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Alexander Haig’s Fall from Grace. A highly decorated military leader and influential political figure, Alexander Haig’s career, which included such roles as Supreme Allied Commander to Europe (SACEUR) and Chief of Staff to Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, culminated with his appointment as President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of ...

On this day 37 years ago, following an assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan, Alexander Haig, serving secretary of the state, asserted that he was “in control” of the White House when, in fact, he was not. Haig’s comment caused such an uproar that it factored into his eventual resignation.

In an attempt to keep everyone calm, Al Haig, Reagan’s Secretary of State, committed a PR faux pas — and showed a glaring lapse in basic knowledge of the Constitution — by telling the press that he was in control while the President was in surgery.

Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. (December 2, 1924 – February 20, 2010) was a United States Army general and diplomat. He was the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan . He was also White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford .

While he was incapacitated in the hospital, Secretary of State Alexander Haig famously declared, “I am in control here.” He also told reporters, “Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president, and the secretary of state, in that order.…” Haig, however, was wrong; he was actually fourth in line.