Editing Alexander Haig (section)

===Ford administration===
[[File:Alexander Haig photo portrait as White House Chief of Staff black and white.jpg|thumb|Haig's official chief of staff portrait]]
Following Nixon's resignation, Haig remained briefly as White House Chief of Staff under Ford. Haig aided in the transition by advising the new president mostly on policy matters on which he had been working under the Nixon presidency and introducing Ford to the White House staff and their daily activities. Haig recommended that Ford retain several of Nixon's White House staff for 30 days to provide an orderly transition. Haig and Kissinger also advised Ford on Nixon's détente policy with the Soviet Union following the SALT I treaty in 1972.

Haig found it difficult to get along with the new administration and wanted to return to the Army for his last command. It had also been rumored that Ford wanted to be his own chief of staff. At first Ford decided to replace Haig with [[Robert T. Hartmann]], Ford's chief of staff during his tenure as vice president.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rumsfeld|first=Donald|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/650210649|title=Known and unknown : a memoir|date=2011|publisher=Sentinel|isbn=978-1-59523-067-6|location=New York|oclc=650210649}}</ref> Ford soon replaced Hartmann with United States Permanent Ambassador to NATO [[Donald Rumsfeld]]. Author and Haig biographer [[Roger Morris (American writer)|Roger Morris]], a former colleague of Haig's on the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] early in Nixon's first term, wrote that when Ford pardoned Nixon, he in effect pardoned Haig as well.<ref>''Haig: The General's Progress'', by [[Roger Morris (American writer)]], ''[[Playboy]]'' Press, 1982, pp. 320–25.</ref>

Haig resigned from his position as White House Chief of Staff and returned to active duty in the United States Army in September 1974.<ref name=":0" />