Editing William Casey (section)

==Iran Contra Affair==
The **Iran-Contra Affair** marked the nadir of Casey’s tenure. Beginning in 1985, the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran, violating an embargo, to secure the release of American hostages in Lebanon. Profits were diverted to fund Nicaragua’s Contras, circumventing the **Boland Amendment**, which banned such aid. Casey, implicated in orchestrating the scheme with **Oliver North** and **John Poindexter**, denied direct involvement but acknowledged broad oversight of Contra support. Declassified documents, cited in *Firewall* by Lawrence E. Walsh, show Casey’s memos urging Reagan to approve arms sales and his role in creating a covert “off-the-shelf” network for deniable operations. The scandal, exposed in 1986, led to congressional hearings and tarnished Casey’s legacy.

Casey’s health deteriorated amid Iran-Contra scrutiny. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in December 1986, he resigned on January 29, 1987, and died on May 6, 1987, at age 74 in Glen Cove, New York, before testifying fully. His death fueled conspiracy theories, with some, like *The Nation* (1987), speculating assassination to silence him, though medical records confirm a glioblastoma. Casey was buried at **Holy Rood Cemetery** in Westbury, New York, survived by his wife, **Sophia McLarnon**, whom he married in 1941, and their daughter, **Bernadette**.