Parting Ways on Pardons

It's amazing what nuggets of information you can unearth deep within a book as jampacked as "The Reagan Diaries" -- a 745-page doorstop, edited by historian Douglas Brinkley, that sheds light on how the former president grappled with some of the same executive dilemmas garnering headlines today.

Take presidential pardons for White House associates, for example.

In his diary entry for Dec. 6, 1988, President Ronald Reagan wrote, "I lean very much toward a pardon" for Robert "Bud" McFarlane, his former national security adviser who had pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor counts for misleading Congress about the Iran-contra affair.

"He awaits sentence. . . . I don't think he deliberately lied," Reagan recorded, adding that McFarlane's wife had written him "on her own asking for a pardon for Bud."

The issue had come up that morning, according to the diary, when Reagan's White House counsel, A.B. Culvahouse, began a 10 a.m. meeting talking about pardons -- not only for McFarlane but also for Oliver North and John Poindexter, the two main actors in the arms-for-hostages dealings.

The matter reemerged on Dec. 22, less than a month before Reagan would leave office. The president wrote that he had sent Culvahouse "letters from Ollie North's lawyers asking me to pardon Ollie." Next, he wrote that at 10:30 a.m. on the same day, Attorney General Richard Thornburgh "came in with a well reasoned argument against pardons for North & Poindexter," who at that point were awaiting trial.

On Jan. 10, 1989, Reagan noted, "The matter of a pardon for North is now being looked at as -- the judge should drop the charges." Part of Reagan's interest in the North trial is reflected in the next day's entry: "[T]he Justice Dept. will file a motion today to quash the subpoenas for Geo. [Secretary of State George P.Shultz] & me in the North case."

On Jan. 16, Reagan recorded that he had "a 20 min. session on things hanging fire -- like pardons for several people." The only name Reagan mentioned was that of Michael K. Deaver, his former deputy chief of staff who had been convicted of not telling the truth to a congressional committee. Reagan noted that a Deaver relative had called a Justice Department official "about a pardon for Mike," but "Mike has passed the word he wouldn't accept a pardon."

On Reagan's last full day in office, Jan. 19, he wrote that Thornburgh came "to see me about pardons." Reagan went on: "He doesn't believe I should pardon . . . North, Poindexter or McFarlane. I'm afraid he's right."

In his autobiography, "An American Life," Reagan disclosed that "despite appeals from their supporters and despite my own sympathies," he had decided against pardoning the three. "I still felt the law had to be allowed to take its course," he wrote. It was Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, who would pardon McFarlane on Dec. 24, 1992. North's and Poindexter's convictions had been previously reversed.

Now, after President George W. Bush has commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, it would be interesting to know what roles Bush's attorney general and White House counsel played in the decision.

There are so many other intriguing items in this book that one would want to know more about:

At a National Security Council meeting on Jan. 12, 1989, Reagan was told that U.S. intelligence "retrieved one of the Iranian boats our helicopters sank some time ago." The boat "was armed with a Stinger [a shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missile launcher] we had given to the Mujaheddin [anti-Soviet Afghan fighters] including the missile."

The Pentagon and CIA are still trying to collect Stingers shipped to Afghanistan in those years.

On Aug. 5, 1988, after another NSC meeting, Reagan reported learning that "over the years the Soviets have used the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia for spying. This is very hush, hush." It still is.

And did you ever wonder whether there was any history -- years before her husband's battle with Alzheimer's became public -- that foreshadowed Nancy Reagan's efforts against President Bush's views on stem cell research?

Two days before leaving office, Jan. 18, 1989, President Reagan wrote, "Some talk about the proposal for an exec. Order re Fetus Tissue use from aborted babies."

National security and intelligence reporter Walter Pincus pores over the speeches, reports, transcripts and other documents that flood Washington, and every week uncovers the fine print that rarely makes headlines -- but should. If you have any items that fit the bill, please send them tofineprint@washpost.com.