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In private Haig can talk with force and clarity. In public he mangles the English language worse than any other high official since Eisenhower. Yet there is a hint of method to his search-and-destroy operation on syntax. His sister Regina, 58, a lawyer whose family nickname is Jean, reproached him once for emitting a "polysyllabic fog" and asked, "Why don't you speak in simple declarative sentences?" Haig replied with a smile, "Jean, did you ever think of the cost of making a mistake?"
Haig is a man of simple, clear ideas. His world view can be summed up in a phrase: the Russians are coming. A Roman Catholic upbringing and a long military career have bred in Haig a reverence for order, stability, playing by the rules; he speaks of those qualities with the passion other men reserve for romantic adventure. His ideas are a model of the consistency he urges in foreign policy. What he is saying today essentially is what tie said as NATO commander, and his private remarks follow the same line as his public comments.
Yet Haig is also a pragmatist. Associates say that he is flexible enough to abandon a policy that demonstrably is not working. Example: though no one has preached the need for a European military buildup louder or longer than Haig, he has conspicuously dropped the Carter Administration's demand that NATO countries increase their defense budgets at least 3% each year after adjustment for inflation. Haig's argument is that no single figure can measure the value of an ally's contribution. From his experience as NATO commander, he knew that nagging about the 3% figure only irritated friendly governments.
Nor is there much fear that Haig, for all his stern anti-Sovietism, will rush into rash adventure. Throughout his career, Haig has insisted on careful planning, weighing of risks and above all getting all the facts before making a decision.
After his retirement from the Army in June 1979, Haig spent a year as president of United Technologies Corp. Harry J. Gray, chairman of the giant conglomerate, was impressed by Haig's approach to business negotiations: "He immediately demanded everything factual on the case and did an intensive job of reading everything. Once he knew what the facts were, he made an assessment of the people involved. His approach was not to allow them to become polarized. He thought of something for the next meeting, anything that could be discussed. He was buying time, and I tell you Al Haig knows how to buy time and thus keep both parties interested in the negotiations." Haig does not blink if the facts turn out to be unpleasant, either. A year ago he suffered pain that was first diagnosed as indigestion. Suspicious, he kept pressing for further tests that eventually disclosed he needed triple-bypass heart surgery, from which he seems to have recovered fully.
The greatest doubt about Haig is whether he possesses the subtlety to appreciate the fine shadings of international politics. European allies, who praise Haig without reservation, say that as NATO commander, he showed a