Damage Control: Reagan's Iran-Contra Strategy Offers Lessons
It was the worst of times at the White House. Key officials were in legal jeopardy, investigators were on the hunt, and the credibility of the president was eroding fast. It happened to Ronald Reagan in 1987 at the midpoint of his second term, in what was dubbed the Iran-contra arms-for-hostages scandal. And the parallels to what President Bush confronts today are striking.
While the legal jeopardy is not on the same scale, Republican strategists say Bush should take a page from Reagan's playbook as he deals with the fallout from the CIA leak case and the other run of bad news he has suffered in recent months. Reagan admitted that things had gone seriously wrong when his aides sold arms for hostages in the Middle East and used the profits to finance the anti-Marxist contra rebels in Nicaragua. Reagan not only cooperated with investigators, he eventually admitted that his administration had erred and that he wasn't fully engaged in supervising those around him. He took bold action by remaking his inner circle--forcing the resignation of his chief of staff, Donald Regan, and other senior aides, and recruiting a talented band of Washington "wise men" whom he barely knew but who had a commitment to public service. They included former Sen. Howard Baker as his new chief of staff and congressional expert Ken Duberstein as Baker's deputy. The rescue operation worked, with Sen. Nancy Kassebaum noting at one point that Washington "breathed a sigh of relief" because Reagan had righted the ship of state.
Loyalty. Bush has seemed disinclined to go that route. He has governed with a small band of loyalists who've stayed at his side for nearly five years. "He's not like Reagan in that way," says a former adviser to Reagan. "He doesn't like to admit his administration was wrong."
But his advisers are scrambling to find a way out. West Wing insiders say one goal will be to build a "firewall" between Bush and any indicted aides, to make clear that the president is not under suspicion for breaking the law. "It's time to move the controversy out of the White House, to lance the boil and apply whatever antiseptic needs to be applied," says a key Bush adviser.
That may create the need for new talent, but it's from a familiar list. Among the prime candidates, according to White House insiders: Karen Hughes, a longtime Bush confidant; Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who was Bush's campaign manager last year; former Commerce Secretary Don Evans, who's back in Texas but remains one of Bush's best friends, or former White House congressional liaison Nick Calio, also in private business. Bush could move budget director Josh Bolten back to the White House or bring U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman in as a senior adviser or even a new chief of staff.
Whatever happens on the staff level, Bush's advisers agree the president needs to get on with business as quickly as possible--the first objective of damage control ever since the Reagan era.
This story appears in the November 7, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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