Iran-Contra affair

The Iran-Contra affair, a political scandal in the second term of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, in which senior administration officials secretly facilitated arms sales to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages and used the proceeds to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua, in violation of a congressional ban. It is frequently studied as a case of framing/priming effects on public opinion.

Claims that use this term

• The Iran-Contra disclosure sharply dropped Reagan’s poll ratings across major pollsters
• The Iran-Contra scandal serves as a test case for priming theory
• The Iran-Contra scandal primed foreign affairs in public evaluations of Reagan