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President Reagan's Iran-Contra Scandal

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The United States is a country that has gone through many triumphs and scandals. These events are important to American history, and have shaped our country into what it is today. To learn more about our history, we should learn not only about our accomplishments but about our losses, too. Two examples of very influential events in American history are President Roosevelt’s New Deal and President Reagan’s Iran-Contra scandal. The New Deal is best known for guiding America out of the Great Depression, while the Iran-Contra affair centered around how people in power lied and did illegal trade to get what they wanted. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed several programs, projects, reforms and bills called the New Deal. Roosevelt created …show more content…

Former President Ronald Wilson Reagan and other people in power decided to use that money to fund an organization called Contra in Nicaragua. This was very controversial since the U.S. government had voted and vowed not to interfere with terrorists or the situation in Nicaragua. The Contras were against the elected Nicaraguan government. To make things worse, the Contra was mainly funded trading cocaine. When the public found out, they demanded to know the truth. For the longest time, Reagan and several other government officials tried to cover up their deals, which didn’t work. After eight years of investigation, 14 people were charged, excluding Reagan. Reagan’s deals actually pressured Nicaragua to remove Sandinista candidates from the 1990 election. In the next presidential term, Reagan’s Vice President, George W. Bush, became president. This taught Americans one lesson: if you’re in the government, you can get away with scandals. This can be proved because many people who were involved in the Iran-Contra scandal still held high places of power in the government. What’s even more disappointing is that Reagan became even more influential, and he left the office with the highest approval rating since President Roosevelt. To conclude, the Iran-Contra scandal left many untrustworthy people in power, stripping credibility away from the American

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1. Iran-Contra Affair The Iran-Contra Affair took place during the Reagan administration. During the Iraq and Iran war, Iran reached out to the United States and made a request for weapons. Reagan, who was frustrated at his inability to free hostages from Iran, made the deal with the backing of Robert McFarlane and CIA director, William Casey.

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People also argue that his policies led to growing economic inequality and a decrease in social welfare programs. Reagan's administration also faced controversies, like the Iran-Contra affair. During the Iran-Contra affair, there was a secret arrangement where the United States sold arms to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages and used the proceeds to fund Nicaraguan Contras. This scandal involved covert operations, arms deals, and the circumvention of Congress, leading to investigations and controversies surrounding the Reagan administration's actions. The affair raised concerns about the legality and ethics of the government's actions and resulted in several officials facing legal consequences.

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Reagan possessed visionary ideas on how to protect America from Soviet missiles through the Strategic Defense Initiative. Additionally, by selling arms to Iran, Reagan focused his ethics on securing the release of seven American hostages. Reagan created a felt need for change, inspired America’s intellectual stimulation, faced ethical dilemmas and had to think critically to solve problems. In his eyes, the old ways of doing business were outdated.

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The nation seemed to be troubled by its loss of power and fall from grace on the world stage. It wasn’t until 1980 with the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan that the American Spirit was lifted. During his presidency the United States saw great growth in Industry, defense, also great tax cuts and cuts in the federal budget and government funded programs. With the election of Reagan great changes were brought about and America was able to move past the misfortune that struck the 1970s. This time of great prosperity is known as the Reagan Revolution a term used to describe his two terms in

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PATCO Air Traffic Controllers - 13,000 Air Traffic Controllers go on strike, and Reagan fired them all and replaced them. Strategic Defence Initiative - This didn't’ actually work, but offset the Soviets nuclear threats and it intimidate the Soviets and led to their collapse. Failures Bombing of Lebanon Barracks - Many Americans were killed and this changed Reagan's administration's policy in the Middle East. He never sent ground troops into the Middle East again. Iran-Contra Affair - Reagan denies selling weapons to the Iranians in exchange for

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