Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is indicted by a federal grand jury on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators about the Iran-Contra scandal, marking the highest-ranking Reagan administration official charged in the affair. Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh brings the …
Former President Ronald Reagan is questioned under oath in a videotaped deposition for the trial of former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, providing 293 pages of testimony in which he repeatedly claims he cannot recall virtually any specific details of the Iran-Contra affair. …
Ronald ReaganJohn Poindexteriran-contrareagan-administrationaccountabilityperjurycover-up
Comprehensive organizational analysis reveals Hoover Institution as unique conservative think tank exploiting Stanford University affiliation for academic credibility while advancing corporate-conservative agenda. Founded in 1919 by Herbert Hoover as library, the institution transformed into policy …
Hoover InstitutionHerbert HooverStanford UniversityRonald ReaganGeorge Shultz+4 moreorganizational-profileacademic-credibilitythink-tank-infrastructurereagan-administrationconservative-economics+2 more
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
CIA Director William Casey dies at age 74 from nervous-system lymphoma, taking critical knowledge of the Iran-Contra scandal to his grave without ever testifying before Congress. Casey dies less than 24 hours after former colleague Richard Secord testifies that Casey supported the illegal aiding of …
William CaseyRonald ReaganRichard Secordiran-contraciareagan-administrationaccountabilitycover-up
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
The Tower Commission delivers its report on the Iran-Contra affair to President Reagan, producing findings widely criticized as a whitewash that shields Reagan from accountability while blaming subordinates for the illegal scheme. The commission, composed of former Senator John Tower, former …
Ronald ReaganJohn TowerEdmund MuskieBrent ScowcroftWilliam Caseyiran-contrareagan-administrationcongressional-oversightaccountabilitycover-up
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
On October 22, 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) into law, implementing the most dramatic restructuring of the federal tax code since World War II. The legislation reduced the number of individual income tax brackets from 16 to just 2, slashing the top marginal …
Ronald ReaganDan RostenkowskiBob PackwoodBill BradleyJack Kemp+2 moretax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicswealth-transfercorporate-corruption+3 more
President Reagan vetoes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, calling economic sanctions against South Africa’s white minority regime “economic warfare” and claiming they would hurt the impoverished Black majority. Reagan’s veto represents the culmination of his …
Ronald ReaganDesmond Tutuforeign-policyhuman-rightsapartheidsouth-africareagan-administration
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
Several Opus Dei members and sympathizers gain positions in the Reagan Administration, including key roles in economic policy and judicial nominations. This marks the beginning of systematic Opus Dei influence in Republican politics, particularly around conservative economic and social policies. By …
Ronald ReaganOpus Dei MembersRepublican Partyreagan-administrationopus-deirepublican-politicsconservative-influence
On October 30, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, fundamentally deregulating the cable television industry and setting the stage for massive media consolidation. Written and championed by conservative Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the act amended …
Ronald ReaganBarry GoldwaterFederal Communications Commission (FCC)Cable industrymedia-deregulationcorporate-consolidationregulatory-capturereagan-administrationmedia-infrastructure
Congress passes the most restrictive version of the Boland Amendment, explicitly prohibiting any U.S. government agency involved in intelligence activities from providing support for military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua. The amendment, effective from October 3, 1984, to December 3, 1985, …
Edward BolandRonald Reaganiran-contracongressional-oversightnicaraguareagan-administrationconstitutional-law
President Reagan sends Donald Rumsfeld as a special envoy to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, establishing formal diplomatic relations and initiating a strategic partnership during the Iran-Iraq War. The now-infamous handshake between Rumsfeld and Hussein symbolizes the Reagan …
Donald RumsfeldSaddam HusseinRonald Reaganforeign-policyiraqreagan-administrationwar-crimeschemical-weapons
Under Reagan administration SEC Chairman John Shad, former vice chairman of E.F. Hutton, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopts Rule 10b-18, creating a ‘safe harbor’ from manipulation liability for corporate stock repurchases. Prior to this rule, large-scale share repurchases were …
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)John ShadRonald Reaganseccorporate-powerwealth-extractionstock-buybacksderegulation+1 more
President Reagan signs the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act in the Rose Garden, calling it “the most important legislation for financial institutions in the last 50 years.” The Act removes Depression-era constraints on thrift asset holdings, allows S&Ls to make high-risk …
Ronald ReaganJake Garn (R-UT)Fernand St Germain (D-RI)Chuck SchumerSteny Hoyer+2 morederegulationthrift-industryregulatory-capturereagan-administrations&l-crisis+1 more
On September 3, 1982, President Ronald Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) into law, reversing substantial portions of the Economic Recovery Tax Act he had signed just 13 months earlier. TEFRA raised nearly $100 billion in federal revenues through closure of tax …
Ronald ReaganRobert DoleJack KempBruce BartlettSenate Finance Committeetax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicsdeficit-spendingfiscal-crisis+3 more
President Reagan signed the Voting Rights Act Amendments of 1982, extending Section 5 preclearance requirements for 25 years and critically strengthening Section 2 by adopting a “results test” that made proving voting discrimination far easier. The legislation represented a major defeat …
Ronald ReaganCongressBob DoleEdward KennedyCoretta Scott King+1 morevoting-rightsfederal-legislationsection-2results-testreagan-administration+1 more
General Efraín Ríos Montt seizes power in Guatemala through a military coup, beginning what would become the bloodiest period in the nation’s history. The Reagan administration, seeking regional allies for its covert war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, immediately embraces the …
Ronald ReaganEfraín Ríos Monttforeign-policyhuman-rightscentral-americagenocidereagan-administration
The Department of Justice and AT&T finalize the antitrust settlement requiring the telecommunications giant to divest its seven regional Bell operating companies (Baby Bells) in 1984, breaking up the AT&T natural monopoly. However, this settlement paradoxically marks the end rather than …
AT&TDepartment of JusticeRonald ReaganRobert Borkantitrustmonopolyderegulationreagan-administrationcorporate-power
On August 13, 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA) into law, enacting one of the largest tax cuts in American history. The Act reduced the highest marginal individual income tax rate from 70% to 50% and the lowest rate from 14% to 11%, implementing an …
Ronald ReaganJack KempWilliam RothDavid StockmanHeritage Foundation+3 moretax-policyreagan-administrationsupply-side-economicscorporate-corruptionwealth-transfer+4 more
President Ronald Reagan appointed Stanford Law Professor William F. Baxter as Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, marking the formal beginning of antitrust enforcement collapse and the operationalization of Chicago School ideology throughout the federal government. Baxter, a …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDepartment of JusticeStanford Law SchoolSenator Howard Metzenbaumantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+1 more
Ronald Reagan’s inauguration marked the beginning of the most consequential transformation in American antitrust policy since the Sherman Act of 1890—an eight-year systematic dismantlement of competition enforcement that would enable four decades of corporate consolidation and monopolization. …
Ronald ReaganWilliam F. BaxterDouglas GinsburgRobert BorkFrank Easterbrook+3 moreantitrustregulatory-capturechicago-schoolreagan-administrationenforcement-collapse+2 more
In 1981, ALEC formalized its systematic corporate legislative capture mechanism by establishing seven Cabinet Task Forces that worked directly with the Reagan administration on policy development. President Ronald Reagan formed a national Task Force on Federalism headed by U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt …
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)Ronald ReaganPaul LaxaltTom StiversJohn Kasichcorporate-capturelegislative-capturealecreagan-administrationstate-level-politics+2 more
Archbishop Oscar Romero is assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass in San Salvador, marking a symbolic beginning of U.S. support for El Salvador’s death squad government during a brutal 12-year civil war. A single gunman fires directly into Romero’s heart from the chapel …
Ronald ReaganRoberto D'AubuissonOscar Romeroforeign-policyhuman-rightsdeath-squadscentral-americareagan-administration