Alexander Haig was chief of staff to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, NATO’s supreme military commander and a longtime Republican hawk. He died Saturday in Baltimore at 85 from complications from an infection.

A bellicose adviser to presidents, Haig famously suggested the use of nuclear weapons as a warning to the Soviet Union, causing some to call him the “ultimate Cold War warrior.”

The BBC:

Former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig has died at the age of 85.

Mr Haig had been admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on 28 January with complications associated with an infection, his family said.

He was chief-of-staff to President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s.

Mr Haig was perhaps best known for his bungled response when President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, erroneously telling reporters he was “in control”.

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