Fiasco

While President Jimmy Carter is engulfed

by a hostage crisis in Iran,

a new religious movement in the United States

finds traction

and a kindred spirit with a familiar face.

After Carter suffers a landslide defeat

in his bid for a second term, he remains determined

to negotiate the release of the hostages.

But it's the newly inaugurated President Reagan

who welcomes them home.

Right next door to the White House, in Washington, D.C.,

is another building that's never gotten

quite as much attention.

The Old Executive Office Building

was built more than 100 years prior.

It was actually the Department of the Navy

and the Department of War.

At the time, the National Security Council staff

was all located on the third floor of the building.

The National Security Council,

or NSC for short, was a body of senior advisors

who had the President's ear on foreign policy.

The NSC had its own staff,

whose job it was to monitor world events

and keep the President informed

of any incoming threats to America's national security.

My office was probably 20 feet by 20 feet,

with 15-foot ceilings. I had a big sofa.

I could spend the night. I had a bar.

Those were days when you could smoke cigars

in the office and drink scotch.

Oliver North's office was not like that.

Colonel North, please rise.

Do you solemnly swear...

Before Oliver North

became associated with an international scandal,

he was a little-known junior aide on the NSC staff,

a young Vietnam vet with no previous experience

as a government bureaucrat.

Starting in 1981, North had his own office

in the Old Executive Office Building.

Room 392.

He was actually stuck up in a room

that was carved out of other rooms.

His office was uncomfortable, it was hot, it was cramped.

Most people in government at the time,

even those with top secret security clearance,

had no idea this room even existed.

Ollie had three or four computers,

four or five phones.

He had more electronic equipment

than anyone else in the NSC. It was a bit sci-fi.

We're still talking 5 1/4 floppies in this time.

There were no hard drives.

Whenever there was a hint of danger

anywhere in the world, a little bell would go off,

and some days room 392 was filled with the din of bells.

North's office was definitely a little command center,

and it enabled him to have,

you know, international conversations,

secure conversations, whatever he wanted,

while dealing with three different computers

at the same time.

You know, it was sort of a real-time picture

of global terrorism.

I came to the National Security Council

six years ago

to work in the administration of a great president.

How did Oliver North find himself

so close to the center of American power?

There were many problems.

Sometimes we succeeded and sometimes we failed.

What was he doing

behind the closed doors of room 392?

And what part did he play in paralyzing the administration

of a wildly popular president?

But at least we tried.

And I want to tell you that I for one

will never regret having tried.

I'm Leon Neyfakh.

This is "Fiasco," the story of Iran-Contra.

We have every right to dream heroic dreams.

Those who say that we're in a time

when there are no heroes,

they just don't know where to look.

You can see heroes every day.

Ronald Reagan glided into office in 1981,

thanks in part to the missteps of his predecessor,

Jimmy Carter.

I'm told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings

are being held on this day,

and for that I'm deeply grateful.

But he was also really good at playing the part.

We are a nation under God,

and I believe God intended for us to be free.

He had star quality,

and he just came across as presidential.

Reagan had this special charm about him,

this appealing factor.

In this springtime of hope,

some lights seem eternal. America's is.

It was almost like if it was on camera

and you were watching him on television,

you had the sense that he was right there with you,

leaning over a fence.

I have a letter with me.

The letter came from Peter Sweeney.

He's in the second grade,

and he said, "I hope you get well quick

or you might have to make a speech in your pajamas."

The image of Ronald Reagan that voters

had probably uppermost in their minds

by the time he entered politics in the middle of the 1960s

was as a TV star.

Ain't you supposed to be good with a gun?

Good enough.

On Sunday nights,

Reagan was on the General Electric Sunday Night Theater.

For General Electric,

here is Ronald Reagan.

Good evening. Tonight, Jack Benny,

with Zsa Zsa Gabor, stars on the "General Electric Theater."

He was a comforting figure

on your television screen every Sunday night,

on this show that was,

you know, among the most popular

in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Once upon a time there was a girl,

and of course there was a boy who fell in love with her.

When Reagan decided to make the jump to politics,

it became clear that he was bringing

his acting experience with him.

His acting skills were inherent in his communication.

He had a cadence to the way he spoke.

For example, he often starts his sentences...

Very frequently- by saying "Well,"

and he cocks his head a little bit.

Well. Well. Well. Well. Well.

He told me that was a stage pause

that allowed him just a fraction of a second

to think through how he wanted to start the sentence.

And so I actually started writing that

into his speeches.

Well, now to get on with the business at hand.

After an assassination attempt in 1981...

...Reagan showed such grace and humility

that his approval ratings with both parties increased.

I'd like to say a few words directly to all of you

and to those who are watching and listening tonight.

The warmth of your words, the expression of friendship,

and yes, love, meant more to us than you could ever know.

Amid the upheaval of the late 1970s

and early '80s,

many Americans saw Reagan as an almost mythical leader

who would bring the country back to a simpler time.

Reagan was a man of very strong convictions,

but they were also very broad convictions.

He believed in military strength.

He was fiercely anti-Soviet, fiercely anti-communist.

In his mind he was a rescuer. He was a hero.

He was gonna rescue America from communists,

from liberals, from chaos.

Our forbearance should never be misunderstood.

Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged

as a failure of will.

When action is required to preserve our national security,

we will act.

Reagan's convictions, broad as they were,

had a galvanizing effect on the people around him.

He knew how to make people want to follow him.

My name is Oliver North,

lieutenant colonel of the United States Marine Corps.

The National Security Council is, in essence,

the president's staff. It helps to formulate

and coordinate national security policy.

When Oliver North was first starting out at the NSC,

Vietnam was still fresh on his mind.

Since graduating from the Naval Academy in 1968,

I have strived to be the best Marine officer that one can be.

Following his graduation,

North joined the Marine Corps and deployed to Vietnam.

Ollie is an extraordinarily patriotic man,

and he is a Marine in every fiber of his being.

In combat, my goal was always to understand the objective,

follow orders, accomplish the mission

and to keep alive the men who served under me.

During both of his tours of duty,

North wrote letters to his family,

updating them about life in Vietnam.

He expressed frustration about what he saw

as Washington's reluctance to support the war.

"I wish the politicians would get off their fat,

soft posteriors," he wrote, "and clear this mess up."

In 1971, when North returned from Vietnam,

he continued to speak out.

Yes, I have a question for Captain North.

Did you ever yourself witness

the mistreatment of Viet Cong prisoners

by either American or South Vietnamese troops?

I never witnessed a single ear being cut off,