A Secretary of State's blunder analyzed

By Anonymous

 By Caleb Newman

    The President of the United States is a part of what sociologist C. Wright Mills calls the power elite who are in charge of major institutions (Mills 1956:4). Furthermore, there is a ranking of the power elite (Mills 1956:18). In the video above, Al Haig, the Secretary of State, wrongly misinterpreted the presidential line of succession after then-President Ronald Regan was shot. There is a very clear list of who is supposed to succeed the President.

    Mills acknowledges that there is no definitive cutoff to who is elite and who is not. However, one would have to have a very high bar to not consider the Secretary of State (Mills 1956:18), a head of a bureaucratic agency, a part of the power elite. Mills defines the power elite as people who decide national events (Mills 1956:18), and the Secretary of State most certainly does that.

    Haig's infamous blunder also confirms Mills' three major keys to understanding the power elite. The first key is that the closer the orders are together, the more celebrity status the elite have (Mills 1956:19). Haig’s mess up has become famous because he was in the political order elite and claiming to be a part of the military order elite as Acting President. Secondly, Mills claims that the more orders the elites are in, the more power they have (Mills 1956:19). Because the US Government makes up part of the political and military order, the Acting President has a lot of power. Mills’ third key is that the elite’s interests are best served together (Mills 1956:20). Haig did acknowledge this as he said he would work with the Vice President if a conflict arose (TheBayAreaBee 2015:42 seconds to 46 seconds).




Sources

Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. New York: Oxford Press.

TheBayAreaBee. 2015. “I’m in Control Here.” From You-Tube. Retrieved April 21, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUKW0fL-OqY.




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