First Lady Promised Heads Would Roll in Scandal, Deposition States

WASHINGTON —  When the Iran- contra scandal blew wide open last November, First Lady Nancy Reagan phoned White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and told him that “heads would have to roll,” and strongly implied that his would be among them, according to a deposition by Regan quoted Thursday at the Iran-contra hearings.

Regan’s account of the Nov. 24 phone call--made in a private interview with congressional investigators recently--provides a colorful example of Mrs. Reagan’s behind-the-scenes efforts to exact quick vengeance last fall for the damage done to her husband.

Regan declined to elaborate on the conversation in his testimony Thursday before the Iran-contra committees, but a panel member, Rep. Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla.), read some of the interview into the record while questioning him.

In the deposition, Regan said that Mrs. Reagan “was very upset at the news apparently her husband had told” her about the discovery that arms sale proceeds had been diverted secretly to Nicaragua’s contra rebels.

Wants ‘Housecleaning’

“Heads would have to roll. . . . There would have to be a housecleaning of people that had let Ronnie down. I seemed to have the impression that mine was one of the heads that would have to roll,” Regan said.

Did she include the National Security Council officials who were central to the scandal--Lt. Col. Oliver L. North or Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter?

“She didn’t mention North,” Regan said. “She may have mentioned Poindexter.”

That month, Poindexter resigned and North was fired. Three months after the call, following reports of an escalating feud between Regan and the First Lady, the chief of staff stepped down under fire.