George Bush

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The Vice President comes off better than most other top members of the Administration. His participation in the Iran initiative appears to have been minimal: he was present at a meeting with Reagan last year during which the idea of trading arms for hostages was discussed, and, according to George Shultz's account, did not oppose the notion. But he was more generally in favor of the strategy of using arms shipments to establish a relationship with "moderate" elements in Iran. Although Bush is one of four statutory members of the NSC, the conclusion was that he had no management responsibility in the affair. Said Member Edmund Muskie: "There were at most three meetings of the NSC to consider this policy, its consequences, its progress, its results and its problems. So there were too few meetings at which Bush and the other members of the council were given an opportunity to influence the result."