Openness in Congressional Investigations

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the American government is the amount of openness it exhibits when compared to other countries. This openness results in the Founders’ belief that in order to function, representative democracy must be accountable to the people it governs. If the openness is circumvented, it is clearly cause for concern; thus, when certain facts began to surface that the Executive Branch may have taken illegal actions in supplying aid to the Contras of Nicaragua, and then took further illegal actions to cover it up, Congress felt that it was its duty to expose the truth of the matter to the American public. In striving to uncover the facts, however, Congress was forced to confront the very openness it was trying to provide, ultimately hurting the investigation.

The Committee designated to conduct the Iran-Contra hearings decided to hold public hearings, and allow these hearings to be televised. Members of the Committee hoped public hearings would provide an atmosphere of openness and candor, and allow the American public a chance to see exactly what the Committee was seeing. However, the Committee failed to account for the effect that broadcasting the hearings would have on the investigation.

One of the first mistakes the Committee made in the hearings in regard to television was the seating arrangement; the members, while arranged to maximize the space the room provided, inadvertently set themselves up to resemble "the equivalent of Roman potentates turning thumbs up or thumbs down on the stoic Christians who would be dragged before [them] to give testimony," (Cohen, p. 53-54.) The members of the Committee also failed to account for their own appearances on television, and were not able to anticipate the sympathy the viewing public would have for many of the good-looking witnesses who would testify, including the "girl-next-door" Fawn Hall, and the war hero Oliver North.