Editing Alexander Haig (section)

==Security adviser and vice chief of staff (1969–1973)==
In 1969, he was appointed military assistant to the assistant to the president for national security affairs, [[Henry Kissinger]]. A year later, he replaced [[Richard V. Allen]] as [[Deputy National Security Advisor (United States)|deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs]]. During this period, he was promoted to brigadier general (September 1969) and major general (March 1972).

In the spring of 1972, the [[People’s Army of Vietnam|North Vietnamese armed forces]] (PAVN) launched a multi-prong attack, known as the [[Easter Offensive]], on every region of South Vietnam. For the first time, the PAVN deployed heavy weaponry such as mobile surface-to-air missile batteries, tanks, and armored vehicles. In the early weeks of the offensive, the PAVN won startling advances, and captured crucial bases, roads, and cities. Nixon and Kissinger——while delicately picking their way through the diplomatic thickets of [[Presidency of Richard Nixon#Soviet Union|détente]] with [[Soviet Union|Moscow]] and [[Foreign policy of the Richard Nixon administration#China|open relations]] with [[China|Peking (Beijing)]]——decided to respond to North Vietnam’s sweeping assault by mining its [[Haiphong|principal harbor]], and massively bombing targets in every quarter of North Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Randolph |first=Stephen |title=Powerful and Brutal Weapons: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Easter Offensive |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2007|isbn=9780674024915|url= https://archive.org/details/powerfulbrutalwe0000rand}}</ref>  Nixon, in his reflexive suspicion,<ref>{{cite book |last=Summers |first=Anthony |title=The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon |publisher=Viking |location=New York |year=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/arroganceofpower0000summ}}</ref> and Kissinger, in his boundless ambition,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hersh |first=Seymour |title=The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House|publisher=Summit |location=New York |year=1983 |url=https://archive.org/details/priceofpower00hers}}</ref> opted to bypass the Departments of [[United States Department of State|State]] and [[United States Department of Defense|Defense]], as well as the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]](JCS), in any advisory or decision-making capacity relating to what would become known as [[Operation Linebacker]].{{sfn|Randolph|2007|p=164}}

Haig effectively substituted for the JCS during this time. He developed the core strategy coordinating the mining with the bombing of transportation targets. He was dispatched, to the Pentagon as well as Saigon, to critique field commanders and military procedure, and provide an independent information channel to the White House. He was a member of a national security [[triumvirate]], along with Nixon and Kissinger, that both scapegoated and ignored the [[Military Assistance Command, Vietnam|military command running the daily operations in Vietnam]].{{sfn|Randolph|2007|p=87-88}}

In this position, Haig helped [[South Vietnam]]ese president [[Nguyen Van Thieu]] negotiate the final [[Paris Peace Accords|cease-fire talks]] in 1972. Haig continued in the role until 4 January 1973,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0019/4520749.pdf|title=Personnel - White House Appointment of Military Personnel to Staff|page=11|website=Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum}}</ref> when he became [[Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army|vice chief of staff of the Army]]. Nixon planned to appoint Haig as chief of staff over [[Creighton Abrams]], whom he personally disliked, but [[United States Secretary of Defense|secretary of defense]] [[Melvin Laird]] resisted as Haig lacked the relevant upper-level command experience.<ref name="fortyyears">{{cite book|last1=Colodny|first1=Len|last2=Shachtman|first2=Tom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NenDAAAQBAJ&dq=haig+becomes+army+vice+chief&pg=PT189|title=Forty Years War|date=2009|publisher=TrineDay |isbn=9781634240574 }}</ref> He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 1972, thus skipping the rank of lieutenant general. By appointing him to this billet, Nixon "passed over 240 generals" who were senior to Haig.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/05/archives/4star-diplomat-in-white-house-a-recent-trip-hell-be-superb-skipped.html |title = 4-Star Diplomat in White House Alexander Meigs Haig Jr|newspaper = The New York Times|date = May 5, 1973}}</ref>