A lot of years have passed since Reagan's second term. Many people who lived during those times are apt to forget the scandal that became known as Iran-Contra. And many Americans are unaware the role that Oliver North played in it.
Yet from time to time, you still see his aging face appearing on Fox News to give his opinions. For that reason, you should really understand the mindset of the man who, banking on the ignorance of the American public, claims to be a hero to his nation.
Furthering the Version
Reagan-myth worshipers would prefer to erase from the national conscious (and conscience) the embarrassing events of the final years of his second term, especially the entire Iran-Contra affair. It was, for a lot of people, a case of a Republican administration getting caught up in another humiliating scandal.
In many ways, the Iran-Contra affair went far beyond anything seen in the Watergate hearings. The threat of another Communist Cuba had preoccupied the Reagan administration. Those fears were stoked by the openly declared mission of the Nicaraguan Marxist regime to spread revolution throughout the region. The Reagan administration's policy was to arm and train right-wing insurgent militias called the Contras.
However, Congress wanted no part in the president's directive. All direct funding of this illegal insurgency was officially prohibited through the Boland Amendment -the name given to three U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, all aimed at limiting US government assistance to the Contras militants.
