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Despite evidence to the contrary: “It is not appropriate for the United States to make such a judgment at this time.” Bernard Weinraub, “President to Send an Envoy to Seek Views of Filipinos,” New York Times, Feb. 12, 1986.
“the election has effectively cost”: Reeves, President Reagan, p. 309.
“Ronald Reagan still had no intention”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 630.
“if it’s a duly elected government”: Donald Regan, quoted in Kessler, “Reagan and Philippine Reality.”
“The Marcos era has ended”: Philip Habib, quoted in Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 635.
“What we have here”: James Leach, quoted in Dale Russakoff, “The Philippines: Anatomy of a Looting,” Washington Post, Mar. 30, 1986.
“having stashed $400 million”: “Tracking Down Millions for Haiti,” New York Times, June 28, 1987.
“The Reagan administration deserves”: Newsday, Feb. 26, 1986.
Only hours after Marcos: David K. Shipler, “Reagan Asks $100 Million for Contras,” New York Times, Feb. 26, 1986.
“If the Sandinistas are allowed”: RR, blind-quoted in Reeves, President Reagan, p. 313.
Republican Henry Hyde led: “History is going to assign to you folks the role of pallbearers to democracy in Central America.” Evan Thomas, “Tough Tug of War,” Time, Mar. 31, 1986.
In response to the criticism: “Asked directly if they were supporting Communists, he said, ‘If so, inadvertently.’” Gerald M. Boyd, “Reagan Says the Choice Is Between Backing Him or Communists,” New York Times, Mar. 7, 1986.
“With the vote on Contra aid”: Editorial, Washington Post, Mar. 12, 1986.
“Republicans and Democrats went”: Kenneth Duberstein, interview with author, June 16, 2014.
“H—l of a way”: RR, diary entry, Mar. 20, 1986, Private Papers, RRPL.
“an outlaw regime”: RR, quoted in Thomas, “Tough Tug of War.”
He often cited: “Right and Left: Reagan Takes on Tyranny,” Time, Mar. 24, 1986.
In 1984 alone: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 677.
“The next time we have”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 8, 2014.
“We are ready to die”: Muammar Qaddafi, quoted in Rod Nordland et al., “Crossing the Line of Death,” Newsweek, Mar. 31, 1986.
Seventy-two Libyans were killed: Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 222.
The next day, Qaddafi sent: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 681; “That message . . . outlines operational plans for more than ten terrorist attacks.” U.S. intelligence officer, quoted in George J. Church, “Targeting Gaddafi,” Time, Apr. 21, 1986.
“causing maximum casualties”: Muammar Qaddafi, quoted in Church, “Targeting Gaddafi.”
“the crackpot in Tripoli”: AAL, p. 518.
He’d already sanctioned: John Poindexter, memo to RR, Aug. 14, 1986, advocating a plan that “combines real and illusionary events—through a disinformation program—with the basic goal of making Qaddafi think that there is a high degree of internal opposition to him within Libya.” Bob Woodward column, Washington Post, Oct. 2, 1986.
“a little psychological warfare”: George Shultz, quoted in Hedrick Smith, The Power Game: How Washington Works (New York: Ballantine Books, 1988), p. 448.
“We have unmistakable proof”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 8, 2014.
Reagan ordered an immediate military: “Reagan signed off on the bombing two weeks ahead of time.” James Kuhn, interview with author, Dec. 19, 2013; James Kuhn, interview with author, Oct. 1, 2014.
“We have five specific targets”: RR, diary entry, Apr. 9, 1986.
“We let the White House”: James Kuhn, interview with author, Oct. 1, 2014.
“the headquarters, terrorist facilities”: RR, televised speech, Apr. 14, 1986.
Qaddafi himself had not been: “He was not a direct target.” George Shultz, quoted in George J. Church, “Hitting the Source U.S. Bombers Strike At,” Time, Apr. 28, 1986.
“If he had been killed”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 8, 2014.
“The one that missed”: James Kuhn, interview with author, Dec. 19, 2013.
FORTY-ONE: BACK ON THE ROLLER COASTER
The primary objective was: “Following the meeting, he was told, the four surviving hostages . . . would be freed.” AAL, p. 520.
they noted a banner: Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus, Landslide: The Unmaking of the President, 1984–1988 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988), p. 231.
“I was convinced that”: Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Apr. 18, 2015.
“They’re just stringing us along”: Minutes of Tehran mission, taken by Howard Teicher, Report of the President’s Special Review Board (Tower Commission), Feb. 26, 1987, p. B-110; Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Apr. 18, 2015.
“It was a heartbreaking disappointment”: RR, diary entry, May 28, 1986, Private Papers, RRPL.
“It gives us hope”: RR, diary entry, July 27, 1986, Private Papers, RRPL.
“Back on the roller coaster”: RR, quoted in Richard Reeves, President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), p. 331.
“I’ve been passing blood”: RR, diary entry, July 28, 1986.
he was “falling apart”: Edmund Morris, Dutch (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 589.
“a kind of low-level”: George P. Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State, p. 725.
“mad as hell”: RR, diary entry, Sept. 7, 1986.
“I can give you”: White House Staff and Office files, Executive Secretariat, NSC, Head of State file, Box 40, USSR, General Secretarial Gorbachev, Sept. 5, 1986, RRPL.
Reagan was criticized: Editorial, “A Humiliation for the President,” San Diego Union, Sept. 30, 1986; “Justice is not served.” Washington Times, Sept. 30, 1986.
He consoled himself: “We’ll trade Zakharov but for Soviet dissidents.” RR, diary entry, Sept. 26, 1986.
“In the final analysis”: RR/AAl, p. 674.
“treating them as less”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 742.
“There has been no movement”: White House Staff and Office files, Executive Secretariat, NSC, Head of State file, Box 40, USSR, General Secretarial Gorbachev, Sept. 15, 1986, RRPL.
“I opt for Iceland”: RR, diary entry, Sept. 19, 1986, Private Papers, RRPL.
On Ed Meese’s advice: “I urged the president to nominate Rehnquist chief justice.” Edwin Meese, interview with author, Apr. 24, 2015.
“social judgments that ought better”: Antonin Scalia, quoted in Stuart Taylor Jr., “More Vigor for the Right,” New York Times, June 18, 1986.
He was more interested: “He also liked negotiation and considered himself quite a master of it.” Ken Adelman, Reagan at Reykjavik: Forty-Eight Hours That Ended the Cold War (New York: Broadside Books, 2014), p. 69; “He felt he had a great power of persuasion.” John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
At a final meeting: Lou Cannon, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), p. 764.
“He was awfully excited”: Adelman, Reagan at Reykjavik, p. 69.
categorically “Absolutely none”: RR, quoted in “Nicaragua Downs Plane and Survivor Implicates C.I.A.” New York Times, Oct. 12, 1986.
“That would be illegal”: Elliot Abrams, exchange with Robert Novak, quoted in Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 275.
“This whole thing”: Bill Casey, quoted in Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 287.
Joan Quigley had signed off: James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013.
Perhaps the rumors: “We heard rumors that Gorbachev would come to Reykjavik with a blitz of proposals.” Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 754.
“When you stop trying”: RR, quoted in Reeves, President Reagan, p. 340.
He consulted note cards: Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Memoirs (New York: Doubleday, 1995), p. 416.
“We believe the world wanted”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in Adelman, Reagan at Reykjavik, p. 93.
His approach was threefold: The proposals were contained in “Directives for the Foreign Ministers of the USSR and the USA to Prepare Agreements on Nuclear Disarmament,” a summary that Gorbachev had prepared for Reagan.
“Gorbachev indicated that”: Jack Matlock, notes, White House News Summary, Oct. 11, 1986, RRPL.
“This is the best Soviet”: Paul Nitze, quoted in Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 760.
“He’s got a lot of proposals”: Reeves, President Reagan, p. 344; “Reagan knew it would mean the end of SDI.” Richard Perle, interview with author, Apr. 24, 2015; “He was upset that Gorbachev wanted him to do away with SDI.” John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“We didn’t have a lot”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
The Russians were agreeable: “Akhromeyev was agreeable and thought we could get something done.” Richard Perle, interview with author, Apr. 24, 2015.
“If you accept this proposal”: Richard Perle, interview with author, Apr. 24, 2015.
“this is taking too long”: Donald T. Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), p. 349.
“Nancy would kill me”: Richard Perle, interview with author, Apr. 24, 2015; Adelman, Reagan at Reykjavik, p. 351; Jack Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (New York: Random House, 2004), p. 232.
“Perhaps she has something else”: Raisa Gorbachev, quoted in NR/MT, p. 345.
“Let’s do it!”: George Shultz, quoted in Reeves, President Reagan, p. 351.
“I have promised the American people”: RR, quoted in Adelman, Reagan at Reykjavik, p. 169.
“No statement!” he bristled: “I asked him if they’d be making a statement.” James Kuhn, interview with author, Nov. 20, 2013; Larry Speakes with Robert Pack, Speaking Out (New York: Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1988), p. 178.
His face was grim: “I was very disappointed—and very angry.” AAL, p. 679.
“We won’t be seeing”: Mikhail Gorbachev, quoted in Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 774.
“Goddammit!”: RR, quoted by George Shultz in Reeves, President Reagan, p 352.
“When one side suddenly springs”: Henry Kissinger, quoted in White House News Summary, Oct. 15, 1986, RRPL.
Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll: White House News Summary, Oct. 16, 1986, RRPL.
He attempted to convince: Gerald M. Boyd, “Reagan Asserts ‘Star Wars’ Plan Will Create Jobs and Better Life,” New York Times, Oct. 31, 1986.
FORTY-TWO: SNAKEBIT
Reagan aides expected the story: John Kifner, “American Is Freed After 19 Months as Beirut Captive,” New York Times, Nov. 3, 1986.
“this snake never died”: George P. Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph: My Years as Secretary of State (New York: Scribner, 1993), p. 784.
Its venom had leached out: William Drozdiak and Walter Pincus, “Americans Reportedly Detained, Then Ousted,” Washington Post, Nov. 5, 1986.
A follow-up report revealed: Walter Pincus, “Secret Talks with Iran Described,” Washington Post, Nov. 6, 1986.
responded, “No comment”: RR, quoted in news pool report, en route from Los Angeles to Andrews AFB, Nov. 4, 1986, LCA.
Rumors circulated that George Shultz: Walter Pincus, “Shultz Protested Iran Deal,” Washington Post, Nov. 7, 1986; Bernard Gwertzman, “Shultz Reaffirms His Opposition to Negotiations with Terrorists,” New York Times, Nov. 8, 1986.
“And Secretary Shultz supports”: RR, remarks in informal exchange with reporters, pool news report, Nov. 7, 1986, LCA.
“This has all the feel of Watergate”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 790.
“We were not in the loop”: George Bush, interview with David Broder, Washington Post, Sept. 6, 1987.
“The hell he wasn’t”: Robert McFarlane, interview with author, Apr. 18, 2015.
“We must say something”: Oval Office meeting, Nov. 10, 1986, Alton Keel notes, Vol. 14, Appendix B, Testimony, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, 1987, RRPL; Select Committee documents.
“We didn’t sell them”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, July 20, 2015.
an official statement: “Our policy of not making . . . ” New York Times, Nov. 11, 1986.
“a major foreign relations blunder”: Senator Robert Byrd, quoted in David Hoffman, “Reagan Denies Paying Ransom for Hostages,” Washington Post, Nov. 14, 1986.
In any case, leaders: Senator Patrick Leahy, quoted in David Hoffman, “Mission Meant to Aid Iran Factions, Reagan Says,” Washington Post, Nov. 13, 1986.
Subpoenas were already being discussed: “House Democratic Leader Jim Wright advised Chairman Lee Hamilton to issue subpoenas where subpoenas are called for.” George J. Church, “Unraveling Fiasco,” Time, Nov. 24, 1986, p. 21.
“There’d be heads on stakes”: Oliver North, quoted in Peter Wallison, interview, MCPA, Oct. 28, 2003, p. 85.
“a completely made-up story”: Peter Wallison, interview, MCPA, Oct. 28, 2003, p. 89.
John Poindexter subsequently advised: “The president is accepting John’s position on this, and he doesn’t want to disclose more than they’ve already disclosed.” Don Regan, quoted in Peter Wallison, interview, MCPA, Oct. 28, 2003, p. 85.
“The charge has been made”: “Remarks by President Reagan Regarding U.S.–Iranian Relations,” transcript, Nov. 13, 1986, Briefing ID: 17121, RRPL.
“less than the full story”: Church, “Unraveling Fiasco.”
“the arms may have included”: Hoffman, “Reagan Denies Paying Ransom.”
“Get the message out”: Richard Nixon, quoted in Jane Mayer and Doyle McManus, Landslide: The Unmaking of the President, 1984–1988 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988), p. 307.
An ABC News poll: Walter Pincus, “Reagan Ordered Casey to Keep Iran Mission from Congress,” Washington Post, Nov. 15, 1986; White House News Summary, Nov. 13, 1986, RRPL.
And George Shultz, under: Face the Nation, Nov. 16, 1986, CBS News, transcript, pp. 7–12; Office of the Press Secretary, RRPL.
“I don’t know what’s gotten”: Don Regan, quoted in Larry Speakes with Robert Pack, Speaking Out (New York: Chas. Scribner’s Sons, 1988), p. 292.
“Some of us are like”: Bernard Weinraub, “Criticism on Iran and Other Issues Put Reagan’s Aides on Defensive,” New York Times, Nov. 16, 1986.
Shultz’s “public pouting”: William Casey, memo to RR, Nov. 23, 1986, quoted in Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 837.
“I’m not firing anybody”: RR, quoted in New York Times, Nov. 25, 1985.
“for the first time”: AAL, p. 48.
“was about as bad”: Peter Wallison, interview, MCPA, p. 87.
Only a week earlier: “The information provided by Mr. Reagan did not seem to mesh with that issued earlier.” Bernard Gwertzman, “Confusion Over Iran,” New York Times, Nov. 20, 1986.
“The conflict of pretension”: Anthony Lewis, “Abroad at Home,” New York Times, Nov. 20, 1986.
“deceived and lied to”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 828.
“a long, tough discussion”: George Shultz, quoted in Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, p. 298.
“The President seemed puzzled”: Donald T. Regan, For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington (San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988), p. 37.
“He refused to recognize”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 832.
“The President is in the hands”: Abraham Sofaer, quoted in Ibid., p. 836.
An agitated Don Regan: When Poindexter told Regan that the written chr
onology was incorrect and he wanted it back, Regan said, “You mean you guys can’t get the story straight?” Donald Regan, interview, May 17, 1989, LCA, p. 17.
“getting his arms around”: Iran-Contra Affair Report, p. 305.
“make sure we have a coherent”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, July 20, 2015.
a “shredding party”: Oliver North to Robert McFarlane, Nov. 21, 1986, quoted in McFarlane testimony, Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, May 11, 1987.
“R.R. directed operation to proceed”: Oliver North, quoted in Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 327.
“Holy Jesus! Look at this”: William Bradford Reynolds, quoted in Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 333.
“$2 million will be used”: Oliver North, memo to John Poindexter, “Release of American Hostages in Beirut,” Apr. 4, 1986, Iran-Contra Affair Report, p. 225.
“It was like putting gasoline”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, July 20, 2015.
The “wily renegade”: Rochard Stengel, “Hard Fall for a Man of Action,” Time, Dec. 8, 1986.
“He said nothing about”: Ibid.
The closest he came: “Admiral Poindexter was the point of contact with the President.” Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 338.
“In theory, I knew the president”: John Poindexter, interview with author, Dec. 9, 2014.
“sitting on a nuclear bomb”: William Bradford Reynolds, quoted in Mayer and McManus, Landslide, p. 340.
“The phrase,” he recounted: Regan, For the Record, p. 37.
“horror, horror, horror”: Donald Regan, deposition , July 15, 1987.
“We’re facing a problem here”: Donald Regan, quoted in Peter Wallison, interview, MCPA, Oct. 28, 2003, p. 86; Peter J. Wallison, Ronald Reagan (Boulder, CO: Westview, 2003), p. 196.
“the headline version”: Edwin Meese, interview with author, July 20, 2015.
“Yes, I did”: Meese described the confrontation using stronger language, which Poindexter disputes. The description here combines their accounts: Edwin Meese, interview with author, July 20, 2015, and John Poindexter, email to author, Sept. 9, 2017.
“was in a steamy”: Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, p. 838.