Alexander Haig

Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (/heɪɡ/; 2 December 1924 – 20 February 2010) 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. He unsuccessfully sought the presidential nomination in the 1988 Republican primaries. He also served as the head of a consulting firm and hosted the television program World Business Review.

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 (née Murphy). 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 (ranked 214 of 310) 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.

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 (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.