On this Day: Iran-Contra Scandal Breaks in a Lebanese Magazine

In late 1986, a political scandal erupted in Washington. Top officials in the administration of President Ronald Reagan were exposed for secretly violating American foreign and domestic policy. U.S. support of the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua was revealed to the public when the Nicaraguan Sandinista government shot down a U.S. supply plane on Oct. 5 and captured one of the crew members the following day.

A month later, on Nov. 3, a weekly Lebanese magazine broke the story of U.S. top secret arms sales to Iran. Weeks later, President Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese presented the American people with a memo written by Lt. Col. Oliver North specifying that a portion of the money made from the almost $48 million dollar arms sale to Iran was to be used to aid the Contras in Nicaragua.

Reagan also announced that National Security Adviser John Poindexter had resigned and National Security Council member Oliver North had been relieved of duty. In the following months, congressional hearings were held and the American media closely investigated the story in an attempt to find the truth.

In 1985, Iran was desperate for weapons in order to secure victory for their war with Iraq. The U.S. began to provide Iran with weapons, believing that their sign of goodwill would secure the release of American hostages being held in Tehran. The arms-for-hostages plan was extremely controversial because it contradicted President Reagan’s own policy not to negotiate with terrorists, as well as official U.S. policy not to sell weapons to Iran.

In Dec. 1983, Congress imposed a $24 million spending limit on the CIA’s aid to the Contras. Congress expected support of the Contras to cease once the funding expired, but the CIA passed the task of funding the Contras on to the NSC where it was led by Oliver North. Ignoring the congressional ban on funds to the Contras, North and other Reagan officials raised and solicited private funds in order to continue their support of the rebels. North was also a significant player in the arms sales to Iran, and helped channel the money from the sale to the Contra rebels.

Following the scandal, the Congressional Joint Investigative Committee held numerous hearings and the Tower Commission was formed to look into the Iran-Contra scandal. In Nov. 1987, the committee reported that although President Reagan was responsible for the conduct of his administration, there was no evidence that indicated he had knowledge of the controversy. In 1989, North was convicted for his role in the scandal and was found guilty of obstruction of justice and destroying government documents; his conviction was later overturned.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, who was vice president under Reagan at the time of the scandal, issued pardons to Elliott Abrams, Duane R. Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, Robert C. McFarlane and Caspar W. Weinberger. Bush justified the pardons by presenting the actions of those involved as taking “place within the larger cold war struggle.” He also said that the matter had been investigated in depth and granting pardons would not deprive the American people of necessary information.