The Reagan administration sold weapons to the ayatollah's regime in Tehran, then diverted some of the proceeds to the (Nicaraguan) Contras, then lied about it.

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Politically, he stood on the middle ground: fundamentally conservative (supporting the Nicaraguan contras, school prayer and guns) but bravely outspoken, especially as a southerner, on civil rights.

ECONOMIST: Lloyd Bentsen

Reagan sounds genuinely surprised in his diary about the Iran-contra mess, in which his people sold weapons to Iran and then sent some of the money to the contras, the rebels trying to overthrow the government of Nicaragua.

ECONOMIST: Ronald Reagan