Reagan Explains Calling North a National Hero

President Reagan, who once called former aide Oliver L. North a national hero, said in an interview made public Friday that his remark had nothing to do with North’s role in the Iran- contra affair. “When I said to him . . . that I still saw him as a national hero, that was in response to the fact that he has medals for valor and valorous deeds in the Vietnam War,” Reagan said in an interview to be published in U.S. News & World Report.