Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House

The phrase “October surprise” refers to an unexpected political event revealed prior to a U.S. presidential election intended to influence its outcome. Journalist Unger (American Kompromat: How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery) has painstakingly investigated the concept of the October surprise through secretive contacts in 1980 between Iranian operatives and William J. Casey, President Reagan’s campaign manager. In exchange for the delayed release of 52 American hostages, the new administration unfroze $8 billion of Iranian assets. Tehran desperately sought weapons and parts in its looming war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. For Carter, the delay dealt a serious blow to his reelection bid. While Gary Sick, a former NSC staffer in the Carter administration, already revealed much in his book October Surprise, Unger details important events such as the sabotage of Carter’s secret negotiations with the Iranians and the involvement of French and Israeli intelligence in the logistics of arms transfer. Revealing interviews include active participants such as Iran’s first revolutionary president, Abolhassan Bani Sadr, who describes the illegal transfer of military spare parts later connected to the Iran-Contra scandal.