The Breach - by Alan McPherson (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A president defying Congress. Disrespect for the law. Attacks on the press. Evasion in the courts. The privatization of war. Quid pro quos with foreign nations. The mounting dangers to American democracy have long been with us. But all these perils first emerged together during the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan-Bush era. This opaque foreign policy mess has receded from history, a minor speedbump at the triumphant end of the Cold War. With American democracy in increasing jeopardy from the inside, however, Iran-Contra must be reassessed as a major step down that dark path. In this gripping blow-by-blow account of the 1980s efforts to trade arms with Iran illegally, fund rebels in Central America despite a congressional prohibition, and dodge political and legal consequences once the truth emerged, Alan McPherson argues for the salience of six democracy-degrading behaviors throughout the fiasco. At the time, many warned of the broad attack on democratic norms, yet no one paid a real price or learned a lesson. Those failures left the country more divided than ever before, and ill-equipped for more severe assaults to come"--

Book Synopsis

A president defying Congress. Disrespect for the law. Attacks on the press. Evasion in the courts. The privatization of war. Quid pro quos with foreign nations. The mounting dangers to American democracy have long been with us. But all these perils first emerged together during the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan-Bush era. This opaque foreign policy mess has receded from history, a minor speedbump at the triumphant end of the Cold War. With American democracy in increasing jeopardy from the inside, however, Iran-Contra must be reassessed as a major step down that dark path.

In this gripping blow-by-blow account of the 1980s efforts to trade arms with Iran illegally, fund rebels in Central America despite a congressional prohibition, and dodge political and legal consequences once the truth emerged, Alan McPherson argues for the salience of six democracy-degrading behaviors throughout the fiasco. At the time, many warned of the broad attack on democratic norms, yet no one paid a real price or learned a lesson. Those failures left the country more divided than ever before, and ill-equipped for more severe assaults to come.

Review Quotes

"[McPherson] has given us an account--short and wonderfully easy to read--of the Iran-Contra affair, the greatest scandal of Ronald Reagan's presidency."--Foreign Service Journal

"Akhirulkalam, pelajaran terpenting dari skandal Iran-Contra tentu bukan cuma berlaku di AS. Itu bisa menjadi pelajaran untuk negara manapun. Sebab, dari skandal itu terungkap bahwa niat membangun pemerintahan yang baik, transparan, akuntabel dan bermanfaat untuk rakyat sesungguhnya merupakan niat baik yang akan selalu menghadapi pikiran transaksional. Tentu ini mengkhawatirkan."--RMOLJATIM

Translation: "Ultimately, the most important lesson from the Iran-Contra scandal certainly doesn't apply only to the US. It can be a lesson for any country. Because, the scandal revealed that the intention to build a good, transparent, accountable government that benefits the people is actually a good intention that will always face a transactional mindset. This is certainly worrying."--RMOLJATIM

"Based on a thorough review of congressional hearings, independent prosecutor proceedings, grand-jury records, published memoirs and author interviews, Alan McPherson . . . concludes that Iran-Contra involved more fundamental constitutional abuses than those implicated in the better-known Watergate scandal a decade earlier. Drawing lessons for today, McPherson argues that America's failure to learn appropriate lessons from Iran-Contra opened the way to more serious constitutional erosion under Donald Trump."--Survival

"McPherson is right to suggest that Iran-Contra is prologue to our present. . . . [The Breach] argues convincingly that Iran-Contra should be plotted not as a minor sideshow in the Cold War's final act, nor as a case study in flawed national-security policymaking, but as a key moment in the collapse of democratic norms."--Bloomberg

"McPherson's detailed, story-rich account will not only hold readers' attention but will also alert them to the blatantly dishonest and self-serving actions of the top officials in the U.S. government during the Iran-Contra scandal."--Library Journal

"One could argue that Iran-Contra represents a dispute between Congress and the president about the conduct over foreign policy. While certainly true, The Breach methodically and convincingly refutes this reductive and pollyannaish view, and instead demonstrates something much more nefarious taking place: the unraveling of American democracy."--Congress and the Presidency

"Reading Alan McPherson's brilliant examination of the Iran-Contra affair it is almost as if Washington has become trapped in a timeless Bermuda Triangle of deception of its own making that stretches from Iran to Nicaragua to DC."--Latin American Review of Books

"Solidly conceived and argued, well presented, and written in accessible prose. McPherson has a strong command of political theories as well as historical and political context. He also incorporates some new archival research."--Malcolm Byrne, Diplomatic History

"The clearest, most accessible account of the scandal ever written. Leveraging a profound knowledge of existing scholarship as well as a forensic review of the most recently available documentary evidence, [McPherson] makes a strong case that Iran-Contra matters now more than ever."--NACLA

"The Iran-Contra cover-up paved the way for the mendacious government we have now. Through three archives, many other primary documents, and secondary sources, [McPherson] shows how deep the lying went."--The Latin Americanist

About the Author

Alan McPherson is professor of history at Temple University and author of Ghosts of Sheridan Circle.