Haig
In many ways he was the opposite of his legend. Yes, he had a temper. But he was a softy in many ways. He got Europeanized at NATO, where he was Supreme Allied Commander. He was a buddy of some German Social Democrats, he somehow learned a great deal about France, and was amazingly well informed about the Italians. Maybe he got some of that from (General Vernon) Walters, who was Ambassador at Large.
My real title was Ambassador at Small (aka Special Advisor to the Secretary of State), and the best way to describe it is to tell you about my first day on the job in 1981, in a little office down the hall from Haig, just past Bud McFarlane and just before Harvey Sicherman, the chief speechwriter and confidant. They assigned me to a career secretary who had worked with Phillip Habib. She was supposed to keep me in line, I think, and mostly she won. Anyway, that first day I was called into Haig’s enormous office and he emoted for about ten minutes. Mostly it had to do with the Soviets, of course, and he was furious at various West European socialists for causing trouble with regard to Central America, Africa, and arms control issues.
Let’s say he had a rich vocabulary. When he finally took a breath he lit a cigarette (most everybody smoked on the 7th floor of State) and growled “you know these people. Do something!”
Back in my cubbyhole I asked my keeper what “do something!” meant, and she said it usually meant writing a memo to him laying out the something I proposed to do. Then he approved it–or not–and then I did it.
Right. So I wrote a memo, she put it in the proper format, and sent it back down the hall. A few hours later his secretary called to say a) I had better get down there pronto, and b) he was really angry. A little heads-up.
In fact he was purple, pacing around with a cigarette in one hand (remember he’d just had a quadruple or quintuple bypass) and my memo in the other.
“WHAT” he snarled, “THE FOWL FILTH IS THIS?”
I confessed that it was my memo, sir.
“Number one,” he was now tearing it up, “DON’T WRITE MEMOS!!!.” The little pieces were now in the burn bag. “I didn’t bring you here to have you WRITE FOWLISH FILTHY MEMOS!”
Roger that.
And then probably the greatest orders anyone ever received: “When I tell you to do something, just go do it. If I don’t like it, you’ll hear from me. And if you don’t hear from me, keep doing it.”
Best boss I ever had. I only heard from him once, when one of our ambassadors called me in to the embassy to say that Haig wanted me to call him on a secure line, and the poor man added that he’d never ever heard language like that, ever.
All that business about Haig-the-war-monger was disinformation, by the way, carefully cultivated (as it had been with Nixon, from whom Haig probably learned it). My main problems with him came when he listened too attentively to the likes of Schmidt. I tried to resign when I thought he was insufficiently tough with the Soviets over Poland, and he asked me to stay. For two reasons. First, nobody else was giving him that kind of criticism, and he wanted to hear it. And second, “don’t be in such a hurry; I’ll be gone in a few months.”
And he was.
Thanks for the personal anecdotes. Very moving and a wonderful contrast with the image purveyed by the MSM.
Funny story.
I saw him on so many ‘Korean War’ documentaries/interviews talking about his relationship and experiences with Gen. MacArthur as he was an aide to the famed general. He seemed like a very genuine guy. I hope he finds peace and rests in peace.
I have profound memories of Al Haig during the early Reagan years. His persona fit the times perfectly and provided the kind of backbone that epitomized these times. He was a true warrior and told it like it was. He will be missed by all freedom loving Americans.
What I remember was his assertion that he was in charge after Reagan got shot. It was alarming misstep. Was he deluded?
I only met my buddy, Al Haig, once. I was a 71Q at Herzo Artillery Base, a couple of klicks outside of Herzogenaurach. Al was making the rounds and as base photographer I was ordered to take pictures of Al during his visit. After an hour so of generally making an ass of myself, Al motioned for me to approach, I stopped at a respectful distance and saluted – for the first time of the day. The general got nose to nose to me and gruffly said: “Fuck Off!” I grinned ear to ear, knowing that I was saved, saluted him, spun and double timed it off the field and back to the barracks. I quickly changed to civies and caught a cab and went to my favorite bar and proceeded to “fuck off.” Years later when he ran for president I sent him $20. After all if you can’t support your buddies when they run for president who can you?
This is interesting to me. I had just graduated college in 1981, and I was visiting the college town in question, staying a few days in the home of my old faculty advisor. When the conversation turned to Alexander Haig as Sec. of State, my old advisor did not like it. I asked him why, and the old advisor replied, “Because he is a small man.” Your memo here contradicts that old advisor, and I am not surprised.
Thanks for the memo, Mr. Ledeen.
P.S. Does this mean you will now have occasional combo-interviews with James J. Angleton AND Alexander Haig? We need to keep an eye on who is in control at the White House as well who is keeping an eye on whom.
great man and loyal american patriot. epitomy of the title ‘public servant’, god bless him and god bless america.
Al Haig sounds like he was a multi-faceted man. I recall what Richard Pipes had to say about Secretary Haig, and the story was different.
I guess chameleons are not an endangered species inside the Beltway.
#5 I was in the Army when Gen. Haig made that remark. At the time, I took it to mean that at that moment, he was the ranking administration official present at the White House and so was in charge of the situation that that specific location at that specific moment. I did not take it at the time that he meant he was “in charge” of the country, as the media spun the comment.
I only saw him once, in the field, in Germany when he was NATO commander. We (the US) were demonstrating a new air defense command and control system to some Iranians and he was seeing it, too.
No doubt, Gen. Alexander Haig was a great military officer and leader. He was a combat solider and a statesman who dedicated his lives to serve the USA Greatness and to serve freedom.
Gen. Haig was a great American patriot and a hero and a strong military personality.
Thanks for his heroic service to spread freedom and to promote the US Greatness and its values and principles.
May his soul rest in peace.
My sincere sympathies to you Michael and to his family, and to everyone who defend and cherish freedom.
Jassem Othman, Syrian, Poland.
Extremely pro-USA Greatness and pro-Israel.
Via Kevin Mooney at AmSpec, we have a report from William Clark:
“Various obituaries claim that Haig had attempted to gain control of the presidency and disregarded the proper constitutional chain of command. But William Clark, a close Reagan advisor, says that Haig actually acted properly and helped to restore order at a very tense moment.”
I agree. Glad it’s in the record.
The “I’m in charge” incident was one of the thing that destroyed the credibility of the mass media for me early on. On digging into the story it was readily apparent what Haig meant was to reassure that there was *someone*in charge of the US while the president was down and until the VP arrived from whereever he was at that moment.