John Goodwin Tower (1925-91), a former Republican senator from Texas was appointed to head Ronald W. Reagan’s President’s Special Review Board (the Tower Commission) on November 6, 1986, to investigate the Iran-contra AEEAIR. Tower chaired the three-member, bipartisan panel that included former national security adviser Brent Scow-croft, and former secretary of state Edmund Muskie.
In February 1987 the commission issued a report chastising the Reagan administration and the president’s advisers for their lack of control over the National Security Council (NSC). The Congressional Joint Investigative Committee, in 40 days of public hearings, listened to 28 witnesses, conducted more than 500 interviews and depositions, and amassed more than 300,000 documents. Although the report suggested the NSC should be overseen by Congress, it did not call for legal action or major institutional changes. In November 1987 the committee reported that the president bore the ultimate responsibility for the implementation of his administration’s policies but found no firm evidence that he had known of the diversion of funds to the contras.
Democrats in Congress criticized the Tower Commission’s findings, asserting that since the commission did not have subpoena power and the assistance of the special prosecutor, it did not explain the entire affair. Republicans largely felt the matter closed and commended the commission’s findings.
—Michele Rutledge
World History
