Guide to Iran-Contra Scandal Tells Who’s Who, What’s What

A 678-page “player’s guide” to the Iran- contra scandal was published this week, timed to coincide with the televised congressional hearings into the controversy.

“The Chronology: The Documented, Day-by-Day Account of the Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Contras” was published as a paperback “instant book” by Warner Books in cooperation with the National Security Archive, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute and library here.

Tom Blanton, director of planning and research for the National Security Archive, said the organization prepared the chronology as a guide to congressional investigators. As national attention focused on the issue, Blanton said, he and the executive director of the National Security Archive, Scott Armstrong, began to see the importance of making the huge, binder-sized chronologies available to the public in a more manageable format.

“It’s very hard to make sense of this amazing amount of information unless you have some structure,” Blanton said.

The book spans activities from January, 1980, to April, 1987.