Caspar Weinberger Is Dead…

For some reason, this reminds me of my childhood:

Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense to President Ronald Reagan who played key roles in the so-called Star Wars program and the Iran-Contra affair has died. He was 88.

John Updike once wrote a novel “Memories of the Ford Administration.” If I wrote a memoir of my middle-to-late childhood, it could accurately be called “I Remember The Regan Administration.”

Having been aware of politics from a very early age (I remember my maternal grandmother complaining constantly about Ronald Reagan during the 1980 election), the Iran-Contra affair and the Reagan administration provide some of my earliest memories about government. I remember actually watching TV coverage of John Hinkley’s assassination attempt on Reagan, and even my Catholic maternal grandmother insisting that she say a Rosary for him and light a candle even though she didn’t like him. I remember both swearing-in ceremonies, including being home sick when Reagan was sworn-in for the second time when I was in second grade.

But, of the Reagan years, I remember most of all the summer of 1987. I was staying in Iowa with my step-grandparents and coverage of the Iran-Contra hearings was on constantly. I was probably the only 11-year-old in the entire nation who watched all of the hearings.

And, I knew all the players: Oliver North, John Poindexter, Ed Meese, Brent Scowcroft, the Tower Commission, etc., having kept up with the whole thing via the local daily, the Tyler Morning Telegraph, and the Dallas Times-Herald (which still existed at that time) and Dallas Morning News, all of which we subscribed to. When we had to give little “reports” on current events in school, I usually chose the Iran Contra topic (except for when Robert Bork was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, I did a report on that, too).
So, to me, the death of Caspar Wineberger is kind of strange; it’s like bringing back forgotten memories of an era that’s been surpassed by a hundred other major and minor scandals. And, it reminds me just how far we have come as a country.

With Democrats still in the majority in the U.S. House when Iran Contra went down, there were hearings, special prosecutors, and a means to an end.

Today, we’ve got a president who is gung-ho for illegal wiretapping, a war in Iraq allegedly fought because of weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist, and worse. Yet, with Republicans in control of everything, even a simple censure measure seems impossible.

Sigh. Where is Tip O’Neill when you need him?

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