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| 1986 |
January 15: Reagan signs legislation making Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday a national holiday to be celebrated on the third Monday of January.
January 17: Reagan undergoes surgery for three "very small polyps" on his colon.
January 28: The U.S. space shuttle "Challenger" explodesonly 73 seconds after takeoff. The shuttle had launched to great ceremony; in addition to the six astronauts onboard, teacher Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian to go into space, also perished.
February 5: Reagan submits his 1987 budget -- deficit of $143.6b. Cumulative deficits reach one trillion.
February 11: Reagan defends his budget, and says he will veto any tax increase.
February 16: The U.S. ships 1000 anti-tank missiles to Iran.
February 25: Reagan asks Congress for $100 million in aid for Contras. The House rejects appeal; the Senate approves his request. Bill returns to the House.
April 14: In retaliation for the bombing of a West Berlin night club where a U.S. serviceman was killed, U.S. Air Force & Navy bombers hit Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya.
April 26: Explosion at Chernobyl nuclear power station in Kiev, U.S.S.R.
May 29: Colonel Oliver North tells McFarlane that profits of weapons sales to Iran are being diverted to the Contras.
June 25: The House finally passes the Contra aid package by 12 votes. Reagan calls it "a step forward in bipartisan consensus in American foreign policy."
 July 4: Liberty Weekend. $80 million extravaganza celebrating the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. With a 68% approval rating, he is at the height of his popularity. The economy is booming and Americans feel prosperous and strong.
July 26: Father Jenco, one of the hostages held by Muslim extremists, is released in Damascus.
August 27: Reagan signs an anti-terrorism law that bans arms sales to nations that support terrorism, and strengthens U.S. anti-terrorist measures.
September: Former National Security Advisor WilliamMcFarlane takes 23 tons of weapons to Iran.
September 9: Frank Reed is kidnapped in Beirut.
September 30: Reagan announces the he will bee Gorbachev at another summit in Iceland.
October 11: Reykjavik Summit opens. Gorbachev proposes drastic cuts in all classes of nuclear weapons. Reagan agrees. Then Gorbachev tells Reagan this is provided U.S. confines SDI to the laboratory. Reagan walks away from Summit. At the time Reykjavik is considered a failure.
October 21: American writer Edward Tracy is taken hostage.
October 30: 500 anti-tank missiles shipped to Iran.
November 2: American hostage David Jacobsen is released in Beirut.
November 3: Lebanese magazine "Al Shiraa" reports that the U.S. has sold arms to Iran. The Iranian government confirms the story. This marks the beginning of Iran-Contra.
November 13: In a nationally televised speech to defend against charges concerning arms sales to Iran, Reagan admits sending some defensive weapons and spare parts to Iran, but denies it was part of an arms for hostages deal. "Our government has a firm policy not to capitulate to terrorist demands.... We did not -- repeat, did not -- trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we." Polls show that the American people do not believe Reagan.
November 21: Attorney General Meese is asked to conduct an inquiry of the Iran affair to get facts straight.
November 22: Meese's office discovers the Iran-Contra connection. When searching North’s office, they found a memo dated 4/4/86 from North to Poindexter, which included an amount that to be sent to the Contras from the profits of the Iran sales. North, who had spent the night shredding papers, later called the diversion of funds, "a neat idea."
November 24: Meese tells Reagan that some proceeds from the sale of arms to Iran went to the Contras. Reagan is visibly shaken and according to Meese, surprised. He is aware that the diversion of funds could mean impeachment for violation of the Boland Amendment.
November 25: National Security Advisor John Poindexter resigns and Oliver North is fired. In press conference, Meese announces Iran-Contra: $10m to $30m of profits from sale of U.S. arms to Iran had been diverted to Swiss bank accounts for use by Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
December 1: Reagan appoints the Tower Commission to review Iran Contra.
December 2: In a "New York Times" poll, Reagan's approval drops from 67% to 46% in one month. Frank Carlucci replaces Poindexter as National Security Advisor.
December 18: C.I.A. Director William Casey undergoes surgery for a malignant brain tumor.
December 19: Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh is appointed to investigate Iran-Contra. |
| 1987 |
January 5: Reagan submits first-ever $1 trillion budget for fiscal year 1988. He undergoes prostate surgery; he is slow to recover.
January 6: 100th Congress begins with a Democratic majority in both houses.
February 2: Reagan testifies to the Tower Board for a second time. His testimony is inconsistent and confused. The Board pointed out Reagan hadn’t known about August shipment of anti-tank missiles, but Reagan had said he DID know. When asked for an explanation, Reagan picked up a briefing memo he had been provided and read aloud: "If the question comes up at the Tower Board meeting, you might want to say that you were surprised."
February 20: A Reagan memo to the Tower Board reads: "I don’t remember, period."
"I’m trying to recall events that happened eighteen months ago, I’m afraid that I let myself be influenced by others’ recollections, not my own.... The only honest answer is to state that try as I might, I cannot recall anything whatsoever about whether I approved an Israeli sale in advance or whether I approved replenishment of Israeli stocks around August of 1985. My answer therefore and the simple truth is, ‘I don’t remember, period.’"
February 26: The Tower Commission report is delivered to Reagan. The report could not link Reagan to diversion of funds from Iran to the Contras. But it concluded that Reagan, confused and unaware, allowed himself to be misled by dishonest staff members who organized the trade of arms to Iran for hostages held in Lebanon and pursued a secret war against the Nicaraguan government. The report charges that Reagan had failed to "insist upon accountability & performance review, " allowing the National Security Council process to collapse. Reagan’s approval rating is down to 42%.
February 27: Although reluctant at first, Reagan yields to pressure from his advisors and Nancy to fire Chief of Staff Donald Regan. Reagan calls Howard Baker to offer him the position of Chief of Staff. Donald Regan finds out through CNN -- only after Baker has accepted. He is furious.
March 4: On national television, Reagan acknowledges mistakes on Iran-Contra.
"A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions tell me that’s true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not. As the Tower Board reported, what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages. This runs counter to my own beliefs, to administration policy, and to the original strategy we had in mind. There are reasons why it happened, but no excuses. It was a mistake." Reagan’s approval rating rebounds to 51%.
May 17: A missile from an Iraqi warplane hits the U.S.S. "Stark," killing the 37 sailors onboard. The frigate is part of a naval task force which was sent to the Persian Gulf to keep the waterway open during the Iran-Iraq war.
 June 12: Reagan, in a speech at the Brandenberg Gate, asks Gorbachev to raze Berlin Wall. "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
July 16: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visits Reagan, and praises his leadership. She says it is important that he continue to assert a leading role in the Western alliance. The trip is widely viewed as an attempt by Thatcher, Reagan's closest overseas ally, to help reinvigorate the Reagan administration, which has been damaged by the Iran-Contra affair.
August 3: Congress completes its public hearings on Iran-Contra. "We may never know with precision or truth why it ever happened." Meanwhile, Reagan’s close aides Lyn Nofziger and Michael Deaver are convicted of influence peddling. Meese is investigated and cleared. Nofziger’s conviction is overturned on appeal.
October 17: Nancy Reagan has left breast removed after a biopsy reveals a cancerous tumor.
October 19: The stock market drops 500 points. The drop is partially blamed on rising deficits.
December 7: Gorbachev arrives in Washington, D.C. for a summit.
December 8: The Washington Summit opens; Reagan and Gorbachev sign the INF treaty, which only eliminates 4% of the superpowers’ nuclear arsenals. It is the first U.S.-Soviet treaty to provide for destruction of nuclear weapons and to provide for on-site monitoring of the destruction. Leading Conservatives are critical of the treaty. |
| 1988 |
March 16: Oliver North, John Poindexter, and two others are indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government by secretly providing funds and supplies to the Contra rebels fighting the government of Nicaragua.
April 14: Soviets agree to begin pulling troops out of Afghanistan, beginning May 15, 1988, and finishing by Feb 15, 1989.
May 5: Donald Regan’s memoir, "For the Record" is published. In it he reveals that Nancy Reagan relied on an astrologer to dictate her husband's public appearances.
May 27: The Senate ratifies the INF treaty. The INF pact is the first arms-control agreement since the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) to receive Senate approval.
 May 29: Reagan is in Moscow for a summit. Muscovites line the streets to greet his motorcade with cheers. When people the street heard the Reagans were there on the Arbat, a street market, the crowd surged forward; and the KGB charged the crowd, hurled people aside and threw punches at them. Reagan muttered that this "is still a police state."
May 30: Reagan holds dinner for dissidents at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. He also visits Danilov Monastery, the seat of Russian Orthodox religion.
May 31: Reagan gives a speech to students at Moscow State University beneath gigantic bust of Lenin. "We do not know what the conclusion will be of this journey, but we’re hopeful that the promise of reform will be fulfilled. In this Moscow spring, this May 1988, we may be allowed that hope: that freedom, like the fresh green sapling planted over Tolstoy’s grave, will blossom forth at last in the rich fertile soil of your people and culture.
June 29: Reagan makes his first campaign appearance on behalf of President Bush in Miami
June: U.S. unemployment hits a 14-year low.
 November 8: Vice President George Bush defeats Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis to become the 41st President of the United States.
December 7: Last Reagan-Gorbachev meeting in presidency. Gorbachev, Bush, Reagan, and top aides lunch at Governor's Island in New York Harbor.
December 21: A Pan Am plane explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people onboard are killed, as are 11 people on the ground. An investigation revealed that the explosion was the result of a Libyan terrorist attack. |
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