5. Al Haig was Commander in Chief of NATO for more than 5 years. He had an illustrious war record. He served as Chief of Staff to President Nixon and to President Ford (I knew him well in both positions), was Secretary of State under President Reagan and was the man who said that "I am in charge here" (he wasn't) on the occasion of the attempted assignation and wounding of President Ronald Reagan.
I had dealings with him when he was in the White House both during the Nixon years and for a short period of time for Gerald Ford. After he left the government in both the military and the civilian side he went on the Board of Directors of Allegheny Ludlum which became Allegheny International. I knew him there as well since I had been a consultant to Allegheny International for more than decade and so I knew him in government service and in civilian life.
He never gave me the impression of being a strong man. The moment there was trouble he was up and out or at least that was true of my experience with him. I never knew him to take a position on anything. He always struck me as the type that gets along because they go along. When Allegheny got into big trouble he immediately resigned from the Board of Directors. When there was a controversy in the White House over something I did and said I would do his advice was to leave it alone and do nothing. He refused as Chief of Staff to take a stand on most important issues.
He resigned suddenly as Secretary of State in 1982 under the Presidency of Ronald Reagan and to this day if you look up the resignation in the Journals one and all say there is no explanation for is sudden resignation. I think I know the reason he resigned.
President Ronald Reagan, the old fox, had come to the conclusion that we could destroy the Soviet Union by outspending them on defense and we could push them to the economic wall and cause an internal peaceful revolution. He was determined to follow that policy and did. If I know Al Haig that would have caused him to resign since such a policy had to be insane, dangerous as well! But Ronald Reagan did just that and there is more than enough literature to prove it!
Haig is and was living proof that you can go far if you don't stand up too much.
