Haig said that after President Reagan was shot. The person in charge (acting president) would have been VP Bush, not Haig.
Yes, but Bush was not in DC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Haig#Reagan_assassination_attempt:_’I_am_in_control_here';
Haig was military at the time. The alarm was that the military had taken over the government.
Bush was missing in action, nobody could find him. So Haig said that to reassure the nation that we weren’t leaderless. It backfired on him, as dems quickly said “third in line is Speaker of the House! You’re a power mad dictator wannabe!”
But VP Bush was out of town that day.
Bush was out of touch and until he was back and connected, Haig was in charge.
Jeez, Haig said he was in charge at the white house, not in charge of the country. I heard it when first reported. It might have been from Haig himself. Its his military background.