Oliver North (The More Things Changed)

Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator and television host, military historian, New York Times best-selling author, former United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, and former United States Senator from Virginia.

North is remembered for his term as a National Security Council staff member during the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. The scandal involved the illegal sale of weapons to Iran to encourage the release of U.S. hostages then held in Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan, which was to divert proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel groups in Nicaragua, which had been specifically prohibited under the Boland Amendment.