Video: 'President Reagan's Address to the Nation on the Iran-Contra Controversy, November 13, 1986'

(Thursday, November 13, 1986, 8:01 p.m. EST; during the Iran–Contra affair) — U.S. President Ronald Reagan, under intense domestic and international criticism, tonight defended what he called his “secret diplomatic initiative to Iran” and vigorously denied that the United States had sought to exchange weapons for American hostages in Lebanon.

In a nationally broadcast speech from the Oval Office, Reagan said he had authorized the transfer of ”small amounts of defensive weapons and spare parts” to Iran. The President said his intent was to ”send a signal that the United States was prepared to replace the animosity between us with a new relationship.”

It is ”utterly false,” the President said, to assert that the United States sent weapons to Iran as ”ransom” for Americans held in Lebanon. He said at another point that one of the reasons for the diplomatic initiative was ”to effect the safe return of all hostages.”

Video: 'November 13, 1986 NBC News Digest With Tom Brokaw'