Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig , Jr . ( December 2 , 1924February 20 , 2010 ) was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford . He also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army , the second - highest ranking officer in the Army , and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe commanding all U . S . and NATO forces in Europe . A veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam War , Haig was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross , the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster , and the Purple Heart . Early life and education . Haig was born in Bala Cynwyd , Pennsylvania , the middle of three children of Alexander Meigs Haig , Sr . , a Republican lawyer , and his wife Regina Anne ( née Murphy ) . When Haig was 10 , his father , aged 38 , died of cancer . His Irish - American mother raised her children in the Roman Catholic faith . He attended Saint Joseph ' s Preparatory School in North Philadelphia . He then studied at the University of Notre Dame for two years , before transferring to the United States Military Academy , where he graduated in 1947 . Haig later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School in 1955 and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Georgetown University in 1961 . His thesis examined the role of military officers in making national policy . Early military career . Korean War . As a young officer , Haig served on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur in Japan . 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 ( 1950 – 51 ) 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 ( DCSOPS ) at the Pentagon ( 1962 – 64 ) , 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 . Vietnam War . In 1966 , Haig took command of a battalion of the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam . On May 22 , 1967 , Lieutenant Colonel Haig was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross , the U . S . Army ' s second highest medal for valor , by General William Westmoreland as a result of his actions during the Battle of Ap Gu in March 1967 . During the battle , Haig ' s troops ( of the 1st Battalion , 26th Infantry , 1st Infantry Division ( United States ) ) 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 . Two days of bloody hand - to - hand combat ensued . An excerpt from Haig ' s official Army citation follows : Haig was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart during his tour in Vietnam , and was eventually promoted to Colonel , becoming a brigade commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam . West Point . At the end of his one - year tour , Alexander Haig returned to the United States to become Regimental Commander of the Third Regiment of the Corps of Cadets at West Point , under the also newly arrived Commandant , Brigadier General Bernard W . Rogers . ( Both had served together in the 1st Infantry Division , Rogers as Assistant Division Commander and Haig as Brigade Commander . ) Security adviser ( 1969 – 1972 ) . In 1969 , he was appointed Military Assistant to the Presidential Assistant for National Security Affairs , Henry Kissinger , a position he retained until 1970 when President Richard Nixon promoted Haig to Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs . During this time he was promoted to Brig . General ( Sep . 1969 ) , and Maj . General ( Mar . 1972 ) . In this position , Haig helped South Vietnam ese President Nguyen Van Thieu negotiate the final cease - fire talks in 1972 . Haig continued in this position until 1973 , when he was appointed to be Vice Chief of Staff of the Army . He was confirmed by the U . S . Senate in Oct . 1972 as Vice Chief of Staff , a four - star position , thus skipping the rank of Lt . General . White House Chief of Staff ( 1973 – 74 ) . Nixon administration . Haig served as White House Chief of Staff , while still retaining his Army commission , during the height of the Watergate affair from May 1973 until Nixon resigned on August 9 , 1974 . He took over the position from H . R . Haldeman , who resigned on April 30 , 1973 , while under pressure from Watergate prosecutors . 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 also played an instrumental role in finally persuading Nixon to resign . Haig presented several pardon options to Ford a few days before Nixon eventually 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 President Nixon to President Ford . Indeed , about one month after taking office , Ford did pardon Nixon , resulting in much controversy . However , authors Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin were highly critical of much of Haig ' s behind - the - scenes work as Nixon ' s chief of staff in their 1991 book " " . They described several episodes where Haig misled the president and others , particularly those surrounding the court battles over Nixon ' s White House tape recordings , and Ford ' s eventual pardon of Nixon in September 1974 . Having conducted dozens of interviews of key participants , including Gerald Ford , Robert Hartmann , H . R . Haldeman , John Ehrlichman , John Mitchell , John Dean , Alexander Butterfield , Bob Woodward , Carl Bernstein , Samuel Dash , Seymour Hersh , Jeb Magruder , Gordon Liddy , Herbert Kalmbach , Robert Bork , and many others , as well as researching Congressional proceedings and a wide variety of contemporary news sources , the two authors were able to find many inconsistencies in what Haig claimed he had done . Haig refused to be interviewed for this book . Colodny and Gettlin stated that on several occasions , Haig seemed more concerned with shielding himself from investigation than in helping Nixon . Colodny and Gettlin also presented the most thorough explanation and analysis which had been seen , up to that time , of the so - called Moorer - Radford military espionage affair , an episode where Haig played a key role ; several key documents from this matter wound up being hidden from public view , perhaps permanently , among Nixon ' s presidential papers . Ford administration . Haig remained White House Chief of Staff during these early days of the Ford Administration , for just over about one month , and was replaced by Donald Rumsfeld in September 1974 . Author Roger Morris , a former colleague of Haig ' s on the National Security Council early in Nixon ' s first term , wrote that when Ford pardoned Nixon , he effectively pardoned Haig as well . NATO Supreme Commander ( 1974 – 79 ) . From 1974 to 1979 , Haig served as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe ( SACEUR ) , the Commander of NATO forces in Europe , and Commander - in - Chief of United States European Command ( CinCUSEUR ) . A man of habit , Haig took the same route to SHAPE every day – a pattern of behavior that did not go unnoticed by terrorist groups . On June 25 , 1979 , Haig was the target of an assassination attempt in Mons , Belgium . A land mine blew up under the bridge on which Haig ' s car was traveling , narrowly missing Haig ' s car and wounding three of his bodyguards in a following car . Authorities later attributed responsibility for the attack to the Red Army Faction ( RAF ) . In 1993 a German Court sentenced Rolf Clemens Wagner , a former RAF member , to life imprisonment for the assassination attempt . Civilian positions . Haig retired as a four - star general from the Army in 1979 , and moved on to civilian employment . In 1979 , he worked at the Philadelphia - based Foreign Policy Research Institute briefly , and would later serve on that organization ' s board . Later that year , he was named President and Director of United Technologies Corporation ( UTC ) under Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) Harry J . Gray , a job he retained until 1981 . He served as a founding corporate director at AOL . Secretary of State ( 1981 – 1982 ) . He was the second of three career military officers to become Secretary of State ( George C . Marshall and Colin Powell were the others ) . His speeches in this role in particular led to the coining of the neologism " Haigspeak " , described in " a dictionary of neologisms " as " Language characterized by pompous obscurity resulting from redundancy , the semantically strained use of words , and verbosity " , leading ambassador Nicko Henderson to offer a prize for the best rendering of the Gettysburg address in Haigspeak . Initial challenges . On Dec . 11 , 1980 , president - elect Reagan was prepared to publicly announce nearly all of his candidates for the most important cabinet - level posts . Singularly absent from the list of top nominees was his choice for Secretary of State , presumed by many at the time to be Al Haig . Haig ' s prospects for Senate confirmation were clouded when Senate Democrats questioned his role in the Watergate scandal . In Haig ' s defense , North Carolina Sen . Jesse Helms claimed to have phoned former President Nixon personally to inquire whether any material on Nixon ' s unreleased White House tapes could embarrass Haig . According to Helms , Nixon replied , " Not a thing . " Haig was eventually confirmed after hearings he described as an " ordeal " , during which he received no encouragement from Reagan or his staff . Several days earlier , on Dec . 2 1980 , as Haig faced these initial challenges to the next step in his political career , four American Catholic missionary women in El Salvador , two of whom were Maryknoll sisters , were beaten , raped and murdered by five Salvadoran national guardsmen ordered to surveil them . Their bodies were exhumed from a remote shallow grave two days later in the presence of then U . S . Ambassador to El Salvador , Robert White . In spite of this diplomatically awkward atrocity , the Carter administration soon approved $ 5 . 9 million in lethal military assistance to El Salvador ' s oppressive right - wing regime , a figure the incoming Reagan administration would expand to $ 25 million in less than six weeks . Throughout the 1980 US presidential campaign , Reagan and his foreign policy advisers faulted the Carter administration ' s over - emphasis on the human rights abuses committed by " authoritarian " regimes allied to the US , labeling it a " double standard " when compared to Carter ' s treatment of communist - bloc regimes . Haig , who described himself as the " vicar " of US foreign policy , believed the human rights violations of an American ally such as El Salvador should be given less attention than the ally ' s successes against American enemies , and thus found himself downplaying the nun killings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in March 1981 : The outcry that immediately followed Haig ' s insinuation prompted him to emphatically withdraw his speculative suggestions the very next day before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee . Similar public relations miscalculations , by Haig and others , continued to plague the Reagan administration ' s attempts to build popular American approval for its Central American policies . Reagan assassination attempt . In 1981 , following the March 30 assassination attempt on Reagan , Haig asserted before reporters " I am in control here " as a result of Reagan ' s hospitalization , indicating that , while President Reagan had not " transfer [ red ] the helm " , Haig was in fact directing White House Crisis Management until Vice President Bush arrived in Washington to assume that role . The US Constitution , including both the presidential line of succession and the 25th Amendment , dictates what happens when a president is incapacitated . However , the holders of the two offices between the Vice President and the Secretary of State , the Speaker of the House ( at the time , Tip O ' Neill ) and the President pro tempore of the Senate ( at the time , Strom Thurmond ) , would be required under US law ( ) to resign their positions in order for either of them to become acting President . Considering that Vice President Bush was not immediately available , Haig ' s statement reflected political reality , if not necessarily legal reality . Haig later said , Falklands War . In April 1982 Haig conducted shuttle diplomacy between the governments of Argentina in Buenos Aires and the United Kingdom in London after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands . Negotiations broke down and Haig returned to Washington on April 19 . The British fleet then entered the war zone . In December 2012 documents released under the UK " 30 Year Rule " disclosed that Haig planned to reveal British classified military information to Argentina in advance of the recapture of South Georgia . The proposal , which would have revealed British plans for the retaking of the island , was intended to show the military junta in Buenos Aires that America was a neutral player and could be trusted to act impartially during negotiations to end the conflict . 1982 Lebanon War . Haig ' s report to Reagan on January 30 , 1982 , shows that Haig feared that the Israelis might start a war against Lebanon . Critics accused Haig of " greenlighting " the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 . Haig denied this and said he urged restraint . Resignation . Haig caused some alarm with his suggestion that a " nuclear warning shot " in Europe might be effective in deterring the Soviet Union . His tenure as Secretary of State was often characterized by his clashes with the Defense Secretary , Caspar Weinberger . Haig , who repeatedly had difficulty with various members of the Reagan administration during his year - and - a - half in office , decided to resign his post on June 25 . President Reagan accepted his resignation on July 5 , 1982 . Haig was succeeded by George P . Shultz , who was confirmed on July 16 , 1982 . 1988 Republican presidential nomination . Haig ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination for President in 1988 . Although he enjoyed relatively high name recognition , Haig never broke out of single digits in national public opinion polls . He was a fierce critic of then Vice President George H . W . Bush , often doubting Bush ' s leadership abilities , questioning his role in the Iran Contra Scandal , and using the word " wimp " in relation to Bush in an October 1987 debate in Texas . Despite extensive personal campaigning and paid advertising in New Hampshire , Haig remained stuck in last place in the polls . Four days before the February 1988 NH primary election , Haig withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Senator Bob Dole , who made an appearance at the press conference , heavily covered by political reporters partly because a snow storm had limited travel by candidates and reporters . Dole , steadily gaining on Bush after beating him handily a week earlier in the Iowa caucus , ended up losing to Bush in the New Hampshire primary by ten percentage points . With his momentum regained , Bush easily won the nomination . In popular culture . In Part 2 of " The Simpsons " episode " Who Shot Mr . Burns ? " , a mug shot of Homer Simpson is shown , in which he is wearing a T - shirt with the campaign slogan " Haig in ' 88 " on it . Haig was played by Powers Boothe in the 1995 film " Nixon " , by Matt Frewer in the 1995 TV miniseries " Kissinger And Nixon " , and by Richard Dreyfuss in the 2001 cable film " The Day Reagan Was Shot " . Haig was also mentioned in the last level of " Interstate ' 82 " , where Ronald Reagan claims that Haig was pressured to resign from office by the president himself . Haig is mentioned in the Dead Kennedys song " We ' ve Got a Bigger Problem Now , " which was critical of Reagan ' s presidency . In the fourth episode of the first season of The Americans ( 2013 TV series ) , Haig ' s remark that he was " in control " after the attempted assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan is treated by the Soviets as indicative of a potential coup in the U . S . government . Later life , health , and death . In 1980 , Haig had a double heart bypass operation . In the 1980s and 90s , being the head of a consulting firm , he served as a director for various struggling businesses , the best - known probably being computer manufacturer Commodore International . Haig was the host for several years of the television program " World Business Review " . At the time of his death , he was the host of " 21st Century Business " , with each program a weekly business education forum that included business solutions , expert interview , commentary and field reports . Haig served as a founding member of the advisory board of Newsmax Media , which publishes the conservative web site , Newsmax . com . Haig was co - chairman of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus , along with Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen J . Solarz . A member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy ( WINEP ) Board of Advisors , Haig was also a founding Board Member of America Online . On January 5 , 2006 , Haig participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials . On May 12 , 2006 , Haig participated in a second White House meeting with 10 former Secretaries of State and Defense . The meeting including briefings by Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice , and was followed by a discussion with President George W . Bush . Haig ' s memoirs – " Inner Circles : How America Changed The World " – were published in 1992 . On February 19 , 2010 , a hospital spokesman revealed that the 85 - year - old Haig had been hospitalized at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore since January 28 and remained in critical condition . On February 20 , Haig died at the age of 85 , from complication s from a staphylococcal infection that he had prior to admission . According to " The New York Times " , his brother , Father Haig , said the Army was coordinating a Mass at Fort Myer in Washington and an interment at Arlington National Cemetery , but both would be delayed by about two weeks due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq . A Mass of Christian Burial was held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington , D . C . on March 2 , 2010 . Eulogies were given by Dr . Henry Kissinger and Sherwood " Woody " D . Goldberg . President Barack Obama said in a statement that , " General Haig exemplified our finest warrior - diplomat tradition of those who dedicate their lives to public service . " Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Haig as a man who " 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 . " Family . Alexander Haig was married to Patricia ( née Fox ) from 1950 until his death ; the couple had three children : Alexander Patrick Haig Jr . , Managing Director of Worldwide Associates , Inc . , Barbara Haig , " Deputy to President for Policy & Strategy " at the National Endowment for Democracy both of Washington , D . C . , and Brian Haig , author and military analyst of Hopewell , N . J . Haig ' s younger brother , Rev . Frank Haig , is a Jesuit priest and professor emeritus of physics at Loyola University in Baltimore , Maryland . Rev . Haig also served as the seventh president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse , New York . Alexander Haig ' s sister , Mrs . Regina Meredith was a practicing attorney licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey , and was a co - founding partner of the firm Meredith , Chase and Taggart , located in Princeton and Trenton , New Jersey . She died in 2008 .