Oliver North
Oliver Laurence North is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Security Council staff member during the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. It involved the illegal sale of weapons to the Khomeini regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran to encourage the release of American hostages then held in Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan, which was to divert proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel groups in Nicaragua, official funding for which had been specifically prohibited under the Boland Amendment. North was granted limited immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before Congress about the scheme. He was initially convicted on three felony charges, but the convictions were vacated and reversed and all charges against him dismissed in 1991, on the grounds of immunity.
North unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Chuck Robb from Virginia in 1994. In a three-way race, North narrowly lost to Robb by a margin of 2.73%. He then hosted a talk show on Radio America from 1995 to 2003, and hosted War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News from 2001 to 2016. In May 2018, North was elected as president of the National Rifle Association. On April 27, 2019, he resigned amidst a dispute with the organization's chief executive Wayne LaPierre, and was succeeded by Carolyn D. Meadows.
Early life
North was born in San Antonio, Texas, on October 7, 1943, the son of Ann Theresa and Oliver Clay North, a U.S. Army major. He grew up in Philmont, New York, and graduated from Ockawamick Central High School in 1961. He attended the State University of New York at Brockport for two years.While at Brockport, North spent a summer at the United States Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, and gained an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in 1963. He received his commission as second lieutenant in 1968, having missed a year due to serious back and leg injuries from an auto accident in which a classmate was killed. One of North's classmates at the academy was future secretary of the Navy and U.S. senator Jim Webb, whom he beat in a middleweight championship boxing match at Annapolis. Their graduating class included Dennis C. Blair, Michael Mullen, Jay L. Johnson, Charles Bolden and Michael Hagee.
U.S. Marine Corps career
Vietnam
North served as a platoon commander during the Vietnam War, where during his combat service, he was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal with Combat V, and two Purple Heart medals. At the time of his being awarded the Silver Star, North was a platoon commander leading his Marines in Operation Virginia Ridge. North led a counter-assault against the People's Army of Vietnam, as his platoon took on heavy machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades. Throughout the battle, North displayed "courage, dynamic leadership and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of grave personal danger".Post-Vietnam
In 1970, North returned to South Vietnam to testify as a character witness at the trial of Lance Corporal Randall Herrod, a U.S. Marine formerly under his command who, along with four others, had been charged with the murder of sixteen Vietnamese civilians in the village of Son Thang. North claims Herrod had previously saved his life. Herrod and one other Marine were acquitted.North's post-Vietnam career included: instructor at the Marine Basic School from 1969 to 1974; director of the Northern Training Area in Okinawa, Japan ; plans and policy analyst with the manpower division at Headquarters Marine Corps from 1975 to 1978; and operations officer for 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune. He graduated from the College of Naval Command and Staff at the Navy War College in 1981.
National Security Council staff
In 1981, North began his assignment to the National Security Council staff in Washington, D.C., where he served as a lobbyist from 1981 to 1983; and deputy director for political–military affairs from 1983 until his reassignment in 1986. In 1983, North was promoted to lieutenant colonel.During his tenure at the National Security Council, North managed a number of missions. This included leading the hunt for those responsible for the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 299 American and French military personnel, an effort that saw North arrange a mid-air interception of an EgyptAir jet carrying those responsible for the Achille Lauro hijacking. While at the National Security Council, he also helped plan the U.S. invasion of Grenada and the 1986 bombing of Libya.
During his Iran-Contra trial, North spent his last two years on active duty assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps in Arlington County, Virginia. He submitted his request to retire from the Marine Corps effective May 1, 1988, following his indictment for conspiring to defraud the United States by channeling the profits from US arms sales to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. After his trial and felony convictions, all convictions were reversed on appeal.
Military awards
North received the following military awards and decorations:| Basic Parachutist Badge | ||
| Silver Star Medal | Bronze Star Medal with Combat V device | |
| Purple Heart Medal with one " Gold Star | Defense Meritorious Service Medal | Meritorious Service Medal |
| Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Combat "V' device and two " Gold Stars | Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with one " Gold Star | Combat Action Ribbon |
| Navy Unit Commendation | Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation with one " bronze star | National Defense Service Medal |
| Vietnam Service Medal with one " silver star | Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with one " bronze star | Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon |
| Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with silver star | Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with palm and frame | Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960–device |
| Marine Corps Expert Rifle Badge | Marine Corps Expert Pistol Badge | |
| Presidential Service Badge |
Iran–Contra affair
North came into the public spotlight as a result of his participation in the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal during the Reagan administration, in which he claimed partial responsibility for the sale of weapons through intermediaries to Iran, with the profits being channeled to the Contras in Nicaragua. It was alleged that he was responsible for the establishment of a covert network which subsequently funneled those funds to the Contras. Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited the appropriation of U.S. funds by intelligence agencies for the support of the Contras.North solicited $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei to skirt U.S. prohibitions on funding the Contras. However, he gave the wrong number of the Swiss bank account intended to launder the money, and it went instead to a Swiss businessman. A Senate committee investigating the transaction tracked it down so it could be returned to Brunei.
In an August 23, 1986, e-mail to National Security Advisor John Poindexter, North described a meeting with a representative of Panamanian General Manuel Noriega: "You will recall that over the years Manuel Noriega in Panama and I have developed a fairly good relationship," North writes before explaining Noriega's proposal. If U.S. officials can "help clean up his image" and lift the ban on arms sales to the Panamanian Defense Force, Noriega will "'take care of' the Sandinista leadership for us."
North told Poindexter that General Noriega could assist with sabotage against the ruling party of Nicaragua, the Sandinista National Liberation Front. North supposedly suggested that Noriega be paid $1 million in cash from Project Democracy funds raised from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran for the Panamanian leader's help in destroying Nicaraguan economic installations.
In November 1986, as the sale of weapons was made public, North was dismissed by President Ronald Reagan. In an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, North said that on February 11, 1987, the Federal Bureau of Investigation detected an attack on North's family from the Peoples Committee for Libyan Students, with an order to kill North. Although government officials later expressed skepticism of this claim, and no charges for this alleged plot were brought, his family was moved to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and lived with federal agents until North retired from the Marine Corps the following year.
In July 1987, North was summoned to testify before televised hearings of a joint congressional committee that was formed to investigate the Iran–Contra scandal. During the hearings, North admitted that he had misled Congress, for which, along with other actions, he was later charged. He defended his actions by stating that he believed in the goal of aiding the Contras, whom he saw as freedom fighters against the Sandinistas and said that he viewed the Iran–Contra scheme as a "neat idea." North admitted shredding government documents related to these activities at William Casey's suggestion when the Iran–Contra scandal became public. He also testified that Robert McFarlane had asked him to alter official records to delete references to direct assistance to the Contras and that he had helped.
North was indicted in March 1988 on 16 felony counts. His trial opened in February 1989, and on May 4, 1989, he was initially convicted of three: accepting an illegal gratuity, aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the destruction of documents through his secretary, Fawn Hall. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell on July 5, 1989, to a three-year suspended prison term, two years probation, $150,000 in fines, and 1,200 hours of community service. North performed some of his community service within Potomac Gardens, a public housing project in southeast Washington, DC. However, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, North appealed his conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On July 20, 1990, the D.C. Circuit vacated North's convictions on the ground that witnesses in his trial might have been impermissibly affected by his immunized congressional testimony.
The individual members of the prosecution team had isolated themselves from news reports and discussion of North's testimony, and while the defense could show no specific instance in which North's congressional testimony was used in his trial, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge had made an insufficient examination of the issue. Consequently, North's convictions were reversed. After further hearings on the immunity issue, Judge Gesell dismissed all charges against North on September 16, 1991.