Was there a secret conspiracy between Ronald Reagan’s campaign and Iran to help him win the 1980 election? NYT bestselling author Craig Unger unpacks the plot in his most recent book, “Den of Spies,” a story he worked on for 30 years. The Iran hostage crisis had plagued Jimmy Carter’s presidency, and was seen as one of his biggest failures. Reagan’s campaign worried that an October hostage release would give Carter a boost to win reelection. So, Unger explains, Reagan’s team hatched a plan to get Iran to hold the hostages until Reagan was president, trading weapons for their cooperation. It’s a real-life spy thriller filled with CIA operatives, code names, and countless people who tried to stop Unger from uncovering the truth.

Credits:

Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon

Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks

Audio Producer: Craig Thompson

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