Ex-Defense Secretary Weinberger Dies

Member Of Reagan And Nixon Cabinets, And Key Iran-Contra Figure Was 88

(CBS/AP)  It was his post as defense secretary that lead to Weinberger's greatest challenge: federal felony charges stemming from his alleged role in the sale of weapons to Iran to finance secret, illegal aid to the Nicaragua Contras. The "arms-for-hostages" affair poisoned the closing years of Reagan's administration, permanently stained the reputations of the insiders involved and cast a cloud over President George H.W. Bush throughout his four-year administration.

In one of the first President Bush's final official acts after his 1992 loss to Bill Clinton, he granted Christmas Eve pardons to Weinberger and five others accused in the scandal.

Weinberger, who was 75 at the time, had been scheduled to stand trial in less than two weeks on charges that he concealed thousands of pages of his handwritten notes from congressional investigators and prosecutors.

He'd earlier rejected independent counsel Lawrence Walsh's plea-bargain offer to testify against his longtime friends and colleagues — including Reagan — and plead guilty to a misdemeanor.

Weinberger had said he was innocent to all the charges and considered the indictment a political attack. Friends said he could have never turned on associates he'd known for decades.

After the pardon was announced, Walsh charged that "the Iran-Contra coverup, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed."

In 1989, Weinberger, a self-described "frustrated newspaperman," joined Forbes to become the magazine's fourth publisher. In 1993 he was named chairman of Forbes Inc., filling a position that had been vacant since the 1990 death of Malcolm S. Forbes. He endorsed Steve Forbes for president in 1996.

Caspar Willard Weinberger was born Aug. 18, 1917, in San Francisco. His father was a lawyer who early on sparked young Weinberger's interest in politics and government. Even as an adolescent he used to enjoy reading the Congressional Record, and at his high school graduation delivered a speech on "the honorable profession of politics."

Weinberger was always an avid reader, whose tastes tended toward English history and the novels of Thackeray, Trollope and Scott. He also loved music, ballet and the theater.

While he enjoyed a reputation for toughness, friends described him as a mild-mannered and witty man who had an irreverent and often self-deprecating sense of humor.

As a young man, Weinberger went East for his education. At Harvard he edited the Harvard Crimson, won election to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude. He attended Harvard Law School where he received his degree in 1941.

With America's entry into World War II, Weinberger enlisted in the Army as a private, graduated from Officer Candidate School and was shipped to the Pacific. He served with the 41st Infantry Division, an outfit that saw heavy fighting against the Japanese.

He came out of the war a captain and returned to his home state to start a law practice and become active in politics.

Weinberger got married to Jane Dalton during the war. Besides his wife, he is survived by his son and a daughter, Arlin Weinberger.

No funeral arrangements were immediately announced.