With his blue-steel gaze and steel-gray hair, Lt. Col. Oliver North looked like a movie star against the stale browns and beiges of C-SPAN. His cowlick and gaptoothed grin, though, reminded you of an old neighbor or college roommate. And his voice was mesmerizing when first deployed on the American public during the epic Iran-contra hearings of 1987 — lowering to a reverential hush, or hiccuping with emotion, as if he were drunk on patriotism.
He was a riveting presence and an immediately polarizing one — hailed by some as an American hero, reviled by others as a subversive Deep State troublemaker for his role overseeing the illegal sale of arms to Iran and funneling the proceeds to rebels fighting the Nicaraguan government. Ollie North seemed destined to play a major role in our culture and politics.
Instead, he was ensnared in years of legal trouble, then lost a pricey U.S. Senate race - and all that potential seemed to evaporate. But here he is now, at 74, with a shot at a third act, another charge at the front lines of the culture wars as the new president of the National Rifle Association. And once again, everyone has opinions about him.
"Oliver North is a true hero and warrior for freedom," said Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the NRA, in a statement Monday.
"Oliver North in the news is a reminder of what a really stupid Iran deal actually looks like," tweeted Jim Goldgeier, a visiting senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"He throws himself into the fire, if he thinks it's a worthy cause," says close friend Brendan Sullivan, his attorney throughout the Iran-contra affair. "And of course he's once again stepping up, knowing that this is a very difficult time in our country,
