Oliver North Trial: 1989

The biggest problem facing prosecutors was that most of their witnesses were unswerving admirers of North, with testimony couched in such a way as to impart the facts without leaving any doubts as to which side they were really on. Contra leader Adolfo Calero was typical. "He [North] became sort of a savior.… The Nicaraguan people have a tremendous appreciation of this man. So much so … that they're going to erect a monument for him once we free Nicaragua." Rarely has a prosecution witness been more accommodating to the defense.

Former NSC advisor Robert McFarlane—North's immediate superior—took the stand, already having pleaded guilty to four separate charges of withholding information from Congress. Reluctant and evasive, McFarlane had a knack for framing his answers in language and syntax so arcane as to render them incomprehensible. One of his few unambiguous responses came when Keker asked, "Do you ever recall hearing the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, instruct you or anyone else in your presence to lie to … Congress?"

"No," McFarlane replied.

"About anything?"

"No."

Probably the witness more eagerly anticipated than any other was Fawn Hall, North's former secretary. A media favorite, she told of deliberately shredding papers at North's request and also smuggling documents from his office. "I … placed them inside the back of my skirt so they were secured there." Those reporters present hoping for elaboration on this last tantalizing tidbit were disappointed; Hall, yet another witness clearly under North's spell, said nothing further to harm him.

When North testified, he did so with the same confidence that had served him so well at the congressional hearing. The first part of his testimony comprised a condensed version of the $25,000-a-night speech that he had been making lately to boost coffers for his defense fund. In a brief geopolitical slide show, North sketched a picture of the United States under assault at every border. He explained how only the efforts of himself and other like-minded Cold War knights kept the Western world safe from communism. Asked by Sullivan how he regarded his position, the defendant replied in the tremulous voice that had become his trademark, "I felt like a pawn in a chess game being played by giants."