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"Big Strong President Reagan" Encourages Sale of Weapons to Iran

The first attempt to sell weapons to Iran through Israeli middlemen failed. Reagan then convened a group of advisors, including Secretary of State George Shultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Both Shultz and Weinberger, as well as White House Chief of Staff Don Regan, objected to selling weapons directly to Iran, which the U.S. had declared a state sponsor of terrorism. As Weinberger’s diary reveals, Reagan pushed for the sales anyway, even if they were illegal.


Source | Caspar W. Weinberger, Diary Entry for 7 December 1985, (Washington, DC: National Archives); available from The National Secruity Archive, The Iran-Contra Affair 20 Years On, http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm.
Creator | Caspar W. Weinberger
Item Type | Diary/Letter
Cite This document | Caspar W. Weinberger, “"Big Strong President Reagan" Encourages Sale of Weapons to Iran,” SHEC: Resources for Teachers, accessed March 28, 2024, https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1580.

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