Editing Alexander Haig (section)

==Secretary of State (1981–1982)==
{{Main|Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan and Alexander Haig meeting in the Oval Office.jpg|thumb|Secretary of State Haig with President Reagan at the Oval Office, 1981]]
Haig was the second of three career military officers to become secretary of state ([[George C. Marshall]] and [[Colin Powell]] were the others). His speeches in this role in particular led to the coining of the neologism "Haigspeak," described in ''a dictionary of neologisms'' as "Language characterized by pompous obscurity resulting from redundancy, the semantically strained use of words, and verbosity,"<ref>Fifty years among the new words: a dictionary of neologisms, 1941–1991, John Algeo, p.231</ref> leading Ambassador [[Nicko Henderson]] to offer a prize for the best rendering of the [[Gettysburg Address]] in Haigspeak.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b1bf6a90-15b7-11de-b9a9-0000779fd2ac.html Financial Times], London, March 21, 2009</ref>

===Initial challenges===
On 11 December 1980, president-elect Reagan was prepared to publicly announce nearly all of his candidates for the most important cabinet-level posts. Singularly absent from the list of top nominees was his choice for Secretary of State, presumed by many at the time to be Alexander Haig. Haig's prospects for [[Advice and consent#United States|Senate confirmation]] were clouded when Senate Democrats questioned his role in the Watergate scandal. In Haig's defense, North Carolina [[Jesse Helms|Senator Jesse Helms]] claimed to have phoned former president Nixon personally to inquire whether any material on [[Nixon White House tapes|Nixon's unreleased White House tapes]] could embarrass Haig. According to Helms, Nixon replied, "Not a thing."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1891&dat=19801211&id=iqQfAAAAIBAJ&pg=6295,1424477 |title=Reagan selects half of Cabinet-level staff |date=December 11, 1980 |newspaper=Gadsden Times |agency=Associated Press}}</ref> Haig was eventually confirmed after hearings he described as an "ordeal," during which he received no encouragement from Reagan or his staff.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/22/books/the-turbulent-tenure-of-alexander-haig.html |title=The Turbulent Tenure of Alexander Haig |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 22, 1984 |first=James |last=Chace}}</ref>

Several days earlier, on 2 December 1980, as Haig faced these initial challenges to the next step in his political career, four U.S. Catholic missionary women in [[El Salvador]], two of whom were [[Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic|Maryknoll sisters]], [[1980 murders of U.S. missionaries in El Salvador|were beaten, raped and murdered]] by five [[National Guard (El Salvador)|Salvadoran national guardsmen]] ordered to follow them. Their bodies were exhumed from a [[Chalatenango Department|remote]] shallow grave two days later in the presence of then-U.S. ambassador to El Salvador [[Robert White (ambassador)|Robert E. White]]. Despite this diplomatically awkward atrocity, the [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]] soon approved $5.9 million in lethal military assistance to El Salvador's oppressive right-wing government.<ref>{{cite book |last=LeoGrande |first=William | author-link= William M. LeoGrande |title=Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |year=1998 |isbn= 0807898805 |url=https://archive.org/details/ourownbackyardun0000will |page=70}}</ref> The incoming Reagan administration expanded that aid to $25 million less than six weeks later.{{sfn|LeoGrande|1998|p=89}}

In justifying the arms shipments, the new administration claimed that the Salvadoran government of [[José Napoleón Duarte]] had taken "positive steps" to investigate the murder of four American nuns, but this was disputed by U.S. Ambassador Robert E. White, who said that he could find no evidence the junta was "conducting a serious investigation." White was dismissed from the Foreign Service by Haig because of his complaints. White later asserted that the Reagan administration was determined to ignore and even conceal the complicity of the Salvadoran government and army in the murders.<ref>Bonner, Raymond (November 9, 2014). "Bringing El Salvador Nun Killers to Justice". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 16, 2018.</ref>

[[File:Prime Minister Menachin Begin of Israel is welcomed by Secretary of State Alexander Haig.jpg|thumb|Haig welcoming Israeli prime minister [[Menachem Begin]] at [[Andrews Air Force Base]], 1982]]
Throughout the [[1980 US presidential election#Campaign|1980 U.S. presidential campaign]], Reagan and his foreign policy advisers faulted the [[Carter administration#Human rights|Carter administration's perceived over-emphasis]] on the human rights abuses committed by authoritarian governments allied to the U.S., labeling it a [[Dictatorships and Double Standards|"double standard"]] when compared with Carter's treatment of [[Eastern Bloc|communist-bloc]] governments. Haig, who described himself as the "[[vicar]]" of U.S. foreign policy,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/15577297 |newspaper=The Economist |title=Alexander Haig |date=February 25, 2010}}</ref> believed the human rights violations of a U.S. ally such as El Salvador should be given less attention than the ally's successes against enemies of the U.S., and thus found himself diminishing the murders of the nuns before the [[United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs|House Foreign Affairs Committee]] in March 1981:

{{blockquote|text=I'd like to suggest to you that some of the investigations would lead one to believe that perhaps the vehicle the nuns were riding in may have tried to run through a roadblock, or may have accidentally been perceived to have been doing so, and there may have been an exchange of fire, and then perhaps those who inflicted the casualties sought to cover it up. |sign=Alexander Haig |source=[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19810319&id=u0QcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ll0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056,1081511 ''Alexander Haig''], House Foreign Affairs committee testimony, quoted by UPI, 19 March 1981<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19810319&id=u0QcAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056,1081511 |title=Church Women Ran Roadblock, Haig Theorizes |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |date=19 March 1981 |publisher=[[United Press International|UPI]]|access-date=8 December 2013 }}</ref>}}

The outcry that immediately followed Haig's insinuation prompted him to emphatically withdraw his speculative suggestions the very next day before the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Leonard |last2=Ricks |first2=Christopher |title=The State of the Language |url=https://archive.org/details/stateoflanguage00rick |url-access=registration |edition=2nd |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |year=1990 |page=[https://archive.org/details/stateoflanguage00rick/page/261 261] |isbn=0520059069}}</ref> Similar public relations miscalculations, by Haig and others, continued to plague the Reagan administration's attempts to build popular support at home for its [[Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration#Latin America|Central American policies]].

===Reagan assassination attempt===
{{See also|Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|United States presidential line of succession}}
[[File:Al Haig speaks to press 1981.jpg|thumb|Haig speaking to the press after the Reagan assassination attempt, 1981]]
In 1981, following the 30 March [[Reagan assassination attempt|assassination attempt on Reagan]], Haig asserted before reporters, "I am in control here"<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2018-09-06 |title=The 'anonymous official op-ed' is less than it seems |url=https://nypost.com/2018/09/06/the-anonymous-official-op-ed-is-less-than-it-seems/ |access-date=2023-06-13 |language=en-US}}</ref> as a result of Reagan's hospitalization, indicating that, while Reagan had not "transfer[red] the helm," Haig was in fact directing White House crisis management until Vice President [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush]] arrived in Washington to assume that role.

{{blockquote|Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president, and the secretary of state in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.|Alexander Haig|[https://web.archive.org/web/20071016074220/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954230-22,00.html "Alexander Haig"], autobiographical profile in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, 2 April 1984<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954230,00.html |title=Alexander Haig |date=2 April 1984 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |page=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080406153923/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954230-22,00.html 22] of 24 page article |access-date=21 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406153932/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C954230%2C00.html |archive-date=April 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

The [[U.S. Constitution]], including both the [[United States presidential line of succession|presidential line of succession]] and the [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|25th Amendment]], dictates what happens when a president is incapacitated. The [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] (at the time, [[Tip O'Neill]], Democrat) and the [[President pro tempore of the United States Senate|president pro tempore of the Senate]] (at the time, [[Strom Thurmond]], Republican), precede the secretary of state in the line of succession. Haig later clarified,

{{blockquote|I wasn't talking about transition. I was talking about the executive branch, who is running the government. That was the question asked. It was not, "Who is in line should the president die?"|Alexander Haig, [https://web.archive.org/web/20021121125557/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/04/23/60II/main287292.shtml "Alexander Haig"] interview with ''[[60 Minutes II]]'' 23 April 2001}}

His reputation never recovered after this press conference,<ref>{{cite book |last=Inboden |first=William |author-link=William Inboden |date=2022 |title=The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink |publisher=Dutton |isbn=978-1-5247-4589-9 |pages=81–82}}</ref> and in virtually all of the obituaries published after his death, his quote is referenced in the opening paragraphs.

===Falklands War===
[[File:Haig and Thatcher DF-SC-83-06152.jpg|thumb|left|alt=|Haig with British prime minister [[Margaret Thatcher]] at Andrews Air Force Base, 1982]]
{{Main|Falklands War|Events leading to the Falklands War#Shuttle diplomacy and US involvement|l2 = U.S. diplomacy and involvement in the Falklands War}}
In April 1982, Haig conducted [[shuttle diplomacy]] between the governments of [[Argentina]] in Buenos Aires and the United Kingdom in London after [[1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands|Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands]]. Negotiations collapsed and Haig returned to Washington on 19 April. The [[Royal Navy|British naval fleet]] then entered the war zone. In December 2012 documents released under the United Kingdom's [[Thirty-year rule|30 Year Rule]] disclosed that Haig planned to reveal British classified military information to Argentina in advance of the recapture of [[South Georgia Island]]. The information, which contained the plans for [[Operation Paraquet]], was intended to show the [[National Reorganization Process|Argentine military junta]] in Buenos Aires that the United States was a neutral player and could be trusted to act impartially during negotiations to end the conflict.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tweedie |first=Neil |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9767707/US-wanted-to-warn-Argentina-about-South-Georgia.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/9767707/US-wanted-to-warn-Argentina-about-South-Georgia.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=US wanted to warn Argentina about South Georgia |newspaper=Telegraph |date=2012-12-28 |access-date=2014-06-04}}{{cbignore}}</ref> However, in 2012 it was revealed via documents released from the [[Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum|Reagan Presidential Library]] that Haig attempted to persuade Reagan to side with Argentina in the war.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Sullivan |first=John |date=2012-04-02 |title=How the U.S. Almost Betrayed Britain |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303816504577313852502105454 |access-date=2019-12-06}}</ref>

===1982 Lebanon War===
{{Main|1982 Lebanon War}}
Haig's report to Reagan on 30 January 1982, shows that Haig feared the Israelis might start a war against Lebanon.<ref>Ronald Reagan edited by Douglas Brinkley (2007) ''The Reagan Diaries'' Harper Collins {{ISBN|978-0-06-087600-5}} p. 66 Saturday, January 30</ref> Critics accused Haig of "greenlighting" the [[1982 Lebanon War|Israeli invasion of Lebanon]] in June 1982. Haig denied this and said he urged restraint.<ref name="time">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952421,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311020406/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952421,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 11, 2009 |title=Alexander Haig |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=April 9, 1984}}</ref>

===Resignation===
Haig caused some alarm with his suggestion that a "nuclear warning shot" in Europe might be effective in deterring the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>Waller, Douglas C. ''Congress and the Nuclear Freeze: An Inside Look at the Politics of a Mass Movement'', 1987. Page 19.</ref> His tenure as secretary of state was often characterized by his clashes with the defense secretary, [[Caspar Weinberger]]. Haig, who repeatedly had difficulty with various members of the Reagan administration during his year-and-a-half in office, decided to resign his post on 25 June 1982.<ref>[http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1982/Alexander-Haig-Resigns---Polish-Solidarity/12295509432066-5/  1982 Year in Review: Alexander Haig Resigns]</ref> President Reagan accepted his resignation on 5 July.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ajemian |first=Robert |author2=George J. Church |author3=Douglas Brew |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925497,00.html |title=The Shakeup at State |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=July 5, 1982 |access-date=February 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327061052/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C925497%2C00.html |archive-date=March 27, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Haig was succeeded by [[George P. Shultz]], who was confirmed on July 16.<ref>[https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/shultz-george-pratt ''Short History of the Department of State'', United States Department of State, Office of the Historian]. Retrieved February 20, 2010.</ref>