig received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart.
In 1969, Haig became an assistant to national security advisor Henry Kissinger. He became vice chief of staff of the Army, the Army's second-highest-ranking position, in 1972. After the 1973 resignation of H. R. Haldeman, Haig became President Nixon's chief of staff. Serving in the wake of the Watergate scandal, he became especially influential in the final months of Nixon's tenure, playing a role in persuading Nixon to resign in 1974. Haig continued to serve as chief of staff for the first month of President Ford's tenure. From 1974 to 1979, Haig served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe, commanding all NATO forces in Europe. He retired from the army in 1979 and pursued a career in business.
After Reagan won the 1980 U.S. presidential election, he nominated Haig to be his secretary of state. After the Reagan assassination attempt, Haig said "I am in control here, in the White House", despite not being next in the line of succession. During the Falklands War, Haig sought to broker peace between the United Kingdom and Argentina. He resigned from Reagan's cabinet in July 1982 and unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries. Haig also served as the head of a consulting firm and hosted the television program World Business Review. He died at the age of 85 in February 2010.
Early life and education
Haig was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, the middle of three children of Alexander Meigs Haig, a Republican lawyer of Scottish descent, and his wife, Regina Anne. When Haig was 9, his father, aged 41, died of cancer. His Irish American mother raised her children in the Catholic faith. Haig initially attended Saint Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on a scholarship; when he was withdrawn due to poor academic performance, he transferred to Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1942.Initially unable to secure his desired appointment to the United States Military Academy, though one of his teachers opined that "Al is definitely not West Point material", Haig studied at the University of Notre Dame, where he earned a "string of A's" in an "intellectual awakening" for two years before securing a congressional appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in 1944 at the behest of his uncle, who served as the Philadelphia municipal government's director of public works.
Haig was enrolled in an accelerated wartime curriculum at West Point that deemphasized the humanities and social sciences, and he graduated in the bottom third of his class in 1947. Although a West Point superintendent characterized Haig as "the last man in his class anyone expected to become the first general", other classmates acknowledged his "strong convictions and even stronger ambitions". Haig later earned an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York City in 1955. As a major, he attended the Naval War College in 1960 and then earned a M.A. in international relations from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1961. His thesis at Georgetown University examined the role of military officers in making national policy.
Early military career
Korean War
As a young officer, Haig served as an aide to Lieutenant General Alonzo Patrick Fox, a deputy chief of staff to General Douglas MacArthur. In 1950 Haig married Fox's daughter, Patricia. In the early days of the Korean War, Haig was responsible for maintaining General MacArthur's situation map and briefing MacArthur each evening on the day's battlefield events. Haig later served with the X Corps, as aide to MacArthur's chief of staff, General Edward Almond, who awarded Haig two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star with Valor device. Haig participated in four Korean War campaigns, including the Battle of Inchon, the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and the evacuation of Hŭngnam, as Almond's aide.Pentagon assignments
Haig served as a staff officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations at the Pentagon, and then was appointed military assistant to Secretary of the Army Stephen Ailes in 1964. He then was appointed military assistant to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, continuing in that service until the end of 1965. In 1966, Haig graduated from the United States Army War College.Vietnam War
In 1966, Haig took command of a battalion of the 1st Infantry Division during the Vietnam War. On 22 May 1967, General William Westmoreland rewarded Haig with the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. Army's second-highest medal for valor, in recognition of his actions during the Battle of Ap Gu in March 1967. During the battle, Haig, then a member of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, became pinned down by a Viet Cong force that outnumbered U.S. forces by three to one. In an attempt to survey the battlefield, Haig boarded a helicopter and flew to the point of contact. His helicopter was subsequently shot down, leading to two days of bloody hand-to-hand combat. An excerpt from Haig's Distinguished Service Cross citation states:Haig was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart during his tour in Vietnam and was eventually promoted to colonel as commander of 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam.
Return to West Point
Following his one-year tour of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, Haig returned to the United States to become regimental commander of the Third Regiment of the Corps of Cadets at West Point under the newly appointed commandant, Brigadier General Bernard W. Rogers. Both had previously served together in the 1st Infantry Division, Rogers as assistant division commander and Haig as brigade commander.Security adviser and vice chief of staff (1969–1973)
In 1969, he was appointed military assistant to the assistant to the president for national security affairs, Henry Kissinger. A year later, he replaced Richard V. Allen as deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs. During this period, he was promoted to brigadier general and major general.In the spring of 1972, the North Vietnamese armed forces launched a multi-prong attack, known as the Easter Offensive, on every region of South Vietnam. For the first time, the PAVN deployed heavy weaponry such as mobile surface-to-air missile batteries, tanks, and armored vehicles. In the early weeks of the offensive, the PAVN won startling advances, and captured crucial bases, roads, and cities. Nixon and Kissinger—while delicately picking their way through the diplomatic thickets of détente with Moscow and open relations with Peking —decided to respond to North Vietnam’s sweeping assault by mining its principal harbor, and massively bombing targets in every quarter of North Vietnam. Nixon and Kissinger opted to bypass the Departments of State and Defense, as well as the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in any advisory or decision-making capacity relating to what would become known as Operation Linebacker.
Haig effectively substituted for the JCS during this time. He developed the core strategy coordinating the mining with the bombing of transportation targets. He was dispatched to the Pentagon as well as Saigon to critique field commanders and military procedure, and provide an independent information channel to the White House. He was a member of a national security triumvirate, along with Nixon and Kissinger, that both scapegoated and ignored the military command running the daily operations in Vietnam.
In this position, Haig helped South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu negotiate the final cease-fire talks in 1972. Haig continued in the role until 4 January 1973, when he became vice chief of staff of the Army. Nixon planned to appoint Haig as chief of staff over Creighton Abrams, whom he personally disliked, but secretary of defense Melvin Laird resisted as Haig lacked the relevant upper-level command experience. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 1972, thus skipping the rank of lieutenant general. By appointing him to this billet, Nixon "passed over 240 generals" who were senior to Haig.
White House Chief of Staff (1973–1974)
Nixon administration
In May 1973, after only four months as VCSA, Haig returned to the Nixon administration at the height of the Watergate affair as White House Chief of Staff. During the Saturday Night Massacre, Haig attempted to make acting-Attorney General William Ruckelshaus fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Haig's coercion failed, and Ruckelshaus resigned. Retaining his Army commission, he remained in the position until 21 September 1974, ultimately overseeing the transition to the presidency of Gerald Ford following Nixon's resignation on 9 August 1974.Haig has been largely credited with keeping the government running while President Nixon was preoccupied with Watergate and was essentially seen as the "acting president" during Nixon's last few months in office. During July and early August 1974, Haig played an instrumental role in persuading Nixon to resign. Haig presented several pardon options to Ford a few days before Nixon resigned. In this regard, in his 1999 book Shadow, author Bob Woodward describes Haig's role as the point man between Nixon and Ford during the final days of Nixon's presidency. According to Woodward, Haig played a major behind-the-scenes role in the delicate negotiations of the transfer of power from Nixon to Ford.File:President Richard Nixon seated at his Oval Office desk during a meeting with Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, and Gerald Ford.jpg|thumb|Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Haig meeting on Ford's forthcoming appointment as vice president in 1973About one month after taking office, Ford pardoned Nixon, resulting in much controversy. However, Haig denied the allegation that he played a key role in arbitrating Nixon's resignation by offering Ford's pardon to Nixon. A day before Haig's departure to Europe to begin his tenure as NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Haig was telephoned by J. Fred Buzhardt. In the call, Buzhardt discussed with Haig President Ford's upcoming speech to the nation about pardoning Nixon, informing Haig that the speech contained something indicating Haig's role in Nixon's resignation and Ford's pardon of Nixon. According to Haig's autobiography, Haig was furious and immediately drove straight to the White House to determine the veracity of Buzhardt's claims. This was due to his concern that Ford's speech would expose Haig's role in negotiating Nixon's resignation supposedly in exchange for a pardon issued by the new president.
On 7 August 1974, two days before Nixon's resignation, Haig met with Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss the transition. Following their conversation, Nixon told Haig "You fellows, in your business, have a way of handling problems like this. Give them a pistol and leave the room. I don't have a pistol, Al."