The Iran-Contra cover-up seriously compromised After it did leak, Bush began to feel that his
the 1988 U.S. presidential election. Were it not fledgling presidential
campaign like Reagan’s
for George Bush’s flagrant misrepresentations of presidency was being
consumed by the scandal. his part in the affair, and Congress’ failure to His notes reflect his p
olitical dilemma: would he
ascertain his actual role, Bush might never have gain voter sympathy by
distancing himself from
assumed the presidency. More than six years after the President, or by s
tanding by him? Bush chose
the scandal broke and only after Walsh accused a middle option: he cl
aimed to be out of the loop.
him of “misconduct” in failing “to produce to On December 20-21, he real
ized that he would
investigators his own highly relevant contempora- have to come up with a
cover story:
neous notes, despite repeated requests” Bush One thing I might do is put out a chronology of what finally released transcribed excerpts of private meetings I attended and let that serve as a record, notes he had made as Iran-Contra unraveled.’ ’cause on these key meetings that they are talking
Bush began dictating his thoughts on November about…it appears I was not there.3
4, 1986, detailing his actions and reactions regard-
ing White House efforts to contain the burgeon- The Bush diaries paint a tawdry portrait of a
ing scandal, and recording his efforts to protect politician whose overriding interest was simple
himself from political damage as he prepared for political self-preservation. Throughout the 1987
the 1988 presidential campaign. Congressional investigation and, later, during the
As the odds-on favorite to win the Republican 1988 campaign, he misrepresented his actions and
nomination in 1988, the Vice-President had the evaded press efforts to establish his full role. Bush
won the White House-but at the cost of corrupt- most to lose politically from his connection to the ing the electoral process itself. Only during the scandal. From the start, he had no intention of final days of the 1992 election, when the OIC talking openly about his role. On November 5, two released documents con
firming that Bush, in fact,
days after a Beirut magazine broke the story of had been in the loop, di
d the truth come back to National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane’s haunt him politically. secret 1986 trip to Teheran to negotiate the -PK &MB release of U.S. citizens held hostage in Lebanon,
Bush dictated:
On the news at this time is the question of the i. See Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne, The Iran-Con-
hostages. I’m one of the few people that know fully tra Scandal: The Declassified History (New York: The New
the details and there is a lot of flak and misinforma- Press, 1993), p. 378. The diary transcripts were released tion out there. it is not a subject we can talk by Bush’s lawyers on January 15, 1993.
about….This is one operation that has been held 2. George Bush diary, November 5, 1986.
very, very tight, and I hope it will not leak.2 3. George Bush diary, December 20 or 21, 1986.
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