John Delach

On the morning of Saturday, May 10, 1987, Ronald and Nancy Reagan attended the funeral Mass of CIA Director William Casey who had died the previous Wednesday. George de Lama reported for the Chicago Tribune that, “Casey died of pneumonia after being incapacitated since undergoing surgery for removal of two brain tumors last December. He resigned from his CIA post in February.”

“Security was tight in Roslyn, the Long Island town where St. Mary’s Church, the Casey’s local parish is located. The Reagans came directly there for the Requiem Mass with only invited guests allowed inside the church. Former president Richard Nixon sat next to Mrs. Reagan and the red-brick church was filled by…’virtually every senior member of the administration who came to honor and bury the crusty old spy who began his career by dropping Allied agents behind Nazi lines during World War II.”

Bishop John McGann, head of the Rockville Center (Long Island) diocese said the Mass and eulogized his old friend. This didn’t prevent McGann from criticizing Casey on his anti-communist views especially toward President Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista government. Neither the Reagans nor the Casey family ever publicly commented on McGann’s remarks.  

Casey was close to General William J. (Wild Bill) Donovan and served under him in several capacities in the newly formed OSS, Office of Strategic Services during the Second World War.   Casey joined other significant intelligence operators like Richard Helms and William Colby, both of whom later headed the CIA. In 1943, Donovan sent him to London where he took charge of inserting allied agents into German held territory. “Helms said years later that Casey had a feel for things clandestine. He also admired Casey’s ability to make hard decisions.”

Casey served during both the Nixon and Ford administrations. He only met Ronald Reagan in 1980, but soon after, Reagan invited Casey to become his campaign manager. Their campaign was a total success that swept Reagan into office. Reagan and Casey were sympatico when it came to implementing the “Reagan Doctrine” supporting anticommunist resistance movements.

One of their targets was Daniel Ortega, the revolutionary who led his Sandinista National Liberation Front to overthrow the US supported, long time, banana republic dictator, Anastasio Somoza one year earlier and condemn him to the dust pan of history.

“A Marxist-Leninist, Ortega pursued a program of nationalization, land reform, wealth redistribution…” that made him and his government a natural target for the Reagan Doctrine.    

Once empowered as head of the CIA Casey initiated military action to support the Contras, the most organized group actively at war with the Sandinistas.

Under Casey, CIA Operatives became involved in various black-ops like mining harbors and flying numerous missions supporting and supplying the Contras.

When Congress caught wind of what was going on, they introduced bills to curtail these activities. Essentially, Casey ignored these mandates whenever he could. Eventually, Congress cut off all funding that supported the Contras.

Undeterred, Casey and the President, agreed to fund them using creative yet illegal funding mechanism. Casey and the boys and girls at the CIA engineered a plan where Israel would sell US made anti-aircraft missiles to Iran and we would direct them to send the proceeds to the Contras. Even members of Reagan’s inner circle like George Shultz and Ed Meese opposed these actions.

Eventually, this led to a congressional investigation. As the circle began to close, it became apparent that Director Casey was at the center of these activities. It was about this time when Casey was about to be called before the committee that Casey was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the former chief United States delegate to the United Nations defended Casey in her eulogy at his mass. “Supporting the Nicaraguan freedom fighters had a special priority for him, no question about it, but that had no more priority than law.” Dr. Kirkpatrick characterized Mr. Casey “as a bold, committed man in an age rent by controversy. He was not,’ she added, ‘afraid of the Devil.”

Casey’s wife, Sophia Kurz Casey, asked the mourners that in lieu of flowers or other contributions, “they make donations to the William J. Casy Fund for the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters.”  

We can only speculate about President Reagan’s state of mind as he considered the turmoil that surrounded Bill Casey when he died. The Democrats had been closing in on initiating a congressional investigation to determine if the President’s administration had knowingly violated  Congress’ mandate not to supply the Contras with assistance.

The key was Bill Casey. Casey knew where all the bodies were buried. Like or hate Casey, you have to admit that he took what he knew to the grave. Without Casey, the chain of responsibility was broken.

Bill Daniel Ortega was peacefully voted out of office in 1990, but regained control in 2006. There he remains to this day. Now, 78, he has reverted to becoming just another Banana Republic dictator.