In 1985, while Iran and Iraq were at war, Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States. McFarlane sought Reagan's approval, in spite of the embargo against selling arms to Iran. McFarlane explained that the sale of arms would not only improve U.S. relations with Iran, but might in turn lead to improved relations with Lebanon, increasing U.S. influence in the troubled Middle East. Reagan was driven by a different obsession. He had become frustrated at his inability to secure the release of the seven American hostages being held by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. As president, Reagan felt that "he had the duty to bring those Americans home," and he convinced himself that he was not negotiating with terrorists. While shipping arms to Iran violated the embargo, dealing with terrorists violated Reagan's campaign promise never to do so. ...

The arms-for-hostages proposal divided the administration. Longtime policy adversaries Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz opposed the deal, but Reagan, McFarlane and CIA director William Casey supported it. With the backing of the president, the plan progressed. By the time the sales were discovered, more than 1,500 missiles had been shipped to Iran. Three hostages had been released, only to be replaced with three more, in what Secretary of State George Shultz called "a hostage bazaar."

read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/reagan-iran/

Jon Perr
Jan 13, 2016

Years from now, Americans will look back at the Iranian hostage crisis that wasn't. One day after 10 American sailors were captured by Iranian patrols after their boats inadvertently drifted into Tehran's territorial waters, our servicemen and their equipment are back in U.S. hands.

But the diplomatic thaw and rapid action by Secretary of State John Kerry that allowed both sides to avoid a confrontation is still too much for President Obama's Republican critics to handle. The usual suspects denounced the White House for images of "America on its knees," for its "apology" to Tehran and because "even Jimmy Carter never got around to thanking the Iranians for taking such good care of their US hostages."

The Republicans and their amen corner might want to rethink their strategy. After all, Ronald Reagan—the American president who actually negotiated with terrorists—tried and failed to secure the release of western hostages held by Iranian proxies even after sending the mullahs in Tehran a cake, a Bible and $500 million in U.S. weapons. And as it turns out, after the collision of an American spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet in international airspace on April 1, 2001, President Bush told Beijing the United States was "very sorry" for the loss of their pilot and for our airmen landing on Hainan Island.

On April 11, 2001, the Bush administration instructed American ambassador Joseph Prueher to deliver this letter to his Chinese counterpart, foreign minister Tang Jiaxuan:

It's weird, isn't it? Republicans try to come up with great Republican President and for that they are intentionally ignoring the two most recent Republican Presidents.
It's as if The-W-who-shall-not-be-named never existed... As if all of America's problems started when this other guy took over in January 2009...

Reagan was the beginning of the end for the middle class. This guy made sure that any and all funds were looped back to the corporations and other big-contributors to his campaign. Reagan distained the middle class and the poor. Remember, he wanted to count ketchup as a vegetable for under privileged children in their school lunch. He gave arms to what is now Al Queda and (the late) Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein (there are photos with Rumsfeld and others). Reagan was not a good, kind man. That's a fantasy created by the GOP.

as said to me by 60 year old man that apparently didn't live through Reagan era. How do you fix delusional when the media can openly lie to people?

hostages captive until he was inaugurated.