RIP, Alexander Haig

His distinguished career will likely be boiled down to soundbites from March 30, 1981, when he stepped forward to say he was in charge after President Reagan was shot.

Rest in peace, General.

Former secretary of state and presidential adviser Alexander Haig has died, his family said.

Haig, 85, had been admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

The four-star general served as a top adviser to three presidents and had presidential ambitions of his own. President Richard Nixon appointed him White House chief of staff in 1973. In that role, Haig helped the president prepare his impeachment defense and handled many of the day-to-day decisions normally made by the chief executive.

Haig later served as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan.

Update: Sure enough, AP predictably recounts that day 29 years ago. You'd think the man had no other accomplishments.

Haig’s long and decorated military service launched the Washington career for which he became better known. But he never lived down his televised response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

Of course he never lived it down. The media wouldn't allow him to.