Haig was the second of three career military officers to become secretary of state (
George C. Marshall and
Colin Powell were the others). His speeches in this role in particular led to the coining of the neologism "Haigspeak," described in
a dictionary of neologisms as "Language characterized by pompous obscurity resulting from redundancy, the semantically strained use of words, and verbosity," leading Ambassador
Nicko Henderson to offer a prize for the best rendering of the
Gettysburg Address in Haigspeak.
Initial challenges On 11 December 1980, president-elect Reagan was prepared to publicly announce nearly all of his candidates for the most important cabinet-level posts. Singularly absent from the list of top nominees was his choice for Secretary of State, presumed by many at the time to be Alexander Haig. Haig's prospects for
Senate confirmation were clouded when Senate Democrats questioned his role in the Watergate scandal. In Haig's defense, North Carolina
Senator Jesse Helms claimed to have phoned former president Nixon personally to inquire whether any material on
Nixon's unreleased White House tapes could embarrass Haig. According to Helms, Nixon replied, "Not a thing." Haig was eventually confirmed after hearings he described as an "ordeal," during which he received no encouragement from Reagan or his staff. Several days earlier, on 2 December 1980, as Haig faced these initial challenges to the next step in his political career, four U.S. Catholic missionary women in
El Salvador, two of whom were
Maryknoll sisters,
were beaten, raped and murdered by five
Salvadoran national guardsmen ordered to follow them. Their bodies were exhumed from a
remote shallow grave two days later in the presence of then-U.S. ambassador to El Salvador
Robert E. White. Despite this diplomatically awkward atrocity, the
Carter administration soon approved $5.9 million in lethal military assistance to El Salvador's oppressive right-wing government. The incoming Reagan administration expanded that aid to $25 million less than six weeks later. In justifying the arms shipments, the new administration claimed that the Salvadoran government of
José Napoleón Duarte had taken "positive steps" to investigate the murder of four American nuns, but this was disputed by U.S. Ambassador Robert E. White, who said that he could find no evidence the junta was "conducting a serious investigation." White was dismissed from the Foreign Service by Haig because of his complaints. White later asserted that the Reagan administration was determined to ignore and even conceal the complicity of the Salvadoran government and army in the murders. at
Andrews Air Force Base, 1982 Throughout the
1980 U.S. presidential campaign, Reagan and his foreign policy advisers faulted the
Carter administration's perceived over-emphasis on the human rights abuses committed by authoritarian governments allied to the U.S., labeling it a
"double standard" when compared with Carter's treatment of
communist-bloc governments. Haig, who described himself as the "
vicar" of U.S. foreign policy, believed the human rights violations of a U.S. ally such as El Salvador should be given less attention than the ally's successes against enemies of the U.S., and thus found himself diminishing the murders of the nuns before the
House Foreign Affairs Committee in March 1981: The outcry that immediately followed Haig's insinuation prompted him to emphatically withdraw his speculative suggestions the very next day before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Similar public relations miscalculations, by Haig and others, continued to plague the Reagan administration's attempts to build popular support at home for its
Central American policies.
Reagan assassination attempt In 1981, following the 30 March
assassination attempt on Reagan, Haig asserted before reporters, "I am in control here" as a result of Reagan's hospitalization, indicating that, while Reagan had not "transfer[red] the helm," Haig was in fact directing White House crisis management until Vice President
George Bush arrived in Washington to assume that role. The
U.S. Constitution, including both the
presidential line of succession and the
25th Amendment, dictates what happens when a president is incapacitated. The
Speaker of the House (at the time,
Tip O'Neill, Democrat) and the
president pro tempore of the Senate (at the time,
Strom Thurmond, Republican), precede the secretary of state in the line of succession. Haig later clarified, His reputation never recovered after this press conference, and in virtually all of the obituaries published after his death, his quote is referenced in the opening paragraphs.
Falklands War at Andrews Air Force Base, 1982 In April 1982, Haig conducted
shuttle diplomacy between the governments of
Argentina in Buenos Aires and the United Kingdom in London after
Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. Negotiations collapsed and Haig returned to Washington on 19 April. The
British naval fleet then entered the war zone. In December 2012 documents released under the United Kingdom's
30 Year Rule disclosed that Haig planned to reveal British classified military information to Argentina in advance of the recapture of
South Georgia Island. The information, which contained the plans for
Operation Paraquet, was intended to show the
Argentine military junta in Buenos Aires that the United States was a neutral player and could be trusted to act impartially during negotiations to end the conflict. In 2012 it was also revealed via documents released from the
Reagan Presidential Library that Haig attempted to persuade Reagan to side with Argentina in the war.
1982 Lebanon War Haig's report to Reagan on 30 January 1982, shows that Haig feared the Israelis might start a war against Lebanon. Critics accused Haig of "greenlighting" the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Haig denied this and said he urged restraint.
Resignation Haig caused some alarm with his suggestion that a "nuclear warning shot" in Europe might be effective in deterring the
Soviet Union. His tenure as secretary of state was often characterized by his clashes with the defense secretary,
Caspar Weinberger. Haig, who repeatedly had difficulty with various members of the Reagan administration during his year-and-a-half in office, decided to resign his post on 25 June 1982. President Reagan accepted his resignation on 5 July. Haig was succeeded by
George P. Shultz, who was confirmed on July 16. ==1988 Republican presidential primaries==