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BREAKING NEWS: Alexander Haig Has Died

Posted by GayPatriot at 9:39 am - February 20, 2010.
Filed under: Post 9-11 America

News reports are coming out that General Alexander Haig has died.  Haig was a central figure in American life in my formative years.  Hate him or love him, Haig was a powerful voice for America and American values.

Alexander Haig, the former military officer, secretary of state and adviser to presidents, died Saturday, a Johns Hopkins Medical Center spokesman said.

Haig, 85, was admitted to the Baltimore, Maryland, hospital on January 28, hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson said.

Haig was a top official in the administrations of three presidents — Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan.

Haig became supreme allied commander over NATO forces in Europe until 1979. Haig ran an unsuccessful bid for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination.

Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. was born December 2, 1924, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He attended the University of Notre Dame for two years before transferring to the U.S. Military Academy in 1944. After his graduation in 1947, he served in Japan. He later served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s staff in Japan during the Korean War.

RIP Alexander Haig.

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8 Comments

  1. Who’ll be in charge now?

    Comment by ColoradoPatriot — February 20, 2010 @ 9:41 am - February 20, 2010

  2. A true patriot.

    Comment by Rhodium Heart — February 20, 2010 @ 11:13 am - February 20, 2010

  3. Rest in peace, Gen Haig. You will be missed.

    Comment by The_Livewire — February 20, 2010 @ 12:14 pm - February 20, 2010

  4. His words on the day President Reagan was shot made me and so many others feel secure. It was a very scary time and he just stepped right up and did what needed to be done.
    RIP General Haig.

    Comment by PatriotMom — February 20, 2010 @ 1:52 pm - February 20, 2010

  5. The nation needs more like him.

    RIP General Haig.

    Comment by Roberto — February 20, 2010 @ 2:24 pm - February 20, 2010

  6. I remember watching Haig’s comments after Reagan was shot. It was a difficult moment and few of us will ever face pressures like that in our lives. Some of Reagan’s appointees seemed to have a gift for making controversial statements (I’m thinking of Watt) and Haig’s comments about “being in charge” fed into the fears and concerns of many democrats about Reagan and his cabinet, but I have always thought that Haig was treated unfairly after he made that statement. Haig said the right thing in a moment of chaos and uncertainty and concern – at a time when the Soviet Union was still our largest viable threat – and did not deserve the popular censure he received.

    The American public is sometimes not especially bright, seen as a whole, and it has a tendency to grasp a conclusion fed to it, and cling to that conclusion, regardless of whether that conclusion turns out to be true. Gerald Ford got hit with that mallet during one of his debates, when he seemed to say that Eastern Europe was not under the control of the Soviet Union (but was plainly talking about the PEOPLE, and not their governments). I’ve always felt bad about that, too – Ford did not deserve the jokes and ridicule, and it is to his credit that he did not push back harder against the unfairness of his treatment after that debate.

    Haig had a good long life, and he served his country as well as he could, and better than most of us will ever do. At the time, some of his comments made me and many of my friends nervous, but in the end, I am sure that he slept easily, and I salute his passing.

    Comment by Phil Holmes — February 20, 2010 @ 5:03 pm - February 20, 2010

  7. finally, he’s in charge. too bad his legacy is remembered for his poor choice of words and ignorance of presidential succession. The great President Obama released a terrific note about Haig, showing once again how he takes the high road. GOP leaders should take note of how to be a real leader.

    Comment by buckeyenutlover — February 20, 2010 @ 11:30 pm - February 20, 2010

  8. #7: A real leader, browneyeballlicker? Sorry, foolish. After only one year on the job, Obama has become a side-splitting punchline even to his most ardent, zombified supporters. Even contributors at The Huffington Post are writing columns titled, “Can Obama Lead Again?” and this week a CNN poll showed that 52 percent don’t believe he deserves a second term. Unlike yourself, apparently Americans believe that real leadership involves more than having a protocol secretary send a Hallmark card when a distinguished general dies.

    Comment by Sean A — February 21, 2010 @ 1:07 am - February 21, 2010

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