Was Kept in Dark Like Shultz, Haig Says

Former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said Monday that he reacted with “anguish and nostalgia” to last week’s testimony by his successor, George P. Shultz, before the congressional committees investigating the Iran- contra affair.

“Most of what he described is what caused me to resign,” said Haig, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. In echoing Shultz’s testimony that he was kept in the dark on many important policies, Haig said that “I never knew who made . . . major decisions” in many instances.

Eligible for Federal Funds

Haig made his remarks in a speech to the National Press Club, in which he announced that his 4-month-old campaign has raised enough money to meet the requirements for federal matching funds. In addition, he used the forum to outline his philosophy on how the United States should conduct foreign policy.

“Foreign policy must have a clear, firm and central guiding hand,” said Haig, a former four-star Army general, “whether that hand is in the State Department, or in the White House or perhaps even elsewhere.”

Haig criticized the leadership style of the Reagan Administration, saying: “There’s too much hands off, too much delegation of authority. And it’s delegating to the wrong people--staffers, rather than confirmed Cabinet members. And that’s wrong.”

He argued that, although no Republicans had emerged unscathed from the Iran-contra hearings, the scandal will not be the main issue in the 1988 presidential election campaigns. Rather, he said, voters will focus on “what kind of leader they want across the table” from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Haig, who differed with President Reagan on several major foreign policy issues, resigned as secretary of state in 1982 after a series of fights with the White House staff. In a televised interview shortly after his resignation, Haig said Reagan had “pushed” him out of office.

He was succeeded by Shultz, who disclosed Thursday in the Iran-contra hearings that he had tendered his resignation three times in the last four years but that Reagan had refused to accept the offers.

Haig stopped short of criticizing Shultz for staying, saying: “I’m not going to gainsay his decision in that regard because I’m not familiar with the subjective pressures that only he experienced.”

In elaborating on comments he had made soon after the details of the Iran-contra affair emerged, Haig said that Israel had approached him three times--”twice directly and once indirectly”--during his 18-month term as secretary of state to approve shipments of U.S.-made arms to Iran. He said he turned down all three proposals.

Has Raised $500,000

On campaign matters, Haig said that his presidential committee has raised more than $500,000 and said his total fund raising since last year has been about $1.9 million, when the efforts of his political action committee are considered. He said he has now raised the required $5,000 in each of 20 states, in contributions of not more than $250, to enable him to qualify for federal matching funds.

Haig, who placed seventh among the Republican candidates in a New York Times/CBS News poll released over the weekend, announced the establishment of a national advisory panel for his campaign, composed mostly of business executives.