Reagan Administrations

The Iran-contra scandal of the 1980’s, first brought to light in November 1986, is a complicated mess of scandal, arms dealings, hostage deals, and illegal acts (“Iran-Contra Affair” Infoplease.com). The original purpose of the arms sales was to improve United States-Iran relations (Sanders SNU.edu). However, when American hostages were taken throughout the 1980’s, members of President Reagan’s staff negotiated implicit deals with Iranian groups, which resulted in the U.S. selling arms in return for the release of hostages (Wolf PBS.org). Later, the deal was modified so that the U.S. sold arms directly to Iran at a high markup, with no guarantee of hostages being released, and the markup funding the contras in Nicaragua (“The

This essay will focus on the Reagan Administration which spanned from January 1981 to January 1989. When Reagan became President, he had only one clear, defined foreign policy goal – containment of the Soviet Union, or the “evil empire” as he referred to it. He primarily wanted to stop the USSR from growing larger and to keep other non-Communist countries from becoming Communist. In the past, American presidents had used a theory called the “Domino Theory” to justify the need for intervention around

The United States history during 1977 to 1989 went through two presidencies and whirlwind of events happened. When President Jimmy Carter became president he wanted to lower the inflation rates to make life easier for the people of the United States. While that was his goal it got completely derailed. Near the end of Jimmy Carters presidency, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S Embassy in Tehran and took people hostage. Over the course of the 444 days the hostages where held captive while the people of the United States voted for a new president to help lead them into a new direction. The people voted for Ronald Reagan. While he was president things didn’t go as he planned as well. The issues with Iran did not calm down and escalated to something bigger. After the Iran hostage crisis, the US had another issues with Iran and it was the Iran- Contra affair. During this essay I will be talking about the book called “Taken Hostage” by David Farber and the information in the book. The book is about the time frame of Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the issues with Iran and the hostage crisis. The second half of my essay is towards President Ronald Reagan’s and the issues about the Iran- Contra affair and the lasting issues between Iran and the United states.

A brief background before the iran contra affair is set in reagan's presidency who supported a group an anti communist group in nicaragua and gave weapons to iranian terrorists but things were already brewing before this that led up to this point during reagan's presidency he was all for the people and believed in lower taxes and tried to make the economy better so that way we could get out of debt but the iran contra affair was us secret arms deal that traded missiles to free americans that were held hostage by terrorists in lebanon which was a political scandals but also had economic and social issues

After tensions with the Soviet Union group Reagan's inauguration became a symbol of a rightward shift in American politics due to the apprehension towards communism. Early in Reagans presidency, he openly endorsing right-wing Rebel groups in Nicaragua called Contras. The Contras would allow the U.S. Open Access to Nicaragua which will serve as a launching pad for the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. However due to a news articles on the U.S intervention in Nicaragua, representative Edward Boland decided to propose an amendment that restricted the money flow to Nicaragua. After several revisions of the amendment, money was completely cut off to the Nicaraguan Contras and it was made impossible for the U.S. to legally intervene. The Boland Amendment was one of many steps made to separate the United States from world affairs until trouble began in the Middle East during the Lebanese Civil War. After the kidnapping of 52 hostages the U.S.'s relationship with Iran was severely severed. Most of the kidnappings were by Hezbollah Terrorist who hope to gain political Leverage after Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. These terrorists decided to strategically let go of several hostages they had in order to gain favor from Reagan. Unfortunately, Ronald Reagan refused to negotiate with them even after they offered up the American hostages they were holding. Ronald Reagan then launched Operation Staunch. This operation became an enforced arms embargo on Iran in 1983 that was encouraged worldwide. Reagan was hoping that this embargo would stop the conflict between Iraq and Iran and would also help decrease the amount of Hostage situations despite the numerous efforts to relieve countries from U.S.

During a time of terrifying darkness, a time of rising hostility, there stood two giants, menacingly staring down the other. One giant in the eastern hemisphere, named the USSR, and the other giant in the western hemisphere, the United States of America. As the two stared each other down, reaching closer and closer to war, a man stood up; determined to make the world a better place. This man spoke out against the USSR and the vices within the United States. This man was Ronald Reagan, the leader of the United States. With the fervor and duty of a leader, he climbed on top of the American giant, armed with diligence and the will of his people. On top, he began his speech against the Soviet Union, driving passion

One of the significant events of Reagan that influenced public was Iran-Contra affair in 1986, which the United States was found guilty by the International Court of Justice of war crimes against Nicaragua. As a result, Reagan’s popularity slipped from 67 percent to 46 percent in less than a week (Mayer). By the time, it was the low point of the Reagan presidency (157, Ehrman) Add to this situation, the failure of space program led to negative ethos of Reagan in public’s mind. President Reagan understood this situation and tried to calm the hostilities by delivering the speech sincerely.

Which followed through to Ford’s Administration and the Carter Administration. As well as the illegal bombing of Cambodia. Carter gets harassed about his evidence of his failed foreign policy because of the Iranian Hostage crisis, which was not handled well, and the credit for the solution belonged to Reagan.

To begin, Congress, by fair vote, decided in the 1980s that the United States should not assist the contras fighting the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua (Corn 2006). Yet, the Reagan White House concocted several imaginative ways to pull an end-run around democracy (Corn 2006). Reagan’s decisions such as selling weapons to Iran were made with the knowledge that he would not suffer a decline in presidential approval. Thus, Reagan took various steps that were violations of law that not only involved himself, but members of the CIA. By 1986, two big revelations happened that caused this scandal to abrupt publically. The first was the shoot-down of a cargo plane over Nicaragua and the admission by the sole survivor that the plane had been delivering arms to the Contras against congressional restrictions (Kornbluh 2011). The second, revelation was the news story of Lebanon that stated

Upon taking office in 1980, Reagan issued a massive build up of the American military, and generally adapted a more confrontational policy towards the Soviet Union (which he referred to as an "evil Empire" in a 1983 speech) than had been adapted by his predecessors in the White House. This policy is ultimately credited with helping speed the economic collapse and opening of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, which ultimately led to the breakup of the former USSR under the first President Bush. However, Reagan's policy included provisions for providing covert support for anti-Communist resistance activities around the world, including giving weapons and arms to Mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan, some of whom led Afghan and Taliban resistance to the US invasion of Afghanistan a two decades later in the 2000s. Perhaps the biggest scandal of Reagan's presidency also resulted from this policy, as the CIA violated American law by selling guns and weapons to Iran to fund the "Contra" rebels in Nicaragua, an episode that became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.

The lies in Iran-Contra kept getting deeper and deeper, and Reagan and his administration refused to give up their fight. But, they would never be able to keep such an intricate web of lies from being exposed. They had already been in direct violation of the Boland amendment, which prohibited aid to Nicaraguan rightists. As word leaked out about North's role in the operation, North and others lied under oath, adding perjury and obstruction of justice to their other crimes.

Leading up to the election of 1980, the United States was facing many difficult situations in the nation and abroad. These potentially catastrophic situations consisted of a cold war with the Soviet Union, communism and socialism spreading throughout the world, and the United States economy heading towards another Great Depression. The combination of these three crisis’s caused a national panic in the homes of all citizens. A growing distrust in the government erupted throughout the country and the nation was truly split. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 it became his goal to extinguish these catastrophes and to return America back to normalcy. Reagan believed a strong bond of trust between civilian

The Iranian hostage crisis was one of the most dramatic events in a series of problems that took place during President Jimmy Carter’s term. The crisis, beginning in November of 1979, received the most coverage of any major event since World War II. It was one of many problems faced in light of the United State’s complex relationship with Iran. The effects on both the US and Iran were astronomical, especially politically as well as economically and socially. It took a heavy toll on American relations with the Middle East and changed the way we engage in foreign affairs. In light of this crisis, Iran started an international war that we are still fighting thirty-two years later.

A solution to the Nicaraguan problem seemed more difficult to solve, Reagan wanted desperately to help the “contras” but was mandated by congress to stay out of the affair. His advisors secretly proposed a way to kill two birds with one stone, a decision that came to be referred to as Ronald Reagan’s black mark on his almost spotless record on foreign policy. The U.S would sale weapons to Iran in return for hostages taken by Muslim Jihadist in Lebanon, and with the money Iran paid those weapons with the U.S would direct that money to the contras fighting the Sandinistas. While the reasons for the trade were honorable and the president was following the American policy of communist containment at the time, it was still nonetheless illegal and badly battered Reagan’s reputation.

President Ronald Reagan, the man who is accredited with ended the forty six year cold war was elected on Nov. 4, 1980. Reagan won his election with fifty percent of the popular vote over former President Jimmy Carter who had forty one percent. While Reagan as a president is praised for such successes as strengthening the national defense, stimulating growth in the U.S. economically, and as mentioned before he is considered the President who ended the Cold War. President Reagan had achieved many things by the end of his administration, but just as he had many successes his presidency was plagued with shortcomings and a handful of what could be considered flat out failures. The purpose of this writing is to establish and identify the ‘cons’ or failures of the Reagan administration, and provide a brief description of each different aspect of the administration.