Topic: W. Bush

The makeover was done while the first family was on vacation, and was completed in time for Obama's address to the nation on Iraq Tuesday evening, The New York Times reported.

Obama is likely to face some flak about the interior decorating, in light of the tough economic times, the Times said. The White House said the bills were being paid by the non-profit group, the White House Historical Association, through a contribution from the committee that paid for Obama's inauguration.

Obama declined to disclose the cost of the redo but said it was "in line" with what his predecessors spent.

Obama has opted for neutral tones, in contrast to the golds and yellows of the George W. Bush administration, the Times said. The new rug -- which replaces a rug with a sunburst motif designed by former first lady Laura Bush -- features the presidential seal surrounded by the following quotations:

"The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself," by President Franklin D. Roosevelt; "The Arc of the Moral Universe Is Long, But It Bends Towards Justice," by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; "Government of the People, By the People, For the People," by President Abraham Lincoln; "No Problem of Human Destiny Is Beyond Human Beings," by President John F. Kennedy; and "The Welfare of Each of Us Is Dependent Fundamentally Upon the Welfare of All of Us," by President Theodore Roosevelt.

BALTIMORE, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Retired Gen. Alexander Haig Jr., a top official to three U.S. presidents, died Saturday at age 85 at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, officials said.

Haig was admitted to Johns Hopkins Jan. 28 with an infection and died at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, hospital spokesman Gary Stephenson told CNN.

Haig, a four-star Army general, served as commander of NATO and secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, and in 1988 ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination. Haig also served as a senior adviser in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.

Haig gained notoriety in 1981 after President Reagan was shot and wounded and then Vice President George H.W. Bush was en route from Texas to Washington.

"As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president," Haig declared shortly after the shooting.

Haig was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia, and attended the University of Notre Dame for two years before transferring to the U.S. Military Academy in 1944. After graduation in 1947, he served in Japan and led combat units in Korea and in Vietnam.