A. Investigation Plan This investigation evaluates the Reagan administration and its inconsistent foreign policy toward Iran. The Iran-Contra affair was a controversial crisis for the fortieth president. There were two parts to it: selling weapons to Iran and then transferring that money to Nicaragua. However, in this investigation, the situation with Iran will be discussed more extensively, rather than that of Nicaragua. Foreign policy relating to the Middle East will be analyzed in its confusion and complexity. The two sources used in this essay, The Long Road to Baghdad: A History of US Foreign Policy from the 1970s to the Present by Lloyd C. Gardner and The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan and edited by Douglas Brinkley, will be evaluated for their origin , value, purpose and limitations.B. Summary of the Evidence Since the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, in the midst of Jimmy Carter's second term, our relationship with Iran has been far from healthy. Iran, at the time of the crisis, was under the radical influence of Ayatollah Khomeini. He had invaded and exiled the previous Shah with whom the United States had better relations. After learning of the Shah's struggle with cancer, influential Americans convinced President Carter to allow the Shah to travel to the country to receive important medical treatment. This did not go over well in Iran, and Khomeini then asked students working at the American embassy in Tehran to act on the country's behalf in response. On November 4, these “Iranian extremists” captured fifty-two American hostages.1 Carter attempted negotiations ranging from diplomacy to helicopter invasions, but nothing was accomplished. The relationship between the two countries... middle of the paper... nesh. Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader. New York: Touchstone. 1997.Gardner, Lloyd C. The Long Road to Baghdad: A History of United States Foreign Policy from the 1970s to the Present. New York: The New Press. 2008. Lapham, Lewis H. “Learning to Live Without a Soviet Threat,” Harper's Magazine. (1987).Ray, Cabinet. “For US presidents, a familiar problem,” USA Today. (July 1, 2009). Reagan, Ronald. Ed. Douglas Brinkley. Reagan's diaries. New York: HarperCollins Publisher. 2007. Rich, Alex K. “Tehran,” Our World: Iran. (2010). Taylor, Michael. “Iran-Contra scandal tarnished credibility / But Americans forgave president after admitting errors in judgment,” San Francisco Chronicle. (June 6, 2004). Walsh, Kenneth T. “Damage Control: Reagan's Iran Contra Strategy Offers Lessons,” U.S. News & World Report .(2005).