Alexander Haig Remembered as Soldier-statesman
Haig was a four-star Army general who served as a senior adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own. He died early in the day at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore of complications from an infection, his family said. He was surrounded by his family, according to two of his children, Alexander and Barbara.
President Barack Obama praised Haig on Saturday as a public servant who “exemplified our finest warrior-diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Haig “served his country in many capacities for many years, earning honor on the battlefield, the confidence of presidents and prime ministers, and the thanks of a grateful nation.”
Haigs long and decorated military service launched the Washington career for which he is better known, including jobs in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations.
Many Americans will remember the strong-willed Haig most vividly for what he later called his “poor choice of words.” Hours after Reagan was shot, then-Secretary of State Haig went before the cameras intending, he said later, to reassure Americans that the White House was functioning.
“As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending the return of the vice president,” Haig said.
Some saw the comment as a power grab in the absence of Vice President George H.W. Bush, who was out of town.
The ridicule that followed hastened Haigs departure from the last of an extraordinarily varied string of top government jobs.
In his book, “Caveat,” Haig later wrote that he had been “optimistic if I had imagined I would be forgiven the imprecision out of respect for the tragedy of the occasion.”
Public figures looked beyond that episode in response to his death.
“I think of him as a patriots patriot,” said George P. Shultz, who succeeded Haig as the countrys top diplomat in 1982.
“No matter how you sliced him it came out red, white and blue. He was always willing to serve.”
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a Democrat, called the staunchly Republican Haig a great public servant.
“Alexander Haig devoted his career to serving our country, both as a soldier and as a diplomat,” Albright said. “He was a great American patriot and an inspiration to all who defend and cherish freedom.”
Born Dec. 2, 1924, in the Philadelphia suburb of Bala Cynwyd, Alexander Meigs Haig spent his boyhood days dreaming about a career in the military. With the help of an uncle who had congressional contacts, he secured an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943.
After seeing combat in Korea and Vietnam, Haig – an Army colonel at the time – was tapped by Henry Kissinger to be his military adviser on the National Security Council under Nixon. Haig “soon became indispensable,” Kissinger said of his protege.
Nixon promoted Haig in 1972 from a two-star general to a four-star rank, passing over 240 high-ranking officers with greater seniority.