Obit

Alexander Haig Dies

Former Secretary of State had controversial career.

Alexander Haig, the former Secretary of State and longtime advisor to presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, has died at the age of 85. The four-star general who served in Korea and Vietnam had recently been hospitalized for an infection. In spite of direct involvement with Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal and a penchant for controversial soundbites, Haig was a longtime staple at the White House and even made a bid for the presidency in 1988. “I think of him as a patriot’s patriot,” said his successor George P. Schulz. When President Reagan was nearly assassinated in 1981 and Vice President George H.W. Bush was flying, Gen. Haig quickly asserted his power in front of reporters, saying, "As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending return of the vice president and in close touch with him," which, to some people, appeared to be overstepping his boundaries.