Abstract
Really two scandals that flowed together, Iran-Contra was another power scandal. An analysis of the Iran portion of Iran-Contra—the illegal sale of arms to Iran to try to encourage the Iranians to help free US hostages held in the Middle-East—provides the clearest views of President Reagan’s potential involvement in this epic scandal. Once the sale of arms was made public, key figures around the President attempted to obscure and deflect Reagan’s participation by first blaming Israel and then by implicating staff members of the National Security Council. Featuring what was at most a partially deployed backfire, the management of Iran-Contra was largely driven by the complexity of the scandal itself and willingness of Reagan’s closest aides to protect the President from damage.
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Barberio, R.P. (2020). The Reagan Administration and Iran-Contra. In: Presidents and Political Scandal. The Evolving American Presidency. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45504-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45504-0_4
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