When he worked
for President Reagan, Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North arranged to sell arms to help Nicaraguan Contra forces. Now, he’ll promote arms a different way — as president of the National Rifle Association.
Retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a central figure in the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s, has been named president of the National Rifle Association.
The NRA’s board of directors chose North to be the organization’s president Monday after Pete Brownell decided not to seek a second term.
“This is the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became president of our Association,” NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre said. “Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader. In these times, I can think of no one better suited to serve as our president.”
North will assume the presidency in coming weeks and has resigned from Fox News, where he was a commentator.
“I appreciate the board initiating a process that affords me a few weeks to set my affairs in order, and I am eager to hit the ground running as the new NRA President,” North said in a statement.
North, 74, worked on the staff of the National Security Council in the Reagan White House when some within the administration arranged to sell U.S. arms to Iran in exchange for hostages and diverted part of the proceeds from those sales to help Nicaraguan Contra forces. That type of aid was banned by Congress.
North was convicted in 1989 of charges including obstructing Congress, unlawfully mutilating government documents and taking an illegal gratuity. He was fined $150,000 and was given a three-year suspended sentence and two years’ probation. A federal judge dropped the criminal charges against North in 1991.
North was an active Marine for 22 years. He hosted “War Stories with Oliver North,” a series of military history documentaries, on Fox News, and worked as a contributor for the network before retiring Monday.
North ran for Senate in 1994 as a Republican in a bitter race against Democrat Charles S. Robb in Virginia. North and Robb were in a statistical tie fewer than two weeks before the election when former first lady Nancy Reagan blasted North, saying he lied about her husband’s role in Irancontra.
“Ollie North has a great deal of trouble separating fact from fantasy,” Nancy Reagan said at the time, “and he lied to my husband and lied about my husband, kept things from him that he should not have kept from him.”