36 THE END OF THE COLD WAR
forces.^6 Unlike several other leading officials, he was cautious about
the way he approached the USSR. His sharp intellect ranged over
many external and internal problems. Physically fit and military in
bearing, he behaved like a commander in every office he held.
Reagan soon found him hot to handle. He admired Haig’s capacity
to analyse complex international situations, and Haig was quietly in
favour of lessening the tensions with the USSR; but his rhetoric did
not always convey this message. He was firmly anti-Soviet and left
Moscow in no doubt that Soviet activity in Angola, Ethiopia, Cambo-
dia, Afghanistan, Cuba and Libya was an impediment to an improved
relationship with Washington.^7 But his imperious ill-temper damaged
his effectiveness at the State Department. Reagan scratched his head
about Haig’s inability to get on with anyone in the administration –
the frequent tirades struck the President as ‘paranoid’.^8 Haig implicitly
wanted to control all foreign policy. He underestimated Reagan, who
was outwardly charming but had a titanium core. When Haig objected
to his ideas, the President told him with firmness: ‘Well, we’re not
going to do it some other way.’ Haig was sent scurrying with the order:
‘Well, you just go and work it out.’^9
Matters climaxed over Haig’s behaviour while Reagan was in
hospital after the assassination attempt. On hearing of the shooting,
Haig brashly claimed that he was in charge. He wanted Americans to
know that a strong hand remained on the levers of power; speaking on
national TV, he announced: ‘I am in control here.’ Others in the
administration thought this crazed and power-hungry. Reagan, as he
recovered, came to the same conclusion. His officials advised him to
fire Haig before he could do any more damage. This was something
that the President always found it hard to do. He hated personal
conflict. But he ceased to show much enthusiasm for Haig, and this
was enough to dent the Secretary of State’s pride. He resigned office on
5 July 1982. Reagan was caustic: ‘Actually the only disagreement was
over whether I made policy or the Secretary of State did.’^10
After his mistake with Haig, Reagan was circumspect in going
about the recruitment of a successor. His choice fell upon George
Shultz, who had served under Richard Nixon as Secretary of the
Treasury. Shultz accepted the invitation. His friend Henry Kissinger
was caustic: ‘George has no knowledge of foreign policy, none at all;
worse than that, he has no feel for it.’^11 He differed from Haig in recog-
nizing that one man and one man only was President. The new
Secretary of State could be gruff and blunt but his manner disguised