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Summary
B-ROLL OF PRESIDENT PRESS CONFERENCE.TRANSCRIPT: (Not on tape) Q. What concerns you most about the decreasing U.S. oil production and the finding that it could threaten national security, based on that report?The President. Well, it certainly would be if we were ever faced with a crisis. And what has happened to us is that here, in our standard of living and all, they can't find and produce oil for the price that it has gone back down to. It was only the high price that could keep them in business.I remembered I promised you I'd call on you.Q. Thank you, Mr. President, I'm afraid I've caught your laryngitis.The President. Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. [Laughter]Iran Arms and Contra Aid ControversyQ. Long before the diversion of funds to the contras, the Tower board has documented 2 years of an extensive U.S. military support for the contras at a time when Congress ruled that to be illegal -- air strips, phony corporations, tax-exempt foundations -- all directed by Oliver North and John Poindexter and, before them, Robert McFarlane, out of the White House. And the question is, how could all this be taking place -- millions and millions of dollars -- without you having known about it, especially at a time when you were calling the contras the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers?The President. Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News], I don't believe -- I was aware that there are private groups and private individuals in this country -- I don't believe it was counter to our law that these people were voluntarily offering help, just as we've seen in the past. We had a thing called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain in the civil war there. And I don't know how much that would amount to. I don't know whether it's enough to keep them in business or not. But I do know that it is absolutely vital that we not back away from this. We've had some experiences in our country where the Congress has turned on a President. Angola was the most recent example, perhaps -- when in Angola, when it ceased being a colony and the civil war broke out there and there was a Communist faction and there was a group that wanted democracy. And an American President asked Congress just for money -- no blood, just money to help the democratic people of Angola have a democratic government. They don't have a democratic government; they have a Communist government now, and there are 37,000 Cuban soldiers fighting their battle.Q. But, sir, if you were truly unaware of the millions of dollars in government money and government operations that North and Poindexter were directing to the contras, what does this -- respectfully, what does this say about your management style? You have said in your speech that your management style in the contra-Iran affair did not match your previous track record. The Tower board criticized your management style. If you were unaware of these things and forgot when you actually approved the Iranian arms sale, what does it say about the way you've been managing the Presidency?The President. Andrea, I've been reading a great deal about my management style. I think that most people in business will agree that it is a proper management style. You get the best people you can to do a job; then you don't hang over their shoulder criticizing everything they do or picking at them on how they're doing it. You set the policy -- and I set the policy in this administration -- and they are then to implement it. And the only time you move is if the evidence is incontrovertible that they are not following policy or they have gone down a road in which they're not achieving what we want. And I think that that is a good management policy.Q. Would you -- [inaudible]?The President. I'm not going to comment now, because all that you've mentioned are involved in investigations. And I, more than anyone, want these investigations to proceed so that I know, and will know, what has been going on that had been kept from me in various covert operations.Q. Thank you.Q. Mr. President, you didn't answer the question on North or Poindexter. Did they deceive you? You didn't answer whether Poindexter and North deceived you.The President. They just didn't tell me what was going on -- --Q. Did Don Regan deceive you?Q. Did they lie to you?Q. Did Don Regan pressure you, sir, to change your testimony?Q. When are you going to come back and see us again, sir? When are you going to come back -- --Q. How soon?Q. Let's have another press conference.Q. Let's do it again.Q. How about another half hour?Q. Did the Vice President object to this plan in Iran, Mr. President? You said that -- --Q. Would you come back and talk to us?Q. -- -- Shultz and Weinberger didn't. Did the Vice President?The President. No.Q. He didn't object to it? Thank you, sir.
Footage Information
Source | CONUS Archive |
---|---|
Record ID | 290488 |
Story Slug | PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN PRESS CONFERENCE (1987) |
Location | WASHINGTON, DC |
Format | B-ROLL |
Date | 3-19-1987 |
Archive Time | 1:00:00 |
TRT | 6:03 |
Video Description | CU OF REAGAN, SHOTS OF PRESS ASKING QUESTIONS, CU OF REAGAN, PRESIDENT STARTS TO LEAVE, PRESS POUNCE AND MOVE TOWARDS PODIUM STILL SHOUTING QUESTIONS, PRESIDENT WAVES AND BACKS UP DOWN HALLWAY WIDE SHOT OF PRESS FILING OTU OF ROOM |
Description | B-ROLL OF PRESIDENT PRESS CONFERENCE.TRANSCRIPT: (Not on tape) Q. What concerns you most about the decreasing U.S. oil production and the finding that it could threaten national security, based on that report?The President. Well, it certainly would be if we were ever faced with a crisis. And what has happened to us is that here, in our standard of living and all, they can't find and produce oil for the price that it has gone back down to. It was only the high price that could keep them in business.I remembered I promised you I'd call on you.Q. Thank you, Mr. President, I'm afraid I've caught your laryngitis.The President. Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. [Laughter]Iran Arms and Contra Aid ControversyQ. Long before the diversion of funds to the contras, the Tower board has documented 2 years of an extensive U.S. military support for the contras at a time when Congress ruled that to be illegal -- air strips, phony corporations, tax-exempt foundations -- all directed by Oliver North and John Poindexter and, before them, Robert McFarlane, out of the White House. And the question is, how could all this be taking place -- millions and millions of dollars -- without you having known about it, especially at a time when you were calling the contras the moral equivalent of our Founding Fathers?The President. Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News], I don't believe -- I was aware that there are private groups and private individuals in this country -- I don't believe it was counter to our law that these people were voluntarily offering help, just as we've seen in the past. We had a thing called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in Spain in the civil war there. And I don't know how much that would amount to. I don't know whether it's enough to keep them in business or not. But I do know that it is absolutely vital that we not back away from this. We've had some experiences in our country where the Congress has turned on a President. Angola was the most recent example, perhaps -- when in Angola, when it ceased being a colony and the civil war broke out there and there was a Communist faction and there was a group that wanted democracy. And an American President asked Congress just for money -- no blood, just money to help the democratic people of Angola have a democratic government. They don't have a democratic government; they have a Communist government now, and there are 37,000 Cuban soldiers fighting their battle.Q. But, sir, if you were truly unaware of the millions of dollars in government money and government operations that North and Poindexter were directing to the contras, what does this -- respectfully, what does this say about your management style? You have said in your speech that your management style in the contra-Iran affair did not match your previous track record. The Tower board criticized your management style. If you were unaware of these things and forgot when you actually approved the Iranian arms sale, what does it say about the way you've been managing the Presidency?The President. Andrea, I've been reading a great deal about my management style. I think that most people in business will agree that it is a proper management style. You get the best people you can to do a job; then you don't hang over their shoulder criticizing everything they do or picking at them on how they're doing it. You set the policy -- and I set the policy in this administration -- and they are then to implement it. And the only time you move is if the evidence is incontrovertible that they are not following policy or they have gone down a road in which they're not achieving what we want. And I think that that is a good management policy.Q. Would you -- [inaudible]?The President. I'm not going to comment now, because all that you've mentioned are involved in investigations. And I, more than anyone, want these investigations to proceed so that I know, and will know, what has been going on that had been kept from me in various covert operations.Q. Thank you.Q. Mr. President, you didn't answer the question on North or Poindexter. Did they deceive you? You didn't answer whether Poindexter and North deceived you.The President. They just didn't tell me what was going on -- --Q. Did Don Regan deceive you?Q. Did they lie to you?Q. Did Don Regan pressure you, sir, to change your testimony?Q. When are you going to come back and see us again, sir? When are you going to come back -- --Q. How soon?Q. Let's have another press conference.Q. Let's do it again.Q. How about another half hour?Q. Did the Vice President object to this plan in Iran, Mr. President? You said that -- --Q. Would you come back and talk to us?Q. -- -- Shultz and Weinberger didn't. Did the Vice President?The President. No.Q. He didn't object to it? Thank you, sir. |
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