<<Print>>

Former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig has died at the age of 85. Mr Haig had been admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on 28 January with complications associated with an infection, his family said. He was presidential adviser to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. President Ronald Reagan appointed him secretary of state. He famously said "I'm in charge here," after the attempted assassination of Mr Reagan. In fact, several other officials were ahead of him in the hierarchy. Mr Haig had ambitions for the highest office but few people took him seriously from then on as a presidential candidate. The four-star general and Nato supreme allied commander ran for president in 1988.Mr Haig was appointed White House chief of staff by President Nixon in 1973, and helped him prepare his impeachment defence in 1974.