One group—Evangelicals—stood strong behind Oliver North long after his public profile faded. For them, his willingness to break the law in service of his idea of the greater good was the essence of his heroism.
The prospect of Trump issuing pardons to his family (and even trying to pardon himself) and the contentious history of pardons should be cause to limit the pardon power by providing for Congressional oversight.
In an oral history released after his death, the former national security adviser revealed a few key moments in which his ideas failed in the war against Saddam Hussein.
In his valuable new book, Malcolm Byrne takes aim at Meese’s version of the story. “In fact,” he argues, “the driving force behind both sides of the scandal was President Reagan himself.”
Source: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 483
Lawrence Walsh's final defeat came at the hands of Reagan's successor in the White House, George H. W. Bush, who granted surprise pardons to six prior and would-be Iran-Contra defendants on Christmas eve 1992.
