Wife Attends, Calls Him ‘Wonderful’

Betsy North appeared at the Iran- contra hearings for the first time Thursday as her husband, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, underwent the most intensive examination in three days of testimony about his role in the covert operations.

Betsy North, whom North calls his best friend, sat directly behind her husband in the Senate Caucus Room, her hands folded in her lap, her thumbs occasionally rubbing against each other, her legs crossed under her chair.

During recesses in the hearings, they exchanged whispers and smiles.

At the end of the morning session in which North scolded Congress for failing to adequately fund the contras in Nicaragua and again admitted lying to its members, Betsy North said of her husband’s testimony: “I think he’s wonderful.”

North’s wife of 19 years, wearing a shirtwaist dress and pearls, said she has watched the proceedings on television but decided she “just wanted to be here” in the committee room. None of the couple’s four children, aged 6 to 18, were present.

North has referred frequently to his wife and children during his appearance as the key witness in the hearings investigating the sale of arms to Iran and the diversion of profits for the contras.

In testimony Wednesday, he cited their safety as the reason he made an error in judgment and accepted the gift of a security system from a business associate, retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord.

At the hearing, she spoke only to her husband and those in his party.

At one point as she passed reporters outside the hearing room, someone asked: “How do you think it’s going in there?”

Betsy North said nothing. But she smiled.