The 1980’s opens with an election year. Democrat Jimmy Carter is seeking his second term and former California governor Ronald Reagan is the Republican challenger. Reagan goes on to win rather handily and he initiates 12 years of Republican conservatism in the White House. Shortly after he takes office a number of things happen.
Iran Embassy Hostage Release
The most immediate of which is the release of the Iranian Embassy hostages. These people had been held as hostage for 444 days as part of an ongoing struggle between the Iranian hostage takers and President Carter. The Iranians had stormed and taken control of the US embassy in Tehran over a year before and had demanded that Shah Pahlavi, who had entered the US for cancer treatment be returned to Iran for trial and sentencing. President Carter refused to acquiesce to these demands and a stalemate ensued. In the meantime the Shah died on July 27, 1980 yet the hostages were not released until one hour after President Reagan had been sworn into office on January 20, 1981.
Assassination Attempt
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley, in hopes of gaining the attention of actress Jodi Foster, attempted to assassinate President Reagan. Hinckley wounded three other men in the attempt including press secretary James Brady who though he survived suffered brain damage and was permanently disabled. The other two men along with the President fully recovered. The President’s wound was a ricochet off the side of the limousine that entered under his left arm breaking a rib, puncturing a lung and causing extensive internal bleeding. He was near death upon arrival at the hospital and immediately under went exploratory surgery to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding. The President was released from the hospital less than two weeks later on April 11.
The “Brady Bill was passed in November of 1993 that mandated federal background checks on and imposed a five-day waiting period on all firearms sales in the US.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was diagnosed with at least five disorders. Brady died in 2014 and his death was ruled a homicide by the coroner because it was caused by the injuries suffered that day. In 2015, prosecutors announced they would not prosecute Hinckley for the murder. He was released from the psychiatric facility in 2016 and fully released in June 2022.
Concerns Regarding Reagan’s Age
Steve Kornacki, with NBC News, put together a great video clip, explaining how the concern about Reagan’s age effected the debates of 1984 and shows how Reagan took a major liability and turned into an asset, virtually guaranteeing that he would win a second term.
Iran-Contra Affair
This secret effort to circumvent the restrictions placed upon the administration and US businesses regarding both Iran and the Nicaraguan Contras became a scandal during the second term of Reagan’s administration. The Carter Administration had place an embargo on all sales to Iran because of the Iranian Revolution and Congress had imposed an end to all military sales to the Contras fighting the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The CIA was secretly selling arms to Iran in hopes of getting their help putting pressure on Lebanese terrorists to release a number of American hostages they had seized. The proceeds of these sales were then given to the Contras to purchase guns and supplies for their fight with the Sandinistas.
Iran-Contra Timeline (source)
- Jul 1979: Sandinista guerillas overthrow a right-wing dictatorship in Nicaragua
- Nov 1979: Islamic militants take 52 Americans hostage inside the U.S. embassy in Iran U.S. passes an embargo against selling weapons to Iran
- Jan 1981: President Ronald Reagan assumes office; Iranian hostages released the same day
- Dec 1981: Reagan signs an executive order to authorize a covert C.I.A. operation to support the Contras, a right-wing rebel group who seek to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua
- Aug 1982: U.S. Marines land in Lebanon to stabilize the government following an Israeli invasion to oust the Palestinian Liberation Organization headquartered in Lebanon
- 1982 – 1984: Evidence of U.S. efforts to overthrow the Sandinistas leaks out in the press, including C.I.A. sabotage manuals Congress passes Boland Amendments, barring the use of federal money to overthrow the Nicaraguan government
- 1983: Hezbollah, a political paramilitary group backed by Iran, begins taking hostages in Lebanon to protest the imprisonment by American-backed governments of their allies in other parts of the Middle East
- Nov 1984: Sandinista candidates win national elections in Nicaragua
- Feb 1985: Reagan approves National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane’s idea to negotiate with Iran for the release of Hezbollah’s hostages
- Sep 1985: Reagan administration officials secretly negotiate to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for help securing the release of American hostages in Lebanon
- Apr 1986: Oliver North, now National Security Adviser, proposes diverting $12 million from the sale of weapons to Iran to fund the Contras in Nicaragua
- May 1986: McFarlane, now a private consultant to the White House, and North secretly fly to Iran with spare parts for missiles
- Nov 1986: The Attorney General discloses the Iran-Contra connection Reagan announces the firing of North and the resignation of other officials involved in the scandal
- 1987 – 1992: Congress holds a series of investigations, brings down indictments and hears appeals In Dec 1992, President George H. W. Bush pardons six people involved in the scandal, including McFarlane