Editing Alexander Haig (section)

==Early life and education==
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).<ref name="WashPost_obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/20/AR2010022001270.html |title=Alexander Haig, 85; soldier-statesman managed Nixon resignation |author=Hohmann, James |date=February 21, 2010 |access-date=February 21, 2010 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604174902/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/20/AR2010022001270.html |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref> When Haig was 9, his father, aged 41, died of cancer. His [[Irish American]] mother raised her children in the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] faith.<ref name="ref2">{{cite news|title=Haig's Future Uncertain After a Shaky Start|newspaper=Anchorage Daily News|date=April 11, 1981|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6Yg1AAAAIBAJ&pg=1406,2881203|access-date=December 22, 2009}}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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attended [[Saint Joseph's Preparatory School]] in [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, on a scholarship; when he was withdrawn due to poor academic performance, he transferred to [[Lower Merion High School]] in [[Ardmore, Pennsylvania]], where he graduated in 1942.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"<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z8wSCZG9O6AC&q=alexander+haig+west+point&pg=PA546 |title = In Praise of Nepotism|isbn = 9781400079025|last1 = Bellow|first1 = Adam|date = July 13, 2004| publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing }}</ref> for two years before securing a [[United States Congress|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.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

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<ref name = Weiner>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/us/politics/21haig.html |title=Alexander M. Haig Jr., 85, Forceful Aide to 2 Presidents, Dies |author=Weiner, Tim |author-link=Tim Weiner |date=February 20, 2010 |access-date=February 20, 2010 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223215932/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/us/politics/21haig.html |archive-date=February 23, 2010 |url-status=live |df=mdy }}</ref> (ranked 214 of 310) in 1947.<ref name="theguardian.com">{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/20/alexander-haig-obituary | title=Alexander Haig obituary| newspaper=The Guardian| date=February 20, 2010| last1=Jackson| first1=Harold}}</ref> Although a West Point superintendent characterized Haig as "the last man in his class anyone expected to become the first general",<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/Al_Haig_the_long_goodbye.html |title = Al Haig, the long goodbye| date=February 22, 2010 }}</ref> other classmates acknowledged his "strong convictions and even stronger ambitions".<ref name="theguardian.com"/> Haig later earned an [[Master of Business Administration|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 [[Master of Arts|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.