Word: haig
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...worries that Reagan's simplistic East-West world view would never translate into a coherent foreign policy. Compounding the problem were conflicting statements from Washington on sensitive nuclear policy issues. Hawkishly, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger announced that the U.S. would build a neutron warhead; Secretary of State Alexander Haig immediately noted that no decision had been made to deploy it. Reagan mused aloud to a group of newspaper editors at the White House about a possibility that Western allies dread: a limited nuclear war fought on European territory. Said he: "I could see where you could have the exchange...
Under pressure from the Europeans, and largely at Haig's urging, the Administration agreed in May to resume INF talks by the end of the year. But Reagan's men had trouble deciding on a bargaining strategy. Weinberger and his Pentagon colleagues tended to favor the zero option. They maintained that it would be the best way to please the Europeans and put the Soviets in a bind. Haig, however, argued that the zero option would both raise false hopes in Europe and hinder serious arms-limitation negotiations with Moscow...
...Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle drafted a version of the proposal; State Department opposition lessened as it became clear that the volatile new mood in Europe made an attention-grabbing offer more important than staking out a bargaining position that would be credible to the Soviets. Haig, Eagleburger and other State officials successfully argued that the U.S. should remain flexible in its approach and that the President's speech be as conciliatory as possible...
...grave doubts about the administration's economic program even as he was publicly advocating it--hurts both Stockman and the President a great deal. And they came at a particularly inopportune time for this suddenly floundering presidency. There has been vicious infighting between Secretary of State Alexander Haig and National Security Advisor Richard Allen. Haig and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger Jr. '38 can't agree on whether or not NATO plans include a nuclear "warning shot" at the Soviet Union. And the president himself appears to be ignorant about major issues when confront sans note cards at press conferences...
...problem of the press has been very much on the President's mind of late. At Haig's urging, Reagan even telephoned Columnist Jack Anderson from Camp David to persuade him to withdraw a report that the Secretary of State had "one foot on a banana peel." At times Reagan denied there was dissension in his Administration ("Sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing as an unnamed source"). But of course it was Haig himself, and not a reporter, who said Haig had been subjected to nine months of "guerrilla warfare" from inside the White House...