In
late 1986 President Ronald Reagan became
embroiled in in what became known as the Irangate
Scandal. It was discovered
that the Reagan administration had been selling arms to the Islamic
fundamentalist government in Iran in order to gain the release of
American hostages in the Lebanon.The profits of the deal were then
used to supply the anti-Marxist Contra guerrillas fighting in Nicaragua.
The scandal was damaging to Reagan because
he had told the American public he would never "yield to terrorist
blackmail". As a result of the scandal, the White House chief
of staff, Donald
Regan and his National Security Adviser, John Poindexter, were forced
to resign. Reagan survived but the case damaged his image and gave
the impression that he was not in full-control of his administration.
Paul Szep, Boston Globe, (July,
1987). The drawing
was based on a cartoon by Thomas Nast
in 1871.
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