[squidly]

Your college prof was quite correct. Not only was HW Bush out of town, but a couple of FBI agents had taken the nuclear football off to "safekeeping," and nobody knew where they had gone. They showed up with it later that day, after Bush got to DC.

Long story short: For a few hours there, we could not have retaliated against a Soviet (or any other) nuclear attack. Haig was of course a hawkish career cold warrior whom the Soviets knew well. He was the sensible choice to do what he did. Shame that he got so much ridicule for it. Took one for the team, you could say. Which I'm sure didn't bother him much at all, as he is as great a patriot as any who ever lived. He's one of those guys to whom the words duty and honor actually mean something.

[DemforBush]

Thanks for the info. My prof was very knowledgeable on these sorts of things - he was a military historian with 20 years in the Air Force to boot. I took every class I could get with him.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I worked for General Haig during his short-lived campaign for president in 1987. You are both correct.