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Dr. Kissinger’s Tribute to General Haig

February 25, 2010 by admin | Filed Under In Memoriam, Nixon Administration figures, U.S. History, Vietnam 

At Time’s site today, Dr. Henry A. Kissinger writes about Gen. Alexander Haig’s passing:

Societies become rich through ingenuity and hard work. But they become great because they produce men and women who lift them beyond the moment. Alexander Haig, who served his country during turbulent times, was such a person. I recruited him for the National Security Council staff as my deputy. One of his principal tasks was to help end a war that President Richard Nixon had inherited and in which Al had fought. It proved a heartrending journey, especially for a soldier. But with typical skill and dedication, Al carried out the many vital missions entrusted to him, including the dual tasks of extricating America from war while preserving the nation’s honor.



Comments

2 Responses to “Dr. Kissinger’s Tribute to General Haig”

  1. DAVID PHILLIPS on February 27th, 2010 7:12 am

    For HAK – “THANK YOU”!

    Now if the N.A.R.A. Archivists “who stand in control” @ The Ronald W. Reagan Presidential Library [Simi Valley, CA] would finally(!) POST a comment in tribute to this great man, General Haig — then I would be grateful for that!

  2. MK on February 28th, 2010 4:09 pm

    Mr. Phillips, I’m curious. When Cyrus Vance died in 2002, did you appeal to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library to post a tribute to him? Had it done so, would you have held Vance in higher esteem than if it had not done so? That is, would it have altered your view of Vance at all? If so, why would a government run institution assessing a figure in a Democratic administration have affected your opinion of him?

    I didn’t vote for Carter, I voted for Ford. There are millions of Americans who have voted differently than I since I first cast a vote in 1972. And differently from you since whenever you first voted. I love our ability to think these things through in the U.S. When my parents lived under communism, they didn’t have that right. In the old USSR, you can bet the state run institutions would have been blaring praise of the dead and telling people what to think.

    I’m grateful that the presidential libraries don’t post tributes for two reasons. The first is because I feel it’s best for individual historians and voters to assess public figures on their own. The wonderful thing about living in a democratic nation such as the U.S. is that we don’t have the government telling us how we are supposed to view public figures such as Vance or Haig. As an historian, I’d hate to have Republicans telling me how to assess someone or Democrats telling me how to assess someone. Does that make me unusual? Do private citizens actually yearn for that? I rather doubt it. Each person can pick or choose, he or she is left to make up his own mind.

    The second is, I think a big man stands on his own. Look at Reagan. I think demanding tributes (like forcing National Airport to be renamed Reagan National Airport) was at worst silly and at best pointless. I voted for Reagan but I thought it was uncessary to force the name change for Reagan airport. It thought the way that was done actually diminished Reagan unnecessarily. it made it seem as if Reagan had done so little, he only could be boosted by plastering his name on stuff. I happen to think Reagan accomplished some good things in foreign policy although I regret that deficits ballooned during his term. Reagan was a big man, he could stand being assessed without having everything in sight named for him. A little goes a long way in that regard.

    However people view him, don’t most, including you, believe Haig was a big man, too, regardless of who writes up tributes about him? I don’t view Haig as weaker than othe Secretaries of State; I certainly don’t think he is diminished if a government run entity doesn’t put up a tribute for him, any more than not doing so would diminish Vance or any other former official.

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