("The Olive Has Been Talking . . . ")

It seems wiretapping has been a popular subject in legal circles for quite some time, if this special edition of Meet The Press from November 17, 1957 is any indication. This roundtable discussion features New York State Supreme Court Justice Miles McDonald, District Attorney of Richmond County New York John Braisted and the infamous Roy Cohn on the subject of the use or misuse of the Fifth Amendment and the use and misuse of wiretaps.

All interesting stuff, considering it's 1957 and the world seemed much simpler then . . .or not.

News on this day in history wasn't bad, considering. First off was news of the imminent landing arrival of the Voyager, the experimental plane piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. It was the first aircraft to circle the earth in record time and on one tank of gas. After some nervous moments and breath holding, the plane finally landed in the California desert and taxied its way to the history books.

In other news. Russian Dissident Andrei Sakharov was finally released from prison and headed straight to Moscow where he continued his criticism of the Soviet government's role in the ill-fated war in Afghanistan.

Speaking of ill-fated, the Iran-Contra hearings were continuing on Capitol Hill. Today it was Air Force Major General Richard Secord's turn in the hotseat. He stayed long enough to take the fifth and exit after fifteen minutes.

And that's how it, and other news, went on this December 23rd in 1986 by way of The CBS World News Roundup.

(Not you? Then who? Not me - Couldn't be. Then who? Not you?)

Twenty three Christmases ago, beginning in November, the Iran-Contra Affair was bubbling to the surface. Stories of secret arms caches, money laundering, clandestine operations, deals - all the stuff of mediocre spy novels.

But alas, it was the Reagan Years, so anything could be and was possible.

Ike Pappas (CBS News): “Secord spent less than fifteen minutes in the closed hearing room. Enough time to listen to opening statements and then claim the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer questions as have several other key players in the case. Secord, now a businessman is said to have helped to arrange the Iran arms sales, and has been linked in documents to the clandestine privately financed network that sent arms and equipment to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua when Congress cut off funds.”

These two news reports from December of 1986 give some indication where this all was headed. 1987 was promising to be a fun year. Sandbags and all.

. . .and boy, do we need 'em now! (donations, that is - we're full up on sandbags)