In what can only be described as a uniquely Washington love connection, Oliver North and Fawn Hall — two public faces of the Iran-contra scandal in the late 1980s — were married last month.
North, 81, was widowed in November when his wife of 56 years, Betsy, died. Hall, 66, was widowed 20 years ago. The couple wed Aug. 27 in Arlington County, Virginia, according to the marriage license obtained by the Washington Post. The couple had reconnected at Betsy’s funeral, according to journalist Michael Isikoff’s SpyTalk, which first reported the story.
North was the star witness at the Iran-contra hearings that gripped the nation during President Ronald Reagan’s second term. Then a National Security Council staffer in the White House, North was accused of illegally arranging the sale of American weapons to Iran to fund a secret war against the communists in Nicaragua. Hall, his young secretary, was the woman behind the boss — shredding documents and even smuggling evidence out of the office under her clothing.
The combination of the defiant, straight-arrow former Marine and his stunning blonde aide was catnip for political junkies who hung on every word of the congressional hearings, which were widely televised. Hall was granted immunity; in 1989, North was convicted of three felonies, which were overturned by an appeals court.
During the hearings, North emotionally defended his honor and Hall’s, saying that he realized that people got the wrong impression. “You know that I’ve got a beautiful secretary, and the good Lord gave her the gift of beauty, and that people snicker that Ollie North might have been doing a little hanky-panky with his secretary,” he said. “Ollie North has been loyal to his wife since the day he married her.”
In 1987, journalist Michael Kelly invited Hall to be his guest at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. She was, of course, the center of attention, and her appearance supercharged the era of celebrity guests at the formerly low-key event. Just a few weeks later, Hall testified that she believed in North and the mission, memorably saying that “sometimes you have to go above the written law.”
North went on to a storied career as a speaker, author and darling of the conservative movement. In 1994, he lost his election for U.S. Senate from Virginia to Chuck Robb — thanks in part to Nancy Reagan, who never forgave North for what she believed was a betrayal of her husband, the Post’s Karen Tumulty writes in her biography of the first lady.
North then turned his attention to his foundation, writing and television. He had a brief run as president of the National Rifle Association in 2018 but left after a year after threatening to expose the organization’s alleged financial violations.
