The Iran-Contra scandal was a political scandal in the United States that became public in November of 1986. During Reagan's second term as president, senior officials secretly began the sale of arms to Iran. Ronald Reagan aimed to eradicate Communism throughout the world, but the Contras' cause in Nicaragua was particularly important to him. The actions were deemed unconstitutional because of the Boland Amendment. The scandal started as an operation to free American hostages being held by a group with Iranian ties, so some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would result in the release of these hostages and allow U.S. agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. However, what began as an attempt to protect the interests of capitalism instead demonstrated the failure of balance of powers in the U.S. government.