Haig was tough, even on Santa Claus

By Globe Staff

Alexander Haig was no stranger to taking the hardheaded approach, even at a young age.

Haig's younger brother told the Globe in a 1988 profile that his brother, at about the age of 8, decided to prove to him that Santa Claus did not exist.

On Christmas Eve, the future four-star general, who died on Saturday, persuaded his brother to sneak down the hall of the family's suburban Philadelphia home and spy on their parents in the living room.

"So that was the beginning of Al's career in covert operations," Rev. Frank Haig quipped to the Globe.

Haig was running for president at the time. And he spoke frankly about the past controversies he'd been involved in to a group of senior citizens in Nashua.

"Some of you may have seen me in trouble over the years, with Watergate and the day the president was shot," Haig said, the Globe's John Ellement wrote. "But I'll tell you something, the candidate who's never done anything, never has any controversy around -- I'm not going to be that kind of candidate."