Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. RIP: theinteriorjournal.com

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Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. RIP
Michael Broihier
February 24, 2010

The U.S. military has hundreds of general officers. Most toil in anonymity at the Pentagon on staffs and run bases and installations worldwide, rarely being acknowledge except by their service and peers for the work they do. But a colorful few break through the public awareness, and their words enter the American lexicon. General Douglas MacArthur gave us, “I shall return.” Admiral Chester Nimitz, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” And General Alexander Haig gave us the widely misunderstood, “I’m in charge here.”

“Al” Haig, as he was called, was a soldier’s soldier. Educated by Jesuits and Congregants of the Holy Cross, Haig pursued a military calling like many graduates from those education tracks when he transferred to West Point after his second year at Notre Dame. As a young officer, Haig landed at Inchon at the outset of the Korean War and fought in the Army’s disastrous campaign up the western side of the Chosin Reservoir.

During the Vietnam War, as a battalion commander, he was shot down in a helicopter during a battle in 1967 and was cited repeatedly for his intrepidity and disregard for his own personal safety. His citations for valor include the Army’s second highest combat award, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Star Medals and four Bronze Star medals as well as the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat.

Haig held various command positions throughout his career; his highest post was that of Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, a position he held until he retired from the Army in 1979.

Haig was a National Security Assistant in the first Nixon administration and was instrumental in securing the cease fire that allowed the U.S. to exit Viet Nam. He also led the advance team for Nixon’s visit to China, both of these earning him the distrust of Henry Kissinger, who saw him as “ambitious.”

In the second Nixon administration, Haig was widely credited with holding the sinking ship together as Nixon was pummeled over his response to the Watergate break-in. Alternatively, Haig was (wrongly) suspected by many Washington speculators as being “Deep Throat,” the administration insider who tipped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to Nixon’s complicity in the attempted cover-up.

That Haig would serve as a source to reporters was really a stretch of imagination considering his treatment in the press. Reporters covering the White House routinely portrayed him as a war-mongering windbag, but the real Al Haig was a voice of caution. While serving as President Reagan’s Secretary of State, Haig was always the ‘nay’ vote against provocative actions to destabilize the Soviet Union. In an American Spectator article on Haig, Paul Kengor wrote that Haig was furious that a decision to obstruct a Soviet gas pipeline project was made while he was in New York meeting with the Soviet Foreign Minister.

Haig resigned from the Reagan administration after less than two years, but not before his infamous quote. In March of 1981, John Hinkley, a deranged fan of Jodie Foster (yes, the actress), shot Ronald Reagan in the chest at near pointblank range. With Reagan en route to the hospital and Vice President Bush returning by air to Washington, Haig entered the White House Situation Room and uttered his fated phrase.

Subsequently, opportunistic reporters portrayed the event as Haig trying to seize control of the government outside of the normal chain of succession prescribed by law, but in reality, Haig was doing what any senior military officer would do, taking charge of a chaotic situation.

After an unsuccessful run for president in 1987, Haig retired to private life, briefly hosting a news commentary program, writing and consulting about military-political affairs and serving on several prominent boards. Haig entered a Baltimore hospital in late January with a staph infection and succumbed to it on Feb. 20.

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