Haig reflects on life, times

WASHINGTON -- Former Secretary of State and Supreme NATO Cmdr. Alexander M. Haig Jr. just turned 75 years old, and says he is convinced that longevity and activity are significantly linked.

"Probably the key to my long and satisfying life is that my work is still absorbing. I have stayed busy with an alert mind and have kept active in sports," he said. "Also, there is a deeper, spiritual side to me. I believe that God -- if we have faith in him -- connects with our souls as well as with our bodies."

A native of Philadelphia, Haig attended St. Matthias parochial grammar school in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., and St. Joseph's Preparatory School, a Jesuit institution. He graduated from Lower Merion High School.

Five days after he turned 9, he lost his father to cancer. It was the height of the Depression, and Haig, his sister Regina and brother Frank took odd jobs after school to support the family.

Haig's mother wanted him to become a lawyer -- like his father -- but he wanted to be a soldier. His sister became the attorney in the family. And his brother, a Jesuit priest in Baltimore, is also a nuclear physicist and former president of two colleges.

In 1944 while attending Notre Dame University, Haig realized his boyhood wish by receiving an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Three years later he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army and advanced through a variety of military assignments, including service in Japan, Korea, Europe and Vietnam.

In 1972 he was promoted to full general.

In his 31 years in the military, Haig commanded American soldiers in two wars. Among his decorations are the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism, presented to him by Gen. William Westmoreland; and the Purple Heart.

As deputy to National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger in the Nixon administration, Haig made 14 trips to Southeast Asia to negotiate the Vietnam cease-fire and the return of U.S. prisoners of war. He also coordinated President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972.

From May 1973 through August 1974, Haig was Nixon's chief of staff and observed from inside the White House the Watergate scandal and its constant crises. He is the only American now alive who played a key role in the resignations of an American president (Nixon) and vice president (Spiro Agnew).

After Nixon's resignation, Haig assisted with the transition to the Gerald R. Ford presidency and at year's end was appointed NATO commander. He was credited with rebuilding the NATO alliance at the height of the Cold War.

In May 1979 Haig rushed from NATO headquarters in Europe to his mother's deathbed in Princeton, N.J. With no time to change out of his uniform, he came to the hospital and rushed to her room still adorned with four stars on his shoulders and ribbons on his chest.

His mother's last words to her son were: "Alex, if you had only studied law, you might have made something of yourself."

The general, who holds a master's degree in international relations from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., was appointed the 59th secretary of state on Dec. 11, 1980, and began to set the tone for President Ronald Reagan's foreign policy.

But 18 months later he resigned over disagreements with the White House staff's handling of the Lebanon crisis, as well as internal bickering that he believed was harming the president's foreign policy.

Haig is particularly fond of a photograph showing him and Reagan smiling at each other at the administration's first Cabinet meeting. There is some irony in Reagan's inscription: "Dear Al -- Now, if the world will just let us stay this happy."

In the business world, Haig has been president of United Technologies Corp., and later built his own company, Worldwide Associates Inc.

His firm is active in international marketing and venture capital in the biomedical and telecommunications areas. He believes in global trade and free markets and is a strong advocate in maintaining American pre-eminence in high technology.

Besides being a founding director of America Online, he is a board member of a number of corporations, including MGM Grand Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

He has published two books: "Caveat: Realism, Reagan and Foreign Policy" (Macmillan, 1984), based on his three decades of experience at the highest levels of government; and "Inner Circles: How America Changed the World -- A Memoir" (Warner Books, 1992).

Haig continues to lecture on various subjects to business and student groups around the world. He also helped launch in Florida the Drug Free America Program, designed to deal with teenage drug abuse.

To mark his milestone birthday, Haig -- in an exclusive interview -- reflects on his early life, his White House and State Department years, and his military career.

FELDMAN: How do you feel about turning 75?

HAIG: I feel lucky that God has given me the chance to experience all that I have -- from war and peace to the highest levels of government. I'm grateful for the life I've had, and I'm optimistic and enthusiastic about what remains of my life.

Q: Does aging bother you?

A: Of course it does. I hate to think I won't be as active as I have been up till now. I am happiest when I am busy and involved, and I hope to stay this way as long as the good Lord keeps me warm and vertical.

Q: What keeps you looking fit and vigorous?

A: When I'm not traveling, I daily walk on the treadmill. I regularly play golf and tennis, and I lift weights.

Q: What are some of your regrets?

A: I regret being unable to terminate the war in Southeast Asia in a more satisfactory way or to influence successfully the manner in which we became involved. I tried to do so before we entered the war when I was a young officer working for the secretary and deputy secretaries of defense. At the time the national leadership did not recognize the assets at our disposal to bring the war to a successful conclusion. Or if they were, they were unwilling to accept the risks of applying this power to avoid the conflict in the first instance. Later, when I was deputy national security adviser -- because of the lack of public and legislative support -- then-President Nixon pursued a course that also failed to bring the war to a rapid conclusion.

Ultimately, as a result of the 1972 Christmas bombing, which I strongly recommended, a peace treaty was realized. The greatest tragedy of all was that Congress several months later voted a bombing halt throughout Southeast Asia, which deprived our government of the necessary sanctions to enforce the provisions of the peace treaty. Simultaneously, Congress gradually terminated essential support for the Saigon government, leaving the South essentially defenseless.

Q: What do you consider your most important achievement as President Nixon's chief of staff?

A: During the Watergate scandals, my most important responsibility was to do my best to keep the government functioning at a time of great chaos. Above all, it was necessary to preserve due process for our chief executive in that politically charged atmosphere and to attempt to bring an outcome that was consistent with the intent of our founding fathers. I believe that end was achieved.

Q: How do you now feel about President Nixon?

A: I worked very closely with him and have always viewed him as one of our most effective presidents despite the tragic outcome of his presidency. He was certainly the victim of many things that went beyond the important misjudgments associated with the Watergate scandals. For example, opposition to his lifetime of vigorous anti-communism and the consequences of his failure to end the Vietnam conflict as promptly and decisively as he might have done. He discussed that with me after he resigned as president, and said that he regretted not having taken a more forceful action at the outset of his presidency.

My greatest regret was my inability to convince him to come clean on Watergate matters. But with the ambiguities in the Watergate tapes, I remain convinced that Richard Nixon himself was unaware of many of the details of Watergate that were later attributed to him.

Q: Would you please put to rest the rumors that you were "Deep Throat"?

A: Sure. I was not "Deep Throat" and you were around the White House in those days and know that as a fact.

Q: How has your philosophy of life changed since you left government service?

A: It hasn't changed much. To me, government has always been serious business. Mistakes are always paid for, either today or in the future. So excellence in government is the essential aspect of a successful nation.

Q: In your view, what were your accomplishments as President Reagan's secretary of state?

A: My view was that the president's foreign policy must be active and coherent from the first day of his presidency. No president has the luxury of establishing priorities between the domestic and foreign areas.

During his first two years in the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan correctly established a new relationship and new policies toward the Soviet Union that made a major contribution to the systemic collapse of Marxist Leninism in the Soviet model. While this collapse was inevitable, due to the internal contradictions in the Soviet system itself, this new and more realistic relationship expedited the final collapse.

Q: As secretary of state, why did you often refer to yourself as the "Vicar of Foreign Policy"?

A: In hindsight, I wish I had not used that term. I borrowed it from Sen. Henry Jackson's (D-Wash.) lengthy subcommittee hearings on national security in the early 1960s. The term "vicar" was used during those hearings by Paul H. Nitze, then a high official in the State Department, who described the ideal Secretary of State as the "vicar of foreign policy." Critics misinterpreted the term to conclude that I was claiming control of foreign policy. "Vicar" describes a deputy or assistant to the person actually in charge. So while vicar was an appropriate descriptive term, it was misinterpreted.

Q: Do you view the U.S. as the world's only superpower?

A: While the United States is dominant in military power, in relative overall power, the U.S. supremacy has been on the decline. At the start of the Cold War, the U.S. represented nearly 50 percent of the world's gross national product. Today, we enjoy something closer to 20 percent. Americans should be conscious of the fact that what has been called the global village is precisely that. We are still the most important leader in the world, but this leadership must be exercised with the understanding that other centers of power are emerging and in historic terms will surely challenge our supremacy.

Q: Recently, there has been some controversy between President Clinton and the Congress on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. As chief of staff in the Nixon White House, were you involved in the development of this treaty, as well as the termination of testing in the state of Nevada?

A: I was involved in almost every issue touching on national security during that time. The ban on testing has been overcome by events since the treaty was signed. It is vital, in light of rogue state development of nuclear weapons that the U.S. keeps our deterrent reliable and upgraded. Unfortunately, synthetic and simulated tests are no longer adequate in the view of our most reliable experts, nor is compliance technologically assured.

Q: Because of the health damage created by past nuclear tests, would not Utah and Nevada residents resent testing again?

A: There do not have to be such health threats.

Q: Do you see any danger in transporting on our highways high-level nuclear waste across our nation to be dumped in Nevada?

A: In both cases, not if appropriate safeguards are in place.

Q: Let's turn to the Middle East.

A: The situation in the Mideast is complex and delicate. The key to the sovereignty of Lebanon is Syria. Israeli Prime Minister (Ehud) Barak is seeking to explore a potential solution to the Golan Heights problem, and hopefully, that will include discussions on the future of Lebanon.

I know Ehud Barak very well. He is an extremely bright man, but he is also tough. He is willing to take risks for peace, as did his mentor Yitzhak Rabin, but he has to do that in his own way, and in such a way that he is not jeopardizing the security of the people of Israel. So I believe that, at this juncture, the Clinton administration should not interfere with the Mideast peace process, other than to offer moral support for the effort.

Q: What are your views on further expansion of NATO?

A: As you know, NATO has been expanded to include Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland. It has not shut the door on additional admissions. But it's my personal view that they should be very limited, very selective and very carefully considered.

Q: Do you see a time when Russia would be invited to be a member of NATO?

A: In today's world, NATO still is our major defense against a potentially imperialistic Russia. That answers your question.

Q: How would you deal with the Russians in Chechnya?

A: By largely overlooking the crimes committed by the Russian military against innocent Chechnyan people, we are discouraging those elements in Russia who are seeking reform, democracy, and rule of law, and strengthening control by the corrupt autocrats.

Q: What are the most stunning changes in Japan since you served there some 50 years ago?

A: Japan's history since World War II has been an evolutionary process towards greater democracy. We can anticipate the continuation of this process provided that Japan and the U.S. maintain a strong and cordial partnership.

Q: Do you have any particular recollections about your days in Japan after World War II?

A: Fortunately, I had the opportunity of working with General Douglas MacArthur in Japan. At that time, my wife's father, Lt. Gen. Alonzo P. Fox, was deputy chief of staff in charge of rebuilding Japan's economy and its political process. That work was a remarkable success -- if one observes today's Japan.

Q: Which foreign leaders influenced you?

A: Winston Churchill was one. I am a student of history, and his writings have influenced me. His contributions in World War II are impressive. I am also an admirer of Britain's Margaret Thatcher, and worked closely with her in NATO and during the Falkland crisis.

Q: How do you want to be remembered?

A: I'd like to be regarded as a statesman, and I hope to be viewed as a man of integrity and principle who does what he thinks is right rather than what is simply convenient.

Q: Finally, if you could have one personal wish for your birthday, what would it be?

A: To be around for my next.

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