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The Spectacle Blog
Contrary to what has been widely reported and thought, the late Alexander Haig made precisely the right move in asserting his authority after the attempted assassination against President Reagan on March 30, 1981, according to a former national security official.
The four-star army general who served as secretary of state under President Reagan and as a chief of staff to President Nixon died at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore last Saturday. Although Haig was widely viewed as being overly acerbic and often confrontational with other White House officials, the historical record is in need of clarification where the assassination attempt is concerned, Paul Kengor, a Reagan biographer, has learned.
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.
Clark had served as Haig's deputy in the U.S. State Department before moving over to the National Security Council (NSC). Unlike many in the White House, Clark had a congenial relationship with Reagan's first secretary of state.
Kengor, a political science professor with Grove City College, is the author of a recent biographer on Clark entitled: "The Judge: William P. Clark, Ronald Reagan's Top Hand." Clark was a close confident to Reagan reaching back to the former president's time as governor of California. Kengor followed up with him shortly after Haig's death and discussed the assassination attempt.
"Clark said Haig was exactly right and acted the right way in a moment of confusion," Kengor said. "The vice-president was in the air at the time and Haig was the ranking cabinet member who indeed was in charge and it was important for him to establish stability at this time. You also have to remember that this was the height of the Cold War and Haig was rightly concerned about how hostile powers might react."
This assessment from Clark stands in stark contrast to how The New York Times described Haig's response in an obituary that includes a fair amount of editorial commentary.
"Mr. Haig was a rare American breed: a political general. His bids for the presidency quickly came undone. But his ambition to be president was thinly veiled, and that was his undoing. He knew, Reagan's aide Lyn Nofziger once said, that "the third paragraph of his obit" would detail his conduct in the hours after President Reagan was shot, on March 30, 1981.
That day, Secretary of State Haig wrongly declared himself the acting president. `The helm is right here,' he told members of the Reagan cabinet in the White House Situation Room, `and that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here.' His words were taped by Richard V. Allen, then the national security adviser.
His colleagues knew better..."
Kengor has a very detailed piece about Clark's relationship with Haig for The American Spectator that includes key facts at odds with what The New York Times and others have reported.
It is also worth noting that Haig was secretary of state during the apex of the Reagan military buildup. Anyone serving in this slot at the time would find that Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger was more strongly positioned in relation to administration priorities. There is a long history of tension between the State Department and the Pentagon that was exacerbated during Haig's tenure. In reality, he was somewhat of a dove who favored diplomatic efforts that became more ascendent during Reagan's second term.
Just as history finally caught up with Reagan's achievements, thanks to Clark there is now an opening to properly credit a courageous, patriotic figure who was more adept at advancing diplomacy in foreign circles than he was in securing his own interests.
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More Blog Posts by Kevin Mooney
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/02/24/al-haig-acted-properly-after-1
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Chris B| 2.24.10 @ 12:18PM
A minor quibble- Bill Clark was National Security Advisor after leaving State, not NSA director.
Cal Mark| 2.24.10 @ 1:05PM
This long, long post recalls an admiral's wise words from a graduation speech: "If you have to spend an inordinate amount of time justifying your conclusion, you probably have the wrong conclusion."
Down the memory hole (because bashing Alexander Haig is, apparently, so much FUN for so many pundits) was the first part Haig's statement to the nation: "The Vice President is on his way." Then followed his famous, but always-misquoted-by-truncation, taken-out-of-context, "I'm in charge right now." The image was of a temporary caretaker holding down the fort until the VP arrived.
I'm not a Haig fan--but fair is fair.
Tim| 2.24.10 @ 2:10PM
What did Tip O'Neill have to say about it?
Ran / Si Vis Pacem| 2.24.10 @ 3:55PM
Thanks Mr Mooney, My thanks too, to Mr Clark for exonerating an extraordinarily courageous man.
Ron| 2.24.10 @ 4:40PM
In every news report you hear how Secretary Haig, tried to step into the Presidency by proclaiming he was incharge. If you listen to the comment, he says; until the vice president gets back to the capital, he was incharge of the white house. Never did he as the government. typical big media selective editing still going on today!
JmsA| 2.24.10 @ 5:56PM
I, for one, would much rather have had former General Haig than "Read my lips..." Bush, Sr., as vice president.
Richard Baker| 2.24.10 @ 6:26PM
Saw him speak at the White House after President Reagan had been shot. He was, as Secretary of State, the senior member of the President's Cabinet present. When he said that he was in charge at the White House, I totally understood that as the Senior Man present, he was in charge until the Vice President or a Senior returned. I'd just gotten out of the Army and GEN Haig did what I had done many times when my Seniors weren't present and I represented my Unit at that moment. May he Rest in Peace.
Otter| 2.24.10 @ 7:33PM
I don't have much time for Haig but I do remember two things from that day that Reagan was shot.
I first started watching TV about an hour after the announcement of the assaination attemp. After about 10 minutes of watching CBS with Dan Rather, Haig came to the podium and made his statement about the Vice President in route and for the time being, he was in charge. I had just got out of the Navy and having stood many a quarterdeck watch, I knew what being in charge of the ship was. I may not have been the Captain, but I was manning the desk and answering the phones to run the routine of the ship in his place. Haig, as a military man, was doing the same thing. He was manning the desk and answering the phones as he was trained to do. I don't think he ever thought beyond that.
The second thing I remember was Dan Rather's initial reaction to Haig's announcement. He said it was great, that the democratic process was going on, and that this is the way America was supposed to work in a crisis. Couldn't have been more praiseworthy. The stability of government that Haig was trying to project was what Rather was commenting on in a positive way. About an hour later, Rather, after being directed possibly by his higher authority, began critizing Haig and saying Haig was power hungry and didn't understand the succession of power in the loss of the president. It's funny how the initial reaction of Rather is never shown today.
Pingback| 2.24.10 @ 8:37PM
Alexander Haig, R.I.P. « The Camp Of The Saints [New Main Site] links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Nick| 2.25.10 @ 12:38AM
I was a 13 year-old junior high-school kid, when the President was shot. Heard about it walking home from school.
I remember the whole brouhaha over Secretary Haig's statement. I watched it unfold throughout that day.
If a 13 year-old could understand what Mr. Haig meant, why couldn't liberals?
I've come to learn since that tragic day, that liberals and the MSM attack everything center-right reflexively. Mr. Haig, also, was in President Nixon's administration, an unforgivable sin to the lefties.
onitsuka tiger mexico 66| 2.25.10 @ 12:46AM
The next president's spouse (see, I didn't say WIFE) will have to start a program to help kids traumatized by the previous program.