Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved April 11, 2008. Despite his defeat, Bush left office with a 56 percent job approval rating in January 1993. Like many of his predecessors, Bush issued a series of pardons during his last days in office. In December 1992, he granted executive clemency to six former senior government officials implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, most prominently former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. The pardons effectively brought an end to special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal.