ABSTRACT
The secretaries of state and defense were opposed to the Iranian venture, while the attorney general and the director of intelligence were in favor. At a minimum, the president had to choose among advisers. The president is famous for paring his agenda down to the essentials. The president thought of arms for hostages as a partial retreat from a policy that otherwise stood in force. The president thought he was acting in the national interest. American hostages obviously create problems for our people and politicians—from Korea to Vietnam to Daniloff in the USSR to Iran. The president came on loud and clear to the nation and, even more important, to the world: no deals with terrorists. Running for president and being president are now separate ball games in which the rules, the tests, the challenges are fundamentally different. Presidential candidates get better and better at playing to the press's professional obsession with novelty and immediacy.
