What is known about a subject and what the public knows of it are, of course, not the same thing. How was "Iran-Contra" discussed in the media? What have people said about it in the ensuing years? Does the public know what happened in the first place? To what extent is the episode understood? What issues do people think were at stake? What lessons, if any, were learned?

For those who wish to pursue these questions, here are some thoughts:

• "Iran-Contra: Was the Press Any Match For All the President's Men?"
  Scott Armstrong, Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 1990, pp. 27-35.

• "The Iran-Contra Affair: Government by Cabal"
  Theodore Draper, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, June 16, 1991, p. M2.

• "Fanning the Embers of Iran-Contra"
  Larry Bensky, Los Angeles Times, Sunday, June 16, 1991, p. 5.

• "The scandal that got away"
  Anthony King, The Economist, June 22, 1991, p. 95.

• "Re-examining Iran-contra"
  Robert McFarlane, The Economist, July 6, 1991, p. 4.

• "A self-serving testimonial to the heroics of the Independent Counsel's Office..."
  Robert Dole, on the floor of the United States Senate, Congressional Record, August 6, 1993.