Fawn Hall

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Fawn Hall (born Template:Circa 1959) is a former secretary to Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North who gained fame for her role in the Iran–Contra affair by helping North shred confidential documents.

Early lifeEdit

Born in Annandale, Virginia, in 1959, Hall graduated from Annandale High School in 1977. She began working part-time in a clerical position for the United States Navy, beginning in January 1976 while she was in high school.<ref name="INQ"/> After graduating, she began working full-time for the Navy at the Pentagon.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1987, Hall lived in Annandale, with her mother and stepfather.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Involvement in Iran–ContraEdit

Hall was detailed from the Navy to work at the National Security Council on February 26, 1983, as Oliver North's secretary. She worked for North until she was fired on November 25, 1986, at the height of the scandal.<ref name="INQ">Meet Iran Affair's 'Mystery Woman', The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 25, 1987.</ref> Hall's mother, Wilma Hall, was secretary to Robert McFarlane,<ref>Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: Triumph of Imagination. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 2005, p. 367.</ref> Reagan's national security advisor, North's superior and a major player in the Iran–Contra affair.

In one mishap, Hall transposed the digits of a Swiss bank account number, resulting in a contribution from the Sultan of Brunei to the Contras being credited to a Swiss businessman's bank account instead of the intended account.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In June 1987, Hall, herself, began two days of testimony in front of the United States Congress.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She confessed to altering, shredding a large number of documents (so much was destroyed, she said, that the office shredder jammed), and smuggling others in her boots and inside her clothing and giving them to North on November 25, 1986, who was fired after his role in orchestrating potentially illegal aid to the Nicaraguan Contras became public.<ref>Hall Details Effort To Hide North's Role Destroyed Documents On Contra Aid, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9, 1987</ref><ref name="WP87">Template:Cite news</ref> Among her other testimony was an assertion that, "Sometimes you have to go above the law."<ref name="WP87"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Journalist Bob Woodward recorded that her legal defense justification was summarized in her words: "We shred everything".<ref>Bob Woodward: Veil: the Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987, p. 501</ref> In 1989, in exchange for her testimony against North for the Iran–Contra affair, she was granted immunity from prosecution.<ref>Hall, North Trial Testimony, 3/22/89, pp. 5311–16, and 3/23/89, pp. 5373–80, 5385–87; Chapter 5 Fawn Hall 147</ref>

Life after the Iran–Contra affairEdit

After the Iran–Contra affair broke, Hall briefly went back to work for the Navy in 1987 for less than 6 months. She was invited to the 1987 White House Correspondents' Dinner by journalist Michael Kelly.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After her congressional testimony in June 1987, she left government service and signed with the William Morris Agency<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and unsuccessfully pursued a media career in the Washington, D.C., area.

Playboy and Penthouse offered six-figure payments for nude photoshoots to Hall, as well as two other women involved in high-profile 1987 scandals, Donna Rice and Jessica Hahn. Hall and Rice declined all offers, whereas Hahn agreed to appear in Playboy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 1990, Hall was a freelance TV reporter in Pittsburgh.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1992, Hall worked for a law firm in Los Angeles, California,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and she pursued a modeling career for several years.<ref name="LA">Template:Cite news</ref> Hall dated the actor Rob Lowe who tracked her down after seeing her at the Oliver North trial,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the couple attended Jack Lemmon's AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony in 1988.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In April 1993, Hall married Danny Sugerman, former manager of The Doors.<ref name="LA"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Sugermans lived in the Hollywood Hills.<ref name="LA"/> She was a cocaine user when she held jobs on the National Security Council staff and at the Pentagon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was reported that Sugerman introduced Hall to crack cocaine shortly after their marriage. She became addicted and suffered a non-lethal overdose in 1994, following which she went into rehab.<ref name="LA"/> Sugerman died in 2005 of lung cancer, and in 2007 Hall listed the house for sale for almost $2.5 million,<ref name="LA"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in 2014, it was acquired for only $1.96 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

As of 2012, Hall was living in West Hollywood, working at a bookstore<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and staying out of the public eye.<ref name="LA"/>

CitationsEdit

Template:Reflist

General and cited referencesEdit

Hall, North Trial Testimony, 3/22/89, pp. 5311–16, and 3/23/89, pp. 5373–80, 5385–87; Chapter 5 Fawn Hall 147
Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters Volume I - Investigations and Prosecutions: Lawrence E. Walsh, Independent Counsel, August 4, 1993; Washington, D.C.

External linksEdit

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