V o L u m e I : a d

wife Janet’s control and had to be removed from power. Under much U.S.

pressure, the British reluctantly agreed.

In February 1962, Jagan proposed a bill that would raise taxes and insti-

tute compulsory savings. The bill would have its greatest impact on urban

Afro-Guianese trade unionists and Portuguese businessmen. The labor unions

called a general strike centered in Georgetown, and many businesses locked

out those who refused to strike. Strikers were soon joined by the opposition

parties. Riots broke out on 16 February, which led to arson that burned much

of Georgetown’s commercial district. Jagan quickly withdrew the bill.

The following year, Jagan proposed a union recognition bill, which he

claimed was based on the New Deal’s Wagner Act, that would have given his

government effective control over the labor movement. Labor responded

with an eighty-day general strike that increased racial tensions and violence

but forced Jagan to withdraw the bill.

Both strikes received assistance from the American Federation of Labor

and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), with the AFL-CIO

providing approximately $1 million in strike relief in 1963. It was later

revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had provided the AFL-

CIO with the strike funding. It is unclear what role, if any, the CIA played in

the arson and violence and what role British intelligence played.

On 31 October 1963, the British announced that before British Guiana

could receive independence, there would be a final election, this time held

under proportional representation. The furious Jagan launched a sugar

workers’ recognition strike in February 1964 in an effort to take over that

industry, which primarily employed East Indians. Jagan called off the strike

after 161 increasingly violent days, which the British and U.S. governments

attributed to Cuban-trained East Indian youths and an Afro-Guianese ter-

rorist cell.

Although the PPP received 46 percent of the vote in the 7 December

1964 election, Burnham was elected prime minister as the head of a coali-

tion. On 26 May 1966, the British granted Guyana its independence. Burn-

ham quickly jettisoned his coalition partner, made himself president for life

in a series of rigged elections, and progressively moved to the autocratic

Left. While the U.S. government was unhappy with this turnabout, it con-

tinued to support Burnham and his successor, Desmond Hoyte, to keep

Jagan from power. Only with the Cold War’s end did the United States pres-

sure the Guyanese government to democratize. Jagan was elected president

in 1992.

Robert Anthony Waters  Jr.

See also

Americas; Bay of Pigs; Central Intelligence Agency; Cuba; Jagan, Cheddi; Kennedy,

John Fitzgerald

References

Jagan, Cheddi. The West on Trial: My Fight for Guyana’s Freedom. St. John’s, Antigua:

Hansib Caribbean, 1997.

882

Guyana

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Spinner, Thomas. A Political and Social History of Guyana, 1945–1983. Boulder, CO:

Westview, 1984.

See Dalai Lama

Gyatso, Tenzin

883

Gyatso, Tenzin

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U.S. Army general, U.S. secretary of state during 1981–1982, army vice chief

of staff during 1972–1973, and supreme commander of the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization (NATO) during 1974–1979. Born on 2 December 1924

in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Alexander Haig

attended Notre Dame University and subsequently graduated from the

United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1947. He

served on General Douglas MacArthur’s personal staff

in Japan after World War II and saw combat duty during

the Korean War. Haig received a master’s degree in inter-

national relations from Georgetown University in 1961.

Haig then served a tour at the Pentagon. During 1965–

1967, he served in the Vietnam War with the 1st Infantry

Division, rising to lieutenant colonel. He returned from

Vietnam to become deputy commandant at U.S. Military

Academy, West Point in 1968.

In 1969 Colonel Haig became military assistant to

National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. Advanced to

brigadier general in October 1969, Haig became deputy

assistant for national security affairs in 1970. Haig played

an important role in Vietnam War planning by participat-

ing in the decisions to carry out the secret bombing of

Cambodia. He was promoted to major general in March

1972.

In September 1972 President Richard M. Nixon ad-

vanced Haig to full general and appointed him army vice

chief of staff, bypassing 240 higher-ranking general offi-

cers and prompting considerable criticism by many who

regarded Haig as a yes-man for the president. Haig retired

from the military in 1973 to become White House chief of

staff to President Nixon. As such, Haig maintained stabil-

ity and helped organize a smooth transition after Nixon’s

August 1974 resignation.

Haig, Alexander Meigs, Jr.

885

Haig, Alexander

Meigs, Jr.

(1924–)

H

General Alexander Haig was supreme commander of

NATO forces and later U.S. secretary of state. (Defense

Visual Information Center)

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Haig resumed his military career in 1974 when President Gerald Ford

appointed him supreme allied commander of NATO forces in Europe. In

1979 Haig retired from the military again after disagreeing with President

Jimmy Carter’s policies toward the Soviet Union.

During the 1980 presidential campaign, Haig served as a foreign policy

advisor to Ronald Reagan. Appointed secretary of state, Haig served during

1981–1982. He advocated a firm stance against perceived threats posed by

the Soviet Union and was an early supporter of aid to guerrillas fighting the

Soviets in Afghanistan. After the 1981 assassination attempt on President

Reagan, Haig infamously and erroneously claimed that he was “in command

at the White House” in the absence of the vice president.

In 1982 Haig engaged in shuttle diplomacy to mediate the growing con-

flict between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands. It became

clear, however, that Haig was more sympathetic to the British cause, which

engendered bad feelings on the part of the Argentines. Haig’s abrasive man-

ner and mismanagement of the Falklands crisis forced his resignation on

25 June 1982. He established his own consulting firm after leaving govern-

ment service.

John David Rausch Jr.

See also

Falklands War; Ford, Gerald Rudolph; Kissinger, Henry; MacArthur, Douglas;

Nixon, Richard Milhous; North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Origins and For-

mation of; Vietnam War

References

Haig, Alexander. Caveat: Realism, Reagan, and Foreign Policy. New York: Macmillan,

1984.

Haig, Alexander, and Charles McCarry. Inner Circles: How America Changed the World;

A Memoir. New York: Warner Books, 1992.

Matlock, Jack F., Jr. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York: Ran-

dom House, 2004.

Morris, Roger. Haig. New York: Playboy Press, 1982.

Emperor of Ethiopia (also known as Abyssinia) during 1930–1974. Born at

Ejersagoro on 23 July 1892 as Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie’s father was Ras

Makonnen, a Coptic Christian and leading general and political figure. Tafari

was a grandnephew of Emperor Menelik II, who ruled during 1889–1913.

Selassie ascended the throne in April 1930. His royal name means

“Power of the Trinity” in Amharic. Selassie’s reign was marked by modern-

ization programs, the growth and development of the nation’s infrastructure,

and efforts at increasing the strength of the military.

Despite a valiant resistance effort, Selassie could not prevent the seven-

year occupation of his country by Italy beginning in 1935, during which time

886

Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia

After the 1981

assassination attempt

on President Reagan,

Haig infamously and

erroneously claimed

that he was “in

command at the

White House” in 

the absence of the

vice president.

Haile Selassie, 

Emperor of Ethiopia

(1892–1975)

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