Laurence Silberman

{{blockquote|In the early fall of 1980 when I was Co-Chairman of Governor Reagan's foreign policy advisors and then a San Francisco banker, I came back to Washington for a meeting of Governor Reagan's advisors. [[Richard V. Allen|Dick Allen]], who subsequently became President Reagan's [[National Security Advisor]], was playing a similar role in the campaign. As our session ended (I recall it dealt with Arab-Israeli issues), Dick asked me if I could accompany him to a meeting at the [[L'Enfant Plaza|L'Enfant Hotel]]. He explained that [[Robert McFarlane (American politician)|Bud McFarlane]], then working for [[John Tower|Senator Tower]], wished him to see someone who had information on the hostage crisis—which, of course, was a matter of great political consequence to both campaigns. He asked me to join him, as an ex-Deputy Attorney General, because he was a bit apprehensive. At about noon McFarlane walked into the lobby with a gentleman whom I remembered as a Moroccan. But, as Dick Allen's contemporaneously-written memorandum had it, the man was a Malaysian named Mohammed (at least I got the "M" right). He was a fervent supporter of the [[Mohammed Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] and an adversary of the [[Iranian revolution]], but he was definitely not an Iranian, still less a representative of the Iranian government [the contrary of which assertion being the essence of the allegations of inappropriate contact with the Iranian government]. He was also hostile to the Carter Administration for having abandoned the Shah. It was his plan to contact someone with influence in Iran to propose that the hostages be released before the election to Governor Reagan, thereby embarrassing [[President Carter]]. I was shocked and responded spontaneously that we Americans have only one President at a time, and although Dick asked him for any actual information he might have on the hostages—which he did not have—we left after only a few minutes. I advised Dick to write a memo of the meeting, which he did. Unfortunately the memo, subsequently authenticated by the FBI, was mislaid for years. Ironically, it was I who unwittingly initiated the so-called "October Surprise" story, which grew into an utterly fantastic tale, even including George H. W. Bush's alleged secret trips to Paris to meet with Iranian emissaries. Bill Safire heard something of the L'Enfant Plaza meeting when he was doing a rather critical story on McFarlane, who had been Reagan's National Security Advisor. He called me (I was by then on the bench), and I told him what occurred. He made brief mention of it in a column raising, perhaps, unfair questions about McFarlane's judgment—it may well be that McFarlane was acting for Senator Tower.[32 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 503. See also Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (Nov./Dec. 2008), at pp. 49-50.]}}

{{blockquote|In the early fall of 1980 when I was Co-Chairman of Governor Reagan's foreign policy advisors and then a San Francisco banker, I came back to Washington for a meeting of Governor Reagan's advisors. [[Richard V. Allen|Dick Allen]], who subsequently became President Reagan's [[National Security Advisor]], was playing a similar role in the campaign. As our session ended (I recall it dealt with Arab-Israeli issues), Dick asked me if I could accompany him to a meeting at the [[L'Enfant Plaza|L'Enfant Hotel]]. He explained that [[Robert McFarlane (American politician)|Bud McFarlane]], then working for [[John Tower|Senator Tower]], wished him to see someone who had information on the hostage crisis—which, of course, was a matter of great political consequence to both campaigns. He asked me to join him, as an ex-Deputy Attorney General, because he was a bit apprehensive. At about noon McFarlane walked into the lobby with a gentleman whom I remembered as a Moroccan. But, as Dick Allen's contemporaneously-written memorandum had it, the man was a Malaysian named Mohammed (at least I got the "M" right). He was a fervent supporter of the [[Mohammed Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] and an adversary of the [[Iranian revolution]], but he was definitely not an Iranian, still less a representative of the Iranian government [the contrary of which assertion being the essence of the allegations of inappropriate contact with the Iranian government]. He was also hostile to the Carter Administration for having abandoned the Shah. It was his plan to contact someone with influence in Iran to propose that the hostages be released before the election to Governor Reagan, thereby embarrassing [[President Carter]]. I was shocked and responded spontaneously that we Americans have only one President at a time, and although Dick asked him for any actual information he might have on the hostages—which he did not have—we left after only a few minutes. I advised Dick to write a memo of the meeting, which he did. Unfortunately the memo, subsequently authenticated by the FBI, was mislaid for years. Ironically, it was I who unwittingly initiated the so-called "October Surprise" story, which grew into an utterly fantastic tale, even including George H. W. Bush's alleged secret trips to Paris to meet with Iranian emissaries. Bill Safire heard something of the L'Enfant Plaza meeting when he was doing a rather critical story on McFarlane, who had been Reagan's National Security Advisor. He called me (I was by then on the bench), and I told him what occurred. He made brief mention of it in a column raising, perhaps, unfair questions about McFarlane's judgment—it may well be that McFarlane was acting for Senator Tower.[32 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 503. See also Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (Nov./Dec. 2008), at pp. 49-50.]}}

On January 3, 1993, the bipartisan Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, also known as the "October Surprise Task Force," was released. The Task Force, led by Rep. [[Lee H. Hamilton]] (D) and Rep. [[Henry J. Hyde]] (R), specifically concluded that "there is wholly insufficient evidence of any communications by or on behalf of the 1980 Reagan Presidential campaign with any persons representing or connected with the Iranian government or with those holding Americans as hostages during the 1979-1981 period" and that "there is no credible evidence supporting any attempt or proposal to attempt, by the Reagan Presidential Campaign – or persons representing or associated with the campaign – to delay the release of the American hostages in Iran."{{cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003230365|title=Joint report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 ("October Surprise Task Force")|last=United States.|date=July 31, 1993|publisher=[U.S. G.P.O.] : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs.|via=Hathi Trust|access-date=July 14, 2019|archive-date=July 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714071130/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003230365|url-status=live}}

On January 3, 1993, the bipartisan Joint Report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, also known as the "October Surprise Task Force," was released. The Task Force, led by Rep. [[Lee H. Hamilton]] (D) and Rep. [[Henry J. Hyde]] (R), specifically concluded that "there is wholly insufficient evidence of any communications by or on behalf of the 1980 Reagan Presidential campaign with any persons representing or connected with the Iranian government or with those holding Americans as hostages during the 1979-1981 period" and that "there is no credible evidence supporting any attempt or proposal to attempt, by the Reagan Presidential Campaign – or persons representing or associated with the campaign – to delay the release of the American hostages in Iran."{{cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003230365|title=Joint report of the Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 ("October Surprise Task Force")|last=United States.|date=July 31, 1993|publisher=[U.S. G.P.O.] : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs.|via=HathiTrust|access-date=July 14, 2019|archive-date=July 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714071130/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003230365|url-status=live}}

=== Iran–Contra affair ===

=== Iran–Contra affair ===