ALEXANDER HAIG b. December 2, 1924

ALEXANDER MEIGS HAIG, Jr.

December 2, 1924-February 20, 2010

SECRETARY OF STATE HAIG

IN HIS STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICE

Published in Business Week, 1982

Alexander Haig has been called a "political general" and "the acting president during the final months of the Nixon administration." He referred to himself as the "vicar" of foreign policy when he was named Ronald Reagan's Secretary of State; he last only a year and a half in that job. The quote above is interesting ("Today [1982] the U.S. is observing the unraveling of the classic Soviet empire.") Haig is more often remembered for asserting (literally) control after President Reagan was shot.

General Haig's career from West Point on is marked with encounters with many of the hot spots of the Cold War and many of the key players in the high places of the U.S. National Security apparatus, from MacArthur to McNamara, and, of course, Henry Kissinger.

One of the richer obituaries comes from across the pond, from the U.K. Guardian (here). The Telegraph's contribution is shorter, but adds some interesting details (here). Both do go on about the Falklands and Haig, not even mentioned by The New York Times in its Haig obituary (here).