Sunday, April 23, 2017
Iran and the Contras
One of the crises Reagan had to deal with was the Iran-Contra Scandal. The Contras were a rebel group in Nicaragua that opposed the communist Sandinista government, and were backed by the Americans. Reagan and others wanted to help fund them, but Congress banned the government from sending help to the Contras. Over in Lebanon, terrorists funded by Iran were kidnapping Americans, spreading panic in the United States. After several unsuccessful attempts to free them, the hostages were suddenly let go. It was later found that someone in the United States government had illegally sold weapons to Iran in return for having the hostages let go. Since they couldn't use the illegal money in the United States, they decided to send it over to the Contras to help them out. Since both of these actions were illegal, it created a political storm where many questioned whether Reagan knew anything about the actions. They found the person who had committed the actions and found Reagan to be innocent, but until that point he was under a lot of pressure and doubt from the people.
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Thanks for clearing this up for me! It was a little confusing because of all the parties involved. I think even after some people saw Reagan as guilty, but the fear of another watergate and his popularity among Americans allowed him to escape the situation.It seems throughout his presidency Reagan manages to be relatively popular and nothing can stop his strong character and charisma. What other factors do you think contributed to Reagan not being pardoned for this crisis?
ReplyDeleteYou made a great point by describing how the U.S. made several unsuccessful attempts to free the hostages in Lebanon. Once you described how they were actually able to free the hostages, do you believe that the illegal actions were reasonable? Nothing else was working, so should there be such a burden for determining if the strategies were the most ideal?
ReplyDeleteDid Reagan make a smart move in denying his involvement in the scandal, or should he have admitted to it?
ReplyDeleteI think Reagan made a smart move in denying his involvement, because the person who really did it probably would not have had admitted to doing it if Reagan confessed. Do you think the "pressure and doubt" from the people decreased after they found out that Reagan was innocent?
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