"Jimmy Carter was not a very good president"

[delisen]

33. Reagan sold arms to Iran Ayatollah and diverted the money to

to right wing rebels Nicaragua.

George Herbert Walker Bush succeeded Reagan and shut down the investigation by pardoning the bad actors at the highest level of the Reagan administration-special prosecutor lost all leverage and investigation was effectively over.

Some say Bush was actually indirectly pardoning himself.

Reagan himself stayed untarnished by playing dumb about the scheme (gee I didn't know they were doing that!)

Oliver North participated in the scheme and coverup but his felony convictions were overturned.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/06/opinion/oliver-north-fortunate-felon.html

North was pronounced a hero by the right wing and was a staple on the Sean Hannity show.

Ronald Reagan,tough guy president, stationed Marines in Beirut. On October 23, 1983 - 241 US service personnel -- including 220 Marines and 21 other service personnel -were killed by a truck bomb at a Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon. (from CNN report)
Regan talked tough but he then retreated after the disaster.

May be some lessons here for today.