222 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
Air Force One. So much for a small media market. Slade and Sally went
aboard the president’s plane. Before long, the threesome emerged in the
doorway with smiles and waves for the photographers. Dan and Nancy
Evans joined them on the cold, wind-whipped tarmac. Then Gorton and
Evans piled into the president’s limo with Donald Regan, the top White
House aide, for the ride to the Spokane-Sheraton. The imperious chief of
staff had complicated things for Gorton with a recent remark that Wash-
ington State was likely to be the final choice for the nuke-waste site.
They were all tired, Reagan having made 54 appearances in 22 states.
Still, the president seemed curiously preoccupied. They would soon learn
why. Aid to the Nicaraguan guerrillas was the single most controversial
issue of his presidency. Reagan called them “freedom fighters.” Tip
O’Neill said they were a “ragtag army of racketeers, bandits” and nun-
rapers. Gorton had supported the administration early on, calling that
“the greatest mistake” he’d made as a first-term senator. He had opposed
the most recent Contra-aid proposals—“thank God before it brought Amer-
icans into a conflict in that country.” Adams said Nicaragua smacked of
Vietnam and charged throughout the campaign that Gorton’s change of
heart was just election-year politics.
In Spokane, protesters outside Reagan’s hotel were shouting, “Prepare
for the arrival of the chief Contra!” Reagan was worried that the issue was
about to morph into a crippling scandal. The story broke the day before
the election: His National Security Council had engineered a covert arms
deal with Iran to secure the release of American hostages and generate
funds for the Contras. Lt. Col. Oliver North, a swashbuckling National
Security Council operative, famously thought it was “a pretty neat idea.”
Gorton and Evans, however, had no inkling of all that. Reagan handed
them a copy of what he planned to say about Hanford. It was a noncom-
mittal disaster. Mr. President, they said, you can’t say this. They spent the
rest of the ride and another hour in the president’s 15th floor suite empha-
sizing that what he said about Hanford the next day could make or break
Slade’s campaign. The president rejected a chance to feast on Northwest
quail with Regan and Communications Director Pat Buchanan and went
right to bed.^21
Downstairs, Gorton was telling reporters he’d had “a more detailed
discussion” with Reagan about Hanford than ever before. “We now have
a much more informed White House.” He said he didn’t ask the president
to drop Hanford from consideration, just to follow the site selection poli-
cies laid out by Congress: No exploratory drilling in Fiscal Year 1987. “If
the law is followed, as far as I’m concerned, Hanford will be dropped....