Greenspun was convicted but served no time in jail. He was pardoned by John F. Kennedy in 1961.  Schwimmer was convicted but served no jail time. He was pardoned by Bill Clinton in 2000. Winters was convicted an served 18 months in federal prison. He was pardon on George W. Bush as part of Bush’s last day of pardons on January 1, 2009. Winters’ pardon was the first pardon of a deceased person since Henry Ossain Flipper by Clinton. The whole discussion of the posthumous pardon is obviously not much of discussion anymore.

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At the time of the arrangement, Iran was under a weapons embargo, so the United States could not simply sell them weapons. Further, the United States could not be seen in a pay-for-play where the United States was seeking to trade weapons for hostages.

While evidence does exist that then President Reagan was a supporter of the Contra cause, no evidence has ever been uncovered that proves that Reagan never anything about the arrangement of guns for hostages. Not so ironically, Reagan’s Vice-President, George H. W. Bush, became president and then pardoned those involved in the affair.