Now that Jimmy Carter, 98, is in palliative care, saying goodbye to life, Ben Barnes, who was a prominent figure in American politics, has wanted to make peace with his conscience and with the historical memory of one of the presidents more unfortunate than all who have passed through the White House.
At 85, Barnes confesses to The New York Times a secret kept for more than four decades and confirms for the first time that the conspiracy to sabotage Carter’s re-election in November 1980 really existed.
Carter was in the White House, haunted by the Iran hostage crisis, the 52 US citizens still being held at the US embassy in Tehran, which had crippled his tenure and made him look like a loser.
In the electoral team of his rival, the Republican Ronald Reagan, they feared that days before the elections on November 4 the president will pull an ace up his sleeve the letter and announce an agreement with the Iranian government, which would boost him decisive at the polls. There they coined the term “October surprise.”
The suspicion that there was a Republican plot to delay the release and that Carter could not play that card has been the subject of investigations and an extensive literature, without results or evident proofs.
But Barnes, in his statements to journalist Peter Baker, reveals that he, who was a Democrat, accompanied his political mentor, John B. Connally Jr., on a trip to the Middle East. He assures that only later did he understand that the purpose of that journey was to blow up the president’s re-election campaign by getting the executive of the ayatollahs not to agree to the release of the hostages with the White House. If Reagan won, they would gain further bargaining leverage.
Shortly after returning, Barnes maintains that Connolly reported all the details of the trip to William J. Casey, Reagan’s campaign manager and later, in his administration, CIA director. Carter aides have always suspected that Casey or someone in Reagan’s orbit secretly torpedoed any negotiations.
The late Connolly, a former Texas governor who had served under three presidents, was a Democrat who had changed his coat. He lost the Republican nomination to Reagan, but had been determined to help the California governor in exchange for a run for a high office in the new administration, such as Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense. He never got that reward. In his existence, however, he never commented on any of this, despite the fact that there were commissions to investigate the issue of electoral sabotage.
“History needs to know what happened,” says Barnes in the Times, who was never called to testify on this matter. “I think it’s very significant and I guess knowing that the end is near for President Carter just put it on my mind more and more and more. I felt that I had to explain it somehow, ”he emphasizes.
The route, according to Barnes’ description, confirmed by documents from the President Johnson Library, began in Houston, Texas on July 18, 1980. This took him to the capitals of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. In all the meetings, except the last one, the objective was to get Tehran to maintain the captivity. Notes on this trip at that time explain it as a “strictly private” matter.
That’s how it went. The Iranians announced his release after Reagan’s victory, and his return did not occur until Cartes left the White House on January 20, 1981. A few days later, President Reagan received and exhibited himself with some of those who had suffered a captivity of 444 days, since November 4, 1979.
In September 1980 is when the meeting with Casey took place. Madrid also plays a relevant role since Casey allegedly met in August 1980 with Iranian representatives in the Spanish capital.
Barnes insists that he was unaware of the purpose of the trip Connolly invited him on. They flew on the plane of an oil company. Only by sitting with the Arab leaders did he understand the meaning.
In his recollection, he notes that Connolly told those leaders, including Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt: “Ronald Reagan is going to be elected president and convey to Iran that they will have a better deal with Reagan than with Carter.” And he reiterated that “it would be very smart of you to say this to the Iranians, that they wait until the elections have passed.”
Since many of those involved have already died, the possibility arises that Barnes’ memory may falter. Connolly’s son, among others, do not remember that his father had said anything of this tone, nor that he left documents.
But Barnes gave the Times the names of four people still alive to whom he once confided his secret and who confirmed the account of that trip. An intriguing note did appear in Connolly’s files, under the headline “Governor Reagan,” written by one of his aides and indicating that there was contact with the Republican candidate prior to that trip. “Nancy Reagan called, they’re at the ranch and they want to talk about strategy meetings.” There is no answer.
Over the years, Barnes’ intention is to make an amendment to history. “I just want it to reflect that Carter had a very bad time with the hostages,” he remarks. “He didn’t have a chance to fight for the hostages that were still in the embassy,” he admits. His confession has the merit that he allows Cartes to go to his grave knowing the truth about that ambush.
His confession has the merit of allowing Carter to go to his grave knowing about the ambush that prevented his re-election and with the consolation that he was not such a bad president.
