The Iran-Contra Scandal was a shocking and nefarious governmental affair which occurred during the executive administration of President Ronald Reagan. The affairs involved many people in the United States government and their dealings with other nations, and the congressional hearings which were held to expose the secrets and find the truth behind the scandal to determine who was involved and who would be deemed guilty of atrocious crimes (Vile).
President Reagan arranged a deal with Iran, secretly selling weapons to the Iranians for their ongoing war being fought against the nation of Iraq, in exchange for the American hostages who were being held by the Iranians (“The Iran-Contra Affair”). The United States’ relations with Iran were
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It was later found that the United States government had not received all of the money Iran had paid for the weapons which they had received (“The Iran-Contra Affair”). “While probing the question of the arms-for-hostages deal, Attorney General Edwin Meese discovered that only $12 million of the $30 million the Iranians reportedly paid had reached government coffers” (“The Iran-Contra Affair”). Lieutenant Colonel Oliver Laurence North of the United State’s National Security Council (NSC) had sent out a significantly large portion of the money from the Iranians to the Nicaraguan Contras, under the presumption that the President had approved of this act but without actually having received the direct approval of President Ronald Reagan (Fredriksen).
Prior to North sending money to the Nicaraguan Contras, Congress used one of their many constitutional powers, the power to manage foreign affairs, which allowed them to have control over the nation’s relationship with the Nicaraguan Contras, so they had written the Boland Agreement of 1984, in order to restrict the United States in their support for these Contras (Fredriksen). “Congress
The Hostage Crisis in the late 1970s was considered one of Carter’s biggest failures. More than 60 members of the United States Embassy were taken hostage in Tehran. Their capturers were mere Iranian Students who were able to keep them captive for 444 days ("Jimmy Carter", 2016). This event portrayed President Carter as inept (“Jimmy Carter”, 2009). He did not negotiate their release and the rescue attempt the government tried failed. A group of student had held American citizens for over a year and nothing much was done about it. This was one of the most undermining events of Carter’s Presidential career and an embarrassment to America (Fink, 2002). Carter’s private negotiations with Panama about the canal led to more mistrust of the American citizens. They thought he was going to simply give it away without thinking about the consequences for America. Once again he lost more respect and distrust from his country (“Jimmy Carter”,
Wikipedia, Hector Villalon and Christian Bourget began the initial negotiations for the release of the hostages. They “delivered a formal request to Panama for extradition of the Shah” which was "a pretext to cover secret negotiations to free the American hostages." This happened as the Soviets invaded Iran's neighbor Afghanistan an event America hoped would "illustrate the threat" of its superpower neighbor and need for better relations with the
The Iran Contra affair is historically defined as the “Reagan administration scandal that involved the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for its efforts to secure the release of hostages in Lebanon and the redirection of the proceeds of those sales to the Nicaraguan Contras.” As the Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries, known as the Contras, began their efforts to retaliate against the Socialist Sandinista Regime, American government forces stepped in to support the Contra cause in a hope to support the world-wide elimination of Communism. To understand the entire history of the scandal, many individuals, groups, policies, and deals must be researched and put together to tell the complete history of the Iran Contra affair.
The American public was so captivated by the Iran Hostage Crisis because they were blindsided by this radical action and their knowledge of America’s involvement in Iran was limited. The media played a major role in influencing their emotions and they already had trouble trusting the American government. This unknown involvement began in 1943 when President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin met in Tehran to discuss how to remove the British and Soviet military forces from Iran because Iran wanted to be its own nation. The United States aided the young Shah, the ruler of Iran, and his government with military weapons and loans. Over time, Prime Minister Mossadegh, of Iran, gained more and more power until he was the true ruler of Iran and the Shah was just a figurehead. The United States, fearing the spread of communism, devised a secret plan for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to over throw Prime Minister Mossadegh.
The United States history during 1977 to 1989 went through two presidencies and whirlwind of events happened. When President Jimmy Carter became president he wanted to lower the inflation rates to make life easier for the people of the United States. While that was his goal it got completely derailed. Near the end of Jimmy Carters presidency, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took people hostage. Over the course of the 444 days the hostages where held captive while the people of the United States voted for a new president to help lead them into a new direction. The people voted for Ronald Reagan. While he was president things didn’t go as he planned as well. The issues with Iran did not calm down and escalated to something bigger. After the Iran hostage crisis, the US had another issues with Iran and it was the Iran- Contra affair. During this essay I will be talking about the book called “Taken Hostage” by David Farber and the information in the book. The book is about the time frame of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the issues with Iran and the hostage crisis. The second half of my essay is towards President Ronald Reagan’s and the issues about the Iran- Contra affair and the lasting issues between Iran and the United states.
One of the significant events of Reagan that influenced public was Iran-Contra affair in 1986, which the United States was found guilty by the International Court of Justice of war crimes against Nicaragua. As a result, Reagan’s popularity slipped from 67 percent to 46 percent in less than a week (Mayer). By the time, it was the low point of the Reagan presidency (157, Ehrman) Add to this situation, the failure of space program led to negative ethos of Reagan in public’s mind. President Reagan understood this situation and tried to calm the hostilities by delivering the speech sincerely.
Which followed through to Ford’s Administration and the Carter Administration. As well as the illegal bombing of Cambodia. Carter gets harassed about his evidence of his failed foreign policy because of the Iranian Hostage crisis, which was not handled well, and the credit for the solution belonged to Reagan.
The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.
in 1985 that the U.S. might sell arms to Iran through Israel with the goal of releasing American hostages held in Lebanon by Iranian groups (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). The arms would be used to aid Iran in their ongoing war against Iraq (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Robert McFarlane, a national security advisor who brought the suggestion to President Reagan, believed that the deal would improve U.S.-Iran relations, in addition to Lebanese relations, thus giving the U.S. needed influence in the Middle East (Wolf PBS.org). However, several advisors to Reagan questioned the legality of such an act, as both U.S. policy, prohibiting straight arms-for-hostage swaps, and the embargo on arms to Iran, the Arms Export Control Act, condemned that course of action. (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Though his advisors Caspar Weinberger (Secretary of Defense) and George Shultz (Secretary of State) opposed the sales, President Reagan listened to McFarlane (National Security Advisor) and William Casey (CIA director) and went through with the plan, but Reagan never actually signed the plan or reported it to Congress, as required by law (“The Iran-Contra Report” Presidency.UCSB.edu). Thus, Reagan could later claim that he had no knowledge of the arms sales, as it was never formalized. Control of this operation was given to the National Security Council, which was also conducting aid operations to the contras (“The Iran-Contra
Who is Oliver North, and how was he involved in the Iran-Contra Scandal? Was he ever held accountable for his actions?
During the time of the Cold War, many people lived in fear of communism and terrorism. In 1983, several Americans were taken hostage in Lebanon by a terrorist group. This terrorist group was loyal to Iran, so President Ronald Reagan stated he was against Iran. In addition, he told American allies not to sell weapons to Iran which would help them in their war with Iraq. Reagan proved to be against Iran, however, in 1986 President Reagan allowed the selling of weapons to Iran. By the selling of these arms, America would have the seven hostages in Lebanon returned. Then, members of President Reagan’s staff gave some of the money from these sales to Contras in Nicaragua. After several investigations, it was seen that there was a scandal
Nevertheless, there were still loopholes and various ways for the US to support the Contras. Mainly through the contributions of third-party funds and private actors, the US supported the Contras. Next, Congress passed the Second Boland Amendment which barred the CIA, Department of Defense, or any other US agencies to be used to support the Contras in Nicaragua. Once again, there were multiple loopholes for the Reagan administration to use in Nicaragua. The loopholes were the use of third-party funds and private donors while also using the National Security Council. The National Security Council is the President’s personal group that he can use when considering national security and was not subject to the Boland Amendments. The leaders of the National Security Council during the Iran-Contra affair were John Poindexter and Robert McFarlane. Within this National Security Council, third party funds were used for arms deals, air supply operations, and intelligence support while also using the CIA only as an intelligence provider for the Contras. Over time, Congress then loosened its opinion on Contra funding and began to provide funding to the Contras for humanitarian assistance while also allowing the State Department to solicit funds. This also led to the CIA being allowed to provide training to the Contra rebels. This whole portion of the Iran-Contra affair was
A solution to the Nicaraguan problem seemed more difficult to solve, Reagan wanted desperately to help the “contras” but was mandated by congress to stay out of the affair. His advisors secretly proposed a way to kill two birds with one stone, a decision that came to be referred to as Ronald Reagan’s black mark on his almost spotless record on foreign policy. The U.S would sale weapons to Iran in return for hostages taken by Muslim Jihadist in Lebanon, and with the money Iran paid those weapons with the U.S would direct that money to the contras fighting the Sandinistas. While the reasons for the trade were honorable and the president was following the American policy of communist containment at the time, it was still nonetheless illegal and badly battered Reagan’s reputation.
In 1985, Iran contacted the United States and secretly asked them for a weapons deal. Iran was currently at war with Iraq. Robert McFarlane, asked President Reagan for approval, as congress had put an embargo against Iran. McFarlane showed that relations between both countries would not only improve, but would also increase influence in the middle east. This wasn't why Reagan wanted though. Reagan wanted to bring 7 American hostages from Iranian terrorists. Both McFarlane's suggestion and Reagan’s thought, were against President Reagan’s campaign. He was known for his honesty, so he didn't tell the
The years between 1965 and 1967 were of a critical point for U.S.-Iranian relations. The Vietnam War and relations with the Soviet Union was often the issue that experts focused on during this time and during Johnson’s administration. The foreign policies regarding Iran were often overlooked. The preoccupation with Southeast Asia and the Soviet Union led the U.S. to neglect their relations with the very same allies that they were trying to maintain credibility with, most especially Iran.