NPR

George H.W. Bush's Mixed Legacy In A Reagan-Era Scandal

Bush, as Ronald Reagan's vice president, was deeply knowledgeable about the Iran-Contra scandal, yet insisted he played "no operational role." As president, he pardoned some involved.
President Ronald Reagan meets with members of the Tower Commission, which investigated the Iran-Contra scandal, in the Oval Office in 1997.

Largely missing from the flood of remembrances of the late President George H.W. Bush is the role he played as Ronald Reagan's vice president in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair.

It's an episode that clouded an otherwise remarkable career in public service.

Perhaps Bush's most well-known involvement in the affair was his absolution of some of those in the know about it.

On Christmas Eve of 1992 - six weeks after losing his bid for a second presidential term to Bill Clinton — six members of the Reagan administration who'd been charged with crimes ranging from perjury,

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