The president's responsibility
"But as President, I cannot escape responsibility."
-Ronald Reagan, in his speech about the Iran-Contra Affair
President Ronald Reagan was ultimately held responsible for the outcome of the Iran-Contra affair. While at first denying he had a connection with the Iran-Contra Affair. Later, he admitted his responsibility as president for not monitoring the National Security Council.
"The Tower Commission's report concluded that the president had been inefficient in controlling the National Security Council, the agency that had actually made the illegal deals, and had known about the arms sale to the Iranians."
-US History
"Although laws had been broken, and Reagan's image suffered as a result of Iran-Contra, his popularity rebounded. In 1989 he left office with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt." -PBS
"I was that deniable link and I was supposed to be dropped like a hot rock when it call came down" Most of the NSC avoided charges due to the lack of information, and President H.W Bush pardoning some, Clines was the only Reagan official to actually serve time in jail. Key figures in the Iran-Contra Affair including North, McFarlene, Secord, and Hakim had to pay fines, do community service, and sentenced to probation.
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"Much of the cover-up ultimately failed, as documents escaped shredding and witnesses traded their statements for immunity. But special House and Senate committees acknowledged that because of the destroyed evidence, 'all of the facts may never be known.'"
-Chicago Tribune News
"Nevertheless, the ultimate responsibility for the events in the Iran-contra affair must rest with the President. If the President did not know what his national security advisers were doing, he should have. It is his responsibility to communicate unambiguously to his subordinates that they must keep him advised of important actions they take for the Administration." |
"The sale of arms to Iran was a ''significant anticipated intelligence activity.'' By law, such an activity must be reported to Congress ''in a timely fashion'' pursuant to Section 501 of the National Security Act. If the proposal to sell arms to Iran had been reported, the Senate and House Intelligence Committees would likely have joined Secretaries Shultz and Weinberger in objecting to this initiative. But Poindexter recommended - and the President decided - not to report the Iran initiative to Congress."
-The Iran-Contra Report