The obituary for General Alexander Haig in reference to moments after the assassination attempt and almost fatal wounding of President Ronald Reagan as f0llows “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. ‘There were three others ahead of Mr. Haig in the constitutional succession,’ Mr. Allen wrote in 2001. ‘But Mr. Haig’s demeanor signaled that he might be ready for a quarrel, and there was no point in provoking one.’
“Mr. Haig then asked, ‘How do you get to the press room?’ He raced upstairs and went directly to the lectern before a television audience of millions. His knuckles whitening, his arms shaking, Mr. Haig declared to the world, ‘I am in control here, in the White House.’ He did not give that appearance.”
WATCHDOG: One wonders at time how naïve reporters and their editors can be. This took place in the midst of the Cold War when there were only twenty-minutes to respond to a pre-emptive atomic attack. No one knew at that moment what was behind the attempted assassination of the president.
When he raced to the press room, Haig’s purpose was not to speak to the American people. He was sending a message to the Soviet Union that our government was not paralyzed. We were prepared to defend ourselves.
(A case can be made that he was indeed authorized in his action. If the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House were not yet on hand, it was up to him as one in the line of accession to take charge in view of the dire potential circumstances.)
The Watchdog honors Haig for his quick thinking and responsible action. May “his memory be for a blessing” and may reporters and historians finally get the story right.
