This past week an American hero, and hero of the faith, Lt. Col. Oliver North, USMC-ret, turned 80 years old.
For those not old enough to remember the importance of Oliver North in the public consciousness, we must return to the summer of 1987 when there were only three major television networks and the Iran-Contra hearings were being held.
While the witnesses were important, the unquestionable star of the hearings was the young Marine Lt. Col. who boldly proclaimed to the Congress that what he did, in the name of stopping communism in Central America on behalf of the National Security Council in the Reagan Administration, was right.
In the Iran-Contra Hearings, even shredding documents became a sometimes humorous topic of household conversation in U.S. Overall, the American public loved Oliver North though he had to fight for several more years for charges against him to be dismissed, which they were and for his Marine Corps pension to be restored. It was.
At the time of his television appearance Oliver North was already a hero. A Naval Academy graduate, he went to Vietnam where he was twice wounded and awarded the Silver Star as well as the Bronze Star with V device for valor. He was selected for the Command and Staff Course at the Naval War College in 1980 and impressed his superiors enough to serve on the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan. North was noted for his steadfast dedication to his duty and was considered indispensable to the NSC.
North’s efforts at the NSC had him working with other heroes of the Conservative movement with a military background, such as John Singlaub, and produced results in Grenada, the nabbing of the Achille Lauro terrorists in 1985 and other actions.
During the Reagan Administration, when arms were traded to Iran in an attempt to free American hostages, North helped arrange that the profits from such sales were transferred to the Contras fighting the Sandinistas, that were supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba, in Nicaragua. The situation seemed to be a win for most concerned except that Congress had, in the Boland Amendment, forbid U.S. government assistance of a military nature to the Contras. North, CIA director Bill Casey and others believed the NSC to be an advisory arm of the government not covered by the Boland Amendment.
The hearings in the summer of 1987 were captivating to the American public seeing a decorated Vietnam Veteran, defending a popular Commander in Chief who loved the military, square off against Congress regarding stopping Communism while attempting to recover American hostages. The hearings were, coming after the humiliation of Vietnam and the Iran Hostage Crisis in previous administrations, in many ways a referendum on the larger foreign policy soul of the United States. While other witnesses were of higher rank or protocol than North, he clearly was the star of the hearings and many Ollie for President signs and buttons appeared throughout the country. There was a feeling that with people like Ollie North in charge, Vietnam would not have happened nor the former hostage crisis. His record in successful military operations and in working counterterrorism for the U.S. government attested to that.
Upon the conclusion of his military career, North went on to found Freedom Alliance which gave thousands of care packages to American troops in the First Gulf War and now gives scholarships to children of deceased servicemembers. After the formation Freedom Alliance, he later hosted War Stories in addition to writing various opinion pieces and offering vocal commentary. In the Global War on Terrorism, Colonel North was a highly respected war correspondent, beloved by his fellow Marines and other Service Members for his dedication to their profession and their sacrifice.
Now, Colonel North faces his toughest assignment in caring for his wife (Colonel North has shared this information publicly as a word of encouragement to others) relying on his faith in Jesus; a faith that saved him and his family during times of very demanding roles in the Marine Corps and being under media scrutiny. We may not see as much of him years ahead but the greatest of heroes, such as his dear spouse and mother of his children, are often not in the public eye.
When my son first came to America years ago he asked me to explain who Oliver North was after seeing the Colonel’s book. The first sentence I used to describe him was, “This man was extremely famous once; the first famous person on the news after the President.” Now I say something different about Oliver North. Though always knowing it, I tell my son “He is a good man, and one we should be like as we get older.”
*Views expressed in this article are those of the author and not any government agency
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