Context of 'May 5, 1985: Reagan Visits Nazi Cemetery'

Ray Cline, former deputy director of the CIA, visits a Khmer Rouge camp inside Cambodia as a senior foreign-policy adviser to President-elect Ronald Reagan. A Khmer Rouge press release reports that Cline “was warmly greeted by thousands of villagers.” [Blum, 1995]

US President Ronald Reagan publicly claims to end aid to the contras in accordance with a congressional ban. However his administration continues the support, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal. [BBC, 6/5/2004; Columbia Encyclopedia. Sixth edition, 2005]

President Reagan places a wreath on a grave at Bitberg Cemetery. [Source: Forward / Getty Images]Ronald Reagan, on a trip to Germany to honor the victims of World War II and the Holocaust, visits the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He also visits the Bitberg Cemetery, which contains the graves of Nazi Waffen SS. Some see the Bitberg visit as an indirect expression of Reagan’s support for, or sympathy with, the Nazis. [PBS, 2000]

While Ronald Reagan publicly compares Iran’s government to “Murder, Incorporated” (see July 8, 1985), he privately authorizes his National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane, to make contact with Iran. [New York Times, 11/19/1987]