An Enormous Crime: Reagan's meeting

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 14:03:52 -0400

A former North Carolina Congressman claims that President Reagan ignored evidence that Vietnam still held MIAs in the mid 1980s.

According to the recently published "An Enormous Crime," then U.S. Rep. Bill Hendon writes that he told Reagan during a Jan. 9, 1986, meeting that he had heard a report that the Southeast Asian country had asked for $4 billion for the return of captured prisoners.

His source for the information was an unnamed Secret Service agent who said he overheard a discussion while stationed outside the Oval Office in 1981.

"Hendon asked Reagan, 'Respectfully, Mr. President, is it true? Did the Vietnamese offer to trade the prisoners back for $4 billion?"

Reagan said he didn't remember, according to Hendon's book. (In his diary, however, he wrote that Hendon was "off his rocker.")

More after the jump.

The Reagan Diaries: Bill Hendon

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:03:51 -0400

Ronald Reagan wasn't impressed with a North Carolina representative's claims about MIAs.

According to the recently published "The Reagan Diaries," the president thought then Rep. Bill Hendon was "off his rocker" after a meeting in 1986.

Hendon, an Asheville Republican, and New Hampshire Rep. Bob Smith met with Reagan on Jan. 9, 1996, to talk about the possibility that Vietnam was still holding American prisoners of war.

Afterward, the Great Communicator wrote in his diary:

"Bill is way out yonder on the issue of M.I.A.'s. He claims Mil. Intelligence has all sorts of proof that Vietnam is holding live prisoners but the bureaucracy is covering it up from even the Sec. of Defense, etc."

More after the jump.