ALEXANDER M. HAIG FILES, 1973-74

Alexander Haig first joined the White House staff in 1968 as an aide on the National Security Council staff to incoming national security assistant Henry Kissinger. He continued on the White House staff as an assistant to the president and chief of staff under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford until 1974, absent January-May 1973 when he served as Army Vice Chief of Staff at the Pentagon. In the spring of 1973 when revelations about the Watergate cover-up forced the resignations of two of President Nixon's closest aides, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Haig was brought back to the White House as chief of staff. Although originally intended to be on temporary appointment, Haig remained through the end of the Nixon administration and the transition period that followed. In September 1974 Haig left the White House for West Germany when President Ford appointed him Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe and Commander in Chief of American Forces in Europe. He remained as commander of NATO forces until 1979 when he retired from the Army to become president of United Technologies Corporation. Haig returned to Washington as Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, 1981-1982.

Haig's duties as chief of staff in the Ford administration primarily involved directing the flow of paperwork and people to and from the President. He met with the President daily to plan his schedule and discuss incoming staff memoranda and briefing papers. Haig also handled occasional administrative questions and often accompanied the President on trips. Donald Rumsfeld was appointed as Haig's replacement as chief of staff.

The Haig files are from two sources. One series is Haig's office file, which documents his duties as Ford's chief of staff from August 9, 1974 until he left in late September of that year. These memoranda, briefing papers, and schedule proposals are organized by name of the originating White House staff person, and many were annotated by Haig or the President. They are often photocopies of original items which had been returned to staff after annotation. Many of these staffers came to the White House during the Nixon Administration and left soon after Ford became President. Much of this series relates directly to various aspects of the transition: personnel, the selection of a new vice president, arrangements for Nixon's post-presidential life, and arrangements concerning the new president's schedule.

The second series is a file of routine personal correspondence which had been maintained by Central Files as a courtesy to General Haig, but which he left behind on his departure. The material dates from May 1973, when Haig became Nixon's chief of staff, to September 1974. Virtually all of this series is of a personal nature and includes requests for autographs, letters of congratulations and thanks for Haig's White House service and letters from personal friends. Occasionally, Haig's hand-drafted response is attached.

Related Materials (August 1985)
The files of Richard Cheney concern his work as Deputy Assistant and Assistant to the President for White House Operations. The Library has no collection of Donald Rumsfeld files covering his work in this position.