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2/11/86
With Ferdinand Marcos having stolen the election, President Reagan states that
he is "encouraged" by evidence of a "two party system in the
Philippines," even if only one is allowed to win.
3/3/86
President Reagan claims that victory for the Sandinistas would create "a
privileged sanctuary for terrorists and subversives just two days' driving time
from Harlingen, Texas."
3/21/86
President Reagan again tells his version of British gun laws, despite it's repudiation
four years ago, during an interview with The New York Times. It is not challenged
by the three veteran reporters.
4/4/86
"I wonder what people thought I was going to do when I left the White House?
Be a brain surgeon?" - Michael Deaver defending himself against charges
that he has cashed in on his White House connections with unseemly speed and
behavior.
4/12/86
Excerpts from David Stockman's memoir, "The Triumph of Politics: Why the
Reagan Revolution Failed", appear in Newsweek. Although it has many anecdotes,
the media focuses on the author's alleged betrayal of the President, characterized
by sections like: "What do you do when your President ignores all the palpable,
relevant facts and wanders in circles?"
5/21/86
President Reagan tells a group of students, "I don't believe that there
is anyone that is going hungry in America simply by reason of denial or lack
of ability to feed them. It is by people not knowing where or how to get this
help." Asked what this observation is based on, Larry Speakes says, "That
is his view." Critics note that the Reagan administration eliminated the
program that informed needy people of available benefits.
5/29/86
Former government prosecutor Whitney North Seymour, Jr., is appointed to investigate
conflict-of-interest charges against Michael Deaver.
6/11/86
During his 37th press conference, President Reagan:
· Responds to a question about abortion with an answer about an unrelated
case
· Displays confusion about whether or not the SALT II treaty exists and
about whether or not he plans to order construction of another space shuttle
· Claims that the government is providing 93 million meals a day to hungry
Americans. That would amount to one in three people.
He later explains he spent too much time concentrating on which reporters to
call on. "Next time, I'm going to concentrate not on who I'm calling on,
but what I'm going to say."
7/9/86
Standing in front of a bare-breasted statue at the Justice Department, Ed Meese
accepts the 1,960 page report from his $500,000 pornography commission. Available
in two volumes from the government for $35, the report becomes a cult item for
its 100-plus page listing of book, movie and magazine titles (including Teenage
Dog Orgy, Cathy's Sore Bottom, Lesbian Foot Lovers - The Movie and others) and
200 pages of detailed descriptions and excerpts from said material.
7/30/86
At his confirmation hearing for the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
, William Rehnquist:
"separate but equal" doctrine represented the views of the justice
he was clerking for, not his own.
· Explains that a 1952 memo he wrote supporting of minority voters in
the early '60's. Four witnesses rebut this two days later.
· Claims to have no recall that his Vermont vacation home came with an
unlawful covenant prohibiting its sale to anyone of the "Hebrew race",
though a 1974 letter from his lawyer informing him of this is soon discovered.
9/14/86
The Reagans, seated on their living room couch, urge a "national crusade"
against "the cancer of drugs." The President will cut funding for
anti-drug programs immediately after the upcoming election.
9/17/86
William Rehnquist is confirmed as Chief Justice.
10/5/86
Three American mercenaries die on a supply run to the contras when their cargo
plane is shot down by Nicaraguan government forces. Survivor Eugene Hasenfus
is captured in the jungle. The White House, the State Department, the Defense
Department and the CIA all claim non-involvement.
10/9/86
Although President Reagan has stated that the downed cargo plane had "absolutely"
no connection to the US government, Eugene Hasenfus-imprisoned in Managua-says
his mission was supervised by the CIA.
10/10/86
Senator John Kerry suggests that the Foreign Relations Committee question Lt.
Col. Oliver North, a National Security Council member reportedly close to the
Nicaraguan rebels, in connection with White House involvement in the private
arming of the contras.
10/11/86
President Reagan arrives in Reykjavik, Iceland, to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev
for their first summit session.
10//12/86
The summit collapses amid mutual charges of intransigence and confusion about
just which and how many weapons President Reagan suggested getting rid of.
10/17/86
George Shultz releases the text of President Reagan's arms control proposal
to prove that he did not suggest getting rid of all nuclear weapons. Larry Speakes
says the President may have been "misunderstood."
10/23/86
Meese Says High Court Doesn't Set 'Law Of Land'. Asserts Rulings Of Top Justices
Bind Only Those In Case - The New York Times
10/24/86
Ed Meese urges employers to begin spying on workers in "locker rooms, parking
lots, shipping and mail room areas and even the nearby taverns" to try
to catch them using drugs.
11/3/86
In Lebanon, the pro-Syrian magazine Al Shiraa reports that the US has secretly
been supplying arms to Iran.
11/4/86
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of the Iranian Parliament, says that former
NSC adviser Robert McFarlane and four other Americans, carrying Irish passports
and posing as members of a flight crew, recently traveled to Iran on a secret
diplomatic mission to trade military equipment for Iran's help in curbing terrorism.
11/13/86
In an address to the American people on the Iran arms deal, President Reagan
states: "For 18 months now, we have had under way a secret diplomatic initiative
to Iran. That initiative was undertaken for the simplest and best of reasons:
to renew a relationship with the nation of Iran; to bring an honorable end to
the bloody six-year war between Iran and Iraq; to eliminate state-sponsored
terrorism and subversion, and to effect the safe return of all hostages..."
"During the course of our secret discussions, I authorized the transfer
of small amounts of defensive weapons and spare parts for defensive systems
to Iran...These modest deliveries, taken together, could easily fit into a single
cargo plane...We did not - repeat - did not trade weapons or anything else for
hostages, nor will we."
This last part was to deny the rumour that the US had traded arms for hostages,
implying that it wasn't a swap because we didn't give them very much, and what
we did give was for defense.
11/14/86
In the wake of world denouncement over President Reagan's speech, Donald Regan
is asked if it isn't hypocritical to ask other nations not to ship arms to Iran
while we do just that. 'Hypocrisy is a question of degree," he responds.
11/15/86
A Nicaraguan court sentences Eugene Hasenfus to 30 years in jail. The Sandinistas
decide to release him to get home in time for Christmas.
In response to charges of incompetency, Donald Regan tells The New York Times
"Some of us are like a shovel brigade that follow a parade down Main Street
cleaning up. We took Reykjavik and turned what was really a sour situation into
something that turned out pretty well."
11/16/86
George Shultz appears on Face The Nation. When asked directly whether he can
assure the public that no more arms will be sent, the Secretary of State says
"No." He is the chief architect of the national foreign policy.
11/18/86
79% Reject President's Explanation Of Iran Deal - Los Angeles Times
11/19/86
At his 39th press conference, President Reagan describes the arms shipment as
"really miniscule," again claiming that "everything that we sold
them could be put in one cargo plane and there would be plenty of room left
over." He also states four times that Isreal had no involvement in the
Iran arms deal, but later makes a correction: "There may be some misunderstanding
of one of my answers tonight. There was a third country involved in our secret
project with Iran." He does not explain how something stated four times
could be misunderstood.
11/21/86
The shredding machine in White House aide Oliver North's office jams.
11/25/86
President Reagan appears in the White House briefing room to say he "was
not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities" undertaken as
an off-shoot of the Iran arms deal. He announces that National Security Adviser
John Poindexter has resigned and NSC staffer Oliver North has been fired, then
introduced Ed Meese to explain why.
"Certain monies which were received in the transaction between representatives
of Israel and representatives of Iran were taken and made available to the forces
in Central America which are opposing the Sandinista government there,"
says Meese. "We don't know the exact amount yet. Our estimate is that it
is somewhere between $10 and $30 million...The President knew nothing about
it."
"If he knew about it, then he has willfully broken the law; if he didn't
know about it, then he is failing to do his job. After all, we expect the President
to know about the foreign policy activities being run directly out of the White
House." - Senator John Glenn
11/26/86
Ed Meese appears on TV to assure viewers that "the President knows what's
going on."
12/1/86
In a Time interview, President Reagan:
· Calls Oliver North "a national hero"
· Dismisses the furor over the growing scandal as "a Beltway bloodletting"
· Blames the press for interfering with the release of more hostages
"There is a bitter bile in my throat," he says. "This whole thing
boils down to great irresponsibility on the part of the press."
12/2/86
President Reagan names Frank Carlucci as his fifth National Security Adviser.
12/6/86
President Reagan concedes that "mistakes were made," though he does
not suggest who made them.
12/8/86
"If Colonel North ripped off the Ayatollah and took $30 million and gave
it to the contras, then God bless Colonel North!" - Pat Buchanan addressing
a pro-Reagan rally in Miami.
12/9/86
Oliver North and John Poindexter invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and refuse
to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Says North, "I don't
think there is another person in America that wants to tell this story as much
as I do."
12/11/86
President Reagan are reportedly "stunned" by his allies' refusal to
defend him on the Iran-contra matter. Explains Robert Dornan, usually a staunch
Reagan supporter, "When someone says, 'But he was giving arms to people
he knew had killed our Marines,' it's hard to respond to that."
12/16/86
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Warren Rudman (R-NH) are chosen to head the 11-member
Senate committee investigating the Iran-contra scandal. The House appoints Lee
Hamilton (D-IN) to chair a 15-member group.
12/18/86
"There have been a number of people who have suggested that I abandon my
individual rights under the Constitution of the United States. The President
has not asked that I do that. I don't believe the President really wants me
to abandon my individual rights under the Constitution. People have died face
down in the mud all over the world defending those individual rights."
- Oliver North, responding to Nancy Reagan's insistence that he "talk".
12/20/86
Meese Now Says Reagan, Under Sedation After Surgery, May Have Ok'd 1st Arms
Deal - New York Newsday
12/23/86
"The President ordered this whole operation on Iran. He ordered his Administration
not to tell the intelligence committees what he was doing. Now he wants the
intelligence committee to tell him what his Administration was doing during
the time they were under his orders not to tell the intelligence committee.
Even Alice in Wonderland doesn't get this twisted around." - Senator Patrick
Leahy on President Reagan's eagerness to receive the Senate Intelligence Committee's
report on the arms deal.
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