Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig Has Died

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who served Republican presidents and ran for the office himself, has died.

The Haig family says he died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from complications associated with an infection. He was 85.

Haig’s long and decorated military service launched the Washington career for which he became better known. But he never lived down his televised response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Hours after the shooting, then-Secretary of State Haig went before the cameras intending, he said later, to reassure Americans that the White House was functioning.

“As of now, I am in control here in the White House, pending the return of the vice president,” Haig said.