Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North is convicted on May 4, 1989, of three felony charges stemming from his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal: accepting an illegal gratuity (a security fence for his home), aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the …
Oliver NorthGerhard GesellLawrence WalshIran-ContraReagan-administrationobstruction-of-justiceaccountabilitylegal-immunity
Joint congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra affair begin, launching seven weeks of televised testimony that becomes the most-watched series of congressional hearings since the Senate Watergate Committee hearings in 1973. The House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with …
Oliver NorthJohn PoindexterGeorge ShultzCaspar WeinbergerIran-Contracongressional-oversightReagan-administrationaccountabilitymedia
Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that proceeds from secret arms sales to Iran were illegally diverted to fund Nicaraguan Contra rebels, publicly exposing the Iran-Contra scandal that had been revealed three weeks earlier by the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa on November 3. The announcement comes …
National Security Council staff member Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall begin systematically shredding documents that would expose illegal activities related to arms sales to Iran and the diversion of proceeds to Nicaraguan Contra rebels. The five-day document destruction campaign, running …
Oliver NorthFawn HallJohn PoindexterIran-ContraReagan-administrationobstruction-of-justicecover-upcovert-operations
President Reagan signs a finding on December 5, 1985, retroactively authorizing covert arms sales to Iran already conducted by National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, formalizing an illegal shadow foreign policy run through the National Security Council. McFarlane had undertaken the sale of …
Robert McFarlaneJohn PoindexterOliver NorthRonald ReaganIran-ContraReagan-administrationNSCcovert-operationsconstitutional-crisis
Israel sends 96 American-made BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran through arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar, marking the first covert arms shipment in what becomes the Iran-Contra scandal. Hours after receiving the weapons, the Islamic fundamentalist group Islamic Jihad releases one American …
Ronald ReaganRobert McFarlaneOliver NorthManucher GhorbanifarIran-ContraReagan-administrationforeign-policyarms-traffickingcovert-operations