Haig Takes the Offensive

Under attack by liberals, he angrily fights back

"Now, what do you expect me to say? What is it you're after?" demanded the witness as he glared angrily across the green baize-covered conference table at his questioner. It was the fourth day of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's confirmation hearings on Alexander Haig Jr., Ronald Reagan's nominee for Secretary of State. Until then the sessions had amounted to a scholarly seminar, with the Senators reading prepared questions and Haig coolly replying. But when Democrat Paul Sarbanes of Maryland tried to maneuver Haig, who was Richard Nixon's White House Chief of Staff during the final months of Watergate, into condemning his old boss's abuses of power, the witness stubbornly refused. Said Haig: "If everyone were to indulge in the option of refusing to serve in a unique period when our Republic was in danger, heaven help us all. I felt an obligation to do the best I could. And I did that."

Sarbanes continued to press Haig for a "value judgment" on Nixon's actions. Bristled Haig: "Mistakes were made. I didn't make them." When Sarbanes repeated his question, Haig, now leaning closely over the microphone and barely concealing his irritation, took the offensive: "Do you think I'm going to endorse what was done? In no way, on either side." Then, staring coldly at Sarbanes, Haig added slowly: "Nobody has a monopoly on virtue. Not even you, Senator."

At lunch, however, Haig apparently had second thoughts. He returned with a conciliatory statement denouncing the Watergate break-in and cover-up as "improper, illegal and immoral." But he refused to pass judgment on Nixon or Henry Kissinger. Said Haig: "I worked intimately for both of them. It's not for me--it's not in me--to render moral judgments on them. I must leave that to others, to history, and to God."

On the whole, it was a masterly performance, and grudgingly admired by one of Haig's critics on the committee, Liberal Democrat Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts. Said he: "You're going to dominate this Administration. You are by far the strongest personality that's going to be in there."

For the most part, last week's five other hearings on Reagan Cabinet nominees remained courteous.

Before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, Raymond Donovan, the prospective Secretary of Labor, stoutly rebutted charges that his New Jersey construction firm had funneled $13,000 in kickbacks to local politicians through a dummy company in 1967. He admitted his firm once hired a Teamster official's chauffeur as a "ghost employee" who received a salary but did no work. But Donovan insisted that he was forced to hire the man because of union rules and not to buy labor peace. Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah, however, suddenly postponed the committee's confirmation vote to investigate fresh allegations that Donovan had made payoffs to a Teamster official in the late 1960s. Donovan called the new accusations "absolutely groundless."

Except for Donovan, Reagan's Cabinet is expected to be quickly approved by the Senate this week. None faces strong opposition, including Haig. The 17-member Foreign Relations Committee voted to recommend his confirmation, with only Sarbanes and Tsongas dissenting, even though the committee did not receive logs of taped conversations between Haig and Nixon that had been subpoenaed from the National Archives. As anticipated, Nixon blocked the release of the materials by threatening a court challenge. The committee decided to continue to seek the logs and to reopen its inquiry into Haig later if necessary. That seems unlikely. Even Tsongas regarded last week's hearings as "our one shot" at investigating Haig's fitness for his new job. qed

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.