Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. (December 2, 1924 – February 20, 2010) was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He also served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, the second-highest ranking officer in the Army, and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe commanding all US and NATO forces in Europe.
A veteran of the Korean War and Vietnam War, Haig was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart....
Secretary of State (1981–1982)
He 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.
Reagan assassination attempt
In 1981, following the March 30 assassination attempt on Reagan, Haig asserted before reporters "I am in control here" as a result of Reagan's hospitalization, indicating that, while President Reagan had not "transfer[red] the helm", Haig was in fact directing White House Crisis Management until Vice President Bush arrived in Washington to assume that role.
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State in that order, and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the Vice President, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.—Alexander Haig, Alexander Haig, autobiographical profile in TIME Magazine, April 2, 1984
The US Constitution, including both the presidential line of succession and the 25th Amendment, dictates what happens when a president is incapacitated. However, the holders of the two offices between the Vice President and the Secretary of State, the Speaker of the House (at the time, Tip O'Neill) and the President pro tempore of the Senate (at the time, Strom Thurmond), would be required under US law (3 U.S.C. § 19) to resign their positions in order for either of them to become acting President, an unlikely event. Considering that Vice President Bush was not immediately available, Haig's statement reflected political reality, if not necessarily legal reality. Haig later said,
I wasn't talking about transition. I was talking about the executive branch, who is running the government. That was the question asked. It was not, "Who is in line should the President die?"
"I had a dream that there would be military takeover and than the rapture"
I had a dream there was a military takeover in America.
I kept trying to tell my friend Brian [haven't seen him since like last year].
There was a bunch of people at a party in a very big white building. I don't think most listened or else they would have gotten out of that place. I kept trying to tell people. I feared it was too late. For I'm pretty sure a helicopter was coming in.
I kept trying to take a cat with me. Sometimes I seen a real cat and sometimes it was just the head of a plush cat [like how a child may tear the head off of a toy]. I think someone told me to give up on the cat and not to try to take it with me.
One time I remember a,I'm pretty sure a pink helicopter came by. Another time it was a black helicopter. I remember something about the word Chicago. There was some important guy with authority and for some reason people were in a vehicle [not sure if I was in there]. He was talking to them in the vehicle. That's around the time I seen the black helicopter.
I woke up in the dream [yet the dream still continued] and seen the time that it was close to 1:30 in the afternoon. Maybe like 17 after,not sure of exact time.
I remember there was women walking very big dogs [like Rottweiler's and dogs like them]. I think some had warnings on them. A woman got very upset and her dog was,too. I wasn't sure if the dog would attack. And another woman yelled at people down the sidewalk [they were across the street but down the sidewalk]. Not sure if it was only her that screamed about this or not. She said "If you feed your dog raw meat than you don't deserve to have a dog!".
The scene turned to the blue sky. I forget the first sound. But the next sound was really loud. And unfortunately I forget what it sounded like [I just know it was loud and unusual]. I know that was when the rapture was about to happen. I woke right after the 2nd sound.