Aide reveals White House drama after Reagan shot

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Shocked and tense White House aides grappled with possible Soviet threats, nuclear secrets and questions over the constitutional line of succession in the moments after President Reagan was shot, according to a new account of the dramatic deliberations immediately after the 1981 assassination attempt.

VIDEO CNN's Charles Bierbauer reports on confusion, tension, when Reagan was shot Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Hear the tapes Former National Security Adviser Richard Allen recorded after Reagan was shot Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     RESOURCES The Atlantic Monthly: The Day Reagan Was Shot

Secretary of State Alexander Haig's infamous and constitutionally incorrect declaration to the press -- "As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president" -- came after he had asserted his authority in a closed-door meeting of some of the president's top advisers.

That meeting was recorded by Richard Allen, the national security adviser at the time, who released a transcript of the recordings and wrote a story about the meeting in the April issue of The Atlantic Monthly magazine.

Allen also revealed that initial assessments by the Pentagon determined that more Soviet submarines than usual were off the East Coast and that U.S. defense forces were put on standby alert.

Allen wrote that he, Haig, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Attorney General William French Smith, Transportation Secretary Drew Lewis and White House staffer David Gergen were among the advisers who gathered in the Situation Room in the White House basement to discuss what to do.

Allen said tape recorders were usually not allowed in the conference area of the Situation Room. "On this occasion, however, I considered a recording to be absolutely essential in order to preserve an indisputable record," Allen wrote, adding that the recorder was placed in the center of the table and the taping was not done surreptitiously.

Early on, according to the transcript, Haig made it clear that he felt he was in charge. He told staffers to "get the football over here," a reference to the briefcase, always at the president's side, containing the nuclear release-code sequences.

"We'll be on a straight line from the hospital," Haig told the group. "So anything that is said, before it's said, we'll discuss at this table ... and any telephone calls that anybody is getting with instructions from the hospital come to this table first [raising voice] ... RIGHT HERE! And we discuss it and know what's going on."

Later, Haig was even more explicit about his view that he was running the show.

Told that Reagan was on the operating table, Haig, declared, "So the ... the helm is right here. And that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here."

Vice President George Bush, father of the current president, was in an airplane over Texas flying back to Washington.

But Haig was wrong about the constitutional line of succession. After the vice president, the speaker of the House is next in line for the presidency, followed by the Senate president pro tempore.

"The other Cabinet members and senior staff knew better," Allen wrote. "There were three others ahead of Haig in the constitutional succession. But Haig's demeanor signaled that he might be ready for a quarrel, and there was no point in provoking one. In any event, Weinberger had the military command authority."

Haig later rushed out to the pressroom when he believed that press secretary Larry Speakes was not handling reporters' questions well. After asserting his authority to reporters, Haig also said that "absolutely no alert measures ... are necessary at this time or contemplated."

Back in the Situation Room, Weinberger noted that U.S. forces were put on standby.

"I'm not a liar," Haig said. "I said there had been no increased alert."

Weinberger said there had indeed been "an increased degree of alertness," although the formal classification did not change.

"I think we could have done a little better," Weinberger told Haig.

Overall, Allen wrote that even with the "brief flare-ups and distractions," he felt the crisis management team "worked well together."

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