Regan, Donald. For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1988.

Date: August 3, 1994

Regan divides his account into three parts: A Case of Poison, An American Life, and In the White House. In the first part, Regan describes the period from November 1986 through March 1987 from his first knowledge of the arms-for-hostages story to the release of the Tower report on the Iran-Contra affair. (The account in chapters 1-5 is concluded the chapter 19.) He goes on the record as denying his own, or the President's, specific knowledge or approval of the sale of arms to Iran or the diversion of funds to support of the Nicaraguan Contras.

The day-by-day account of the affair through the eyes of the White House Chief of Staff is interesting. His agenda for this book is to clear his reputation of any false suspicions resulting from the Iran-Contra affair. Although he does not speak badly of Ronald Reagan, he would give the reader the strong impression that Mrs. Reagan was domineering, insensitive and somewhat wacky (referring to her obsession with a San Francisco astrologer's advice).

Although my initial interest in this book was for Regan's account of the Iran-Contra affair, the chapters discussing his work in the Treasury department were also of interest. Regan's description of how the agendas of David Stockman in OMB, Paul Volcker at the FED and Congress on Capital Hill related to the economic conditions of the early 1980s is informative, though not extremely detailed.

In the midst of conflicting views, Regan describes his desire and fight to acheive equitable economic reform and growth through simplification of the tax code rather than an increase on tax rates. He goes into some detail regarding the tax changes and resulting tax effects on various groups in society. Although most in government saw a clear need for an increase in taxes, Regan suggested that the Treasury plan would neither raise taxes or reduce revenue, but would spur economic activity by putting economic players on equal footing with regard to taxes. Upon completion of the Treasury proposal, Regan switched jobs with Jim Baker to become the White House Chief of Staff.

Don Regan - Treasury Secretary/White House Chief of Staff

President and Mrs. Reagan

Jim Baker - White House Chief of Staff/Treasury Secretary

William Casey - CIA Director

Bud McFarlane - National Security Advisor

Caspar Weinberger - Secretary of Defense

Adm. John Poindexter - National Security Advisor (after McFarlane)

Edwin Meese - Attorney General

Iran-Contra Investigation Commission

John Tower - Former Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee

Brent Scowcroft - National Security Advisor (under Ford)

Edmund Muskie - Former Senator and Secretary of State

J. Sprigg