With Haldeman Gone, Gen. Alexander H Ig Became the President's Shield

hie, of Staff With Haldeman gone, Gen. Alexander H ig became the President's shield. ME n came the Agnew resignation, the Mid-East war, "the Saturday night massacre." These have been "six peculiar months," says Haig. By Nick Thimmesch Spiro T. Agnew, the first Vice President in heartily before cracking, "I'll take execu- U.S. history to be forced from office for a tive privilege on that." Press him fiercely, crime; the continuing, traumatic hassle as questioners did on "Face the Nation" re- over the celebrated "Nixon tapes," spools cently, and Haig will utter an explanation nce Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr. more precious than gold; the axing of Spe- 'concerning the tape issue which is at vari- was formally appointed White cial Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox ance with the facts. Haig has become a 0 House Chief of Staff last June, after and attendant ramming to the wall of At- public man, and, therefore, more vulnera- emergency duty in the void suddenly left by torney General Elliot Richardson and his ble. Unless there is a dramatic transforma- H. R. (Bob) Haldeman, the reaction deputy, William D. Ruckelshaus, with tion, say, like St. Paul's conversion, there around town was almost all favorable. Af- their consequent resignations; and of will always be a military man in the civilian 2 ter all, as Dr. Henry A. Kissinger's dep- course, a situation more familiar to him, suits worn by Al Haig. He's sensitive about cn uty, he was known to be friendly, accessi- and more up his alley, the Middle East cri- this, and argues his case. ble, hard-working, and always there. Be- sis. coq.3.• sides, he didn't wear a butch haircut like His base of operations is the large, gold- Haldeman's, nor did his manner suggest carpeted room in the West Wing, the same the military stereotype. Haig came off as a premises once occupied by Haldeman, only 6' have no pangs of self-conscious- "good guy," and in an era when the mili- Haig doesn't keep the fire going in the fire- ness or inadequacy," Haig says. tary wins few Oscars, that's a plus. Moreo- place the way Haldeman did. "This office ."I've had 12 years' experience in ver, Haig's was a grand success story. He is the same as it was when Haldeman was Washington at the high policy levels in De- had zoomed from colonel to four-star gen- here," says Muriel Hartley, Haig's steady, fense and at the White House. I was expo- eral in four years, and that doesn't even witty, red-haired secretary. "General Haig sed to the legislative process, even the judi- happen in the movies. is too busy to think about changes." cial process when I was with Bobby Ken- Serving as a good guy in a national secu- The office holds: nedy during the Cuban missile crisis. I can rity (therefore, largely military) slot is one Simple pictures of George Washington. state that the military background is a very situation. But serving as the man next to An eagle, a panda from Peking, in sculp- good cauldron for subsequent duty on ci- the President, where actions and decisions ture, but they aren't Haig's. They are gifts vilian status in the bureaucracy. I don't on how the government shall be run, who to the President and must be put some- share the concept that there is a military gets hired and fired, what domestic poli- where. Irving Stone's epic of Michelan- mind. cies will be, and how the Congress, press gelo, The Agony and The Ecstasy and "Politics and soldiering are very, very and public shall be dealt with, is quite an- That Most Distressful Nation by Father close. It's only a soldier who can respect other. In six short months as a civilian offi- Greeley, a social critic. Winston Churchill, and admire a politician. It's a field where a cial in lofty perch, Haig has felt the heat al- naturally. Haldeman's green furniture, the man lays everything on the line to win or ready, and won't always be regarded as a round tables, a chandelier, the flag, that's lose. Athletics are the same. There's a ca- good guy. about it. Haig usually gulps his lunch here maraderie among men who lay it all out. John D. Ehrlichman is a man of stained —a cheeseburger and iced tea. They're tested by the vote or they're tested record, but he is also a man who sat in the Haig customarily is very well man- in battle. When one doesn't win, the results "vortex" Haig likes to describe and saw nered, but he can break out in sudden fits are fatal, and in the case of the military, Haig at work as Kissinger's deputy. He's of humor. "What influence do you have on quite fatal. So I have a great deal of respect dubious. "I don't think Al is the right man the President," he is asked. "Decisive," he for politicians. for that job, for all his qualities," Ehrlich- bellows out in laughter. But in a moment, "From my perspective, I have always man said. "Bob Haldeman may not have he is seriously discussing the decision mak- found that a military man can have his been the indispensable man in the White ing process. He chain-smokes and worries. views respected. The military has to know House but he was the closest thing to it." He is work-obsessed, disciplined and de- its own framework in order to influence Whatever, Haig has already had, to use a voted to his country. But if anything gives policy. There are always positions for capa- military phrase, his baptism of fire. He was him "gas pains" (one of his favorite ble military people at the highest level. in the thick of the decisions which shook expressions) it -is the notion that a military "I am a case in point. I sat at Henry's this city in recent weeks: the resignation of man is unsuited for high level work in the (Kissinger's) elbow where I could have government bureaucracy. considerable impact on policy. I did at the Nick Thimmesch is a syndicated columnist Ask him what part he played in the pain- Defense Department where I was Joe Cali- for The Los Angeles Times. fill extraction of Agnew, and Haig laughs fano's deputy and at McNamara's right 12 The Washington Post/Potomac/November 25, 1973 Alexander Haig in the "vortex," answering questions from the press. Associoled Press The Washington Post/Potomac/November 25, 1973 13 degree I preferred to, is something else. I dition—it changed during the Eisenhower work." The Haigs had lost their standard don't suffer frustrations in being able to in- years—that it was best to stay out of it. of living, but not their station. fluence policy. Precisely the opposite. I Politics wasn't to be discussed by young of- He describes his mother as a "strong, ex- suffer frustrations with military men who ficers in the dining hall. That was bad ceptional woman," now 83,- active and can't recognize the best way to do it." manners. alert, and living alone at Pennington, New The civilian who has been Haig's great- "I learned to be an observer in politics, Jersey. Haig's older sister, Mrs. Regina est booster for years is also an attorney for not an advocate. I made value judgments Meredith, is an attorney in partnership the Democratic Party in the case which has and kept them to myself. But that's chang- with her husband. Haig's younger brother, made Mr. Nixon's White House a living ing. I have strong views—I'm not a eunuch Father Frank Haig, S. J. , teaches physics at hell for most of 1973. That booster is Jo- or a whore—but it's not an excessive bur- Baltimore's Loyola College, a Jesuit school. seph Califano, who urged Haig on Kis- den to restrain them:' "My father was Scotch-English and a Re- singer when he was looking for a deputy The amalgam of Nixon-Haig is forming, publican," Haig says. "My mother's back in 1968. Califano quickly tells you he and with it, a single-minded admiration for maiden name was Murphy and she was loves Haig and can't stand or trust Mr. Nixon by Haig. It could turn into narrow Catholic, but she was also Republican. She Nixon. Haig will tell you he has respect loyalty. Anyway, Haig talks of the Presi- was lace-curtain Philadelphia Irish. Her and admiration, variously, for both Cali- dent's burdens, the agonizing over Vice brothers were all doctors- and lawyers. fano and the President. Well, put that President Agnew, and the "terribly com- "It was a tough time for us when my fa- aside, for a moment. plex relationships with the press which ther died. It brought our family close to- "Al took this job to serve his country in have not been satisfactory." gether, what was left of it. He was a bread- the highest sense," Califano says of Haig's After "six peculiar months," he feels "a winner who overextended himself. decision. "He wanted to get out only a few greater appreciation for Nixon's inner "Dad's death made me fairly conscious weeks after he went in, but he wound up strength. He has experienced an unnatural of what I had to do," Haig says.

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