showcan history tv, we'll extended segments of the 1975 hearings that investigated nsaa., fbi, irs and the church committee. 40 years later. at 10 :00nd saturday p.m. and sunday at 4:00 p.m. eastern time only on american history tv on c-span3. until the election, road to the white house rewind brings you archival coverage of presidential races. next the 1980 campaign of gary hart. we begin with the former colorado senator announcing his campaign in a 10 minute speech. he finished a close second to 1984r mondale in the nomination and was considered by many to be the front runner for 1988.

within weeks of this announcement, senator hart faced allegations of an extramarital affair which led him to withdraw from the race. michael dukakis won the nomination but lost decidedly to george h.w. bush in the general election. thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. for out-of-town friends, welcome to colorado. if you don't like the weather, it will change in a few minutes. [laughter] i want to say thank you to tim morris and all the elected officials and leaders of our community and state here on this platform. i want to take the opportunity to introduce the best daughter

hart. ever had, andrea [applause] i was tempted to introduce the next first lady of the united states but i will simply say the best wife any candidate ever had, leigh hart. [applause] we want to thank each and every one of you for coming out here today. you are our friends. many of you have been contributors for many years. we are strengthened by her presence here today and we thank you. i want to say a special word of thanks to a very large group of the best organizers that any candidate for any office has ever had and say a personal word of thanks to all of them who organized this rally and

particularly mike stratton. let's give him a hand. [applause] i intend to seek the presidency of the united states in 1988. [applause] and i do so for one single reason and that is i love my country. this country is 250 million human beings united by a common history and heritage and set of beliefs. but america is and always has been an ideal. this land has stood for equality and justice and hope and opportunity for generations of americans around the world. at our best we have come close to that ideal but i think all of us know deep down in recent

years that this country has fallen short of the ideal of america. we have seen personal greed replace a sense of social justice and equity and the national good. ideologyeen right-wing skew this nation facing irony. nation's basic priority. we have seen high standards for public officials and public ethics be eroded. lost the sense of the national interest and we are in serious danger today of letting our future pass us by. this nation can do better and i believe that's what the issue in 1988 is all about. we must rebuild this nation. of new blueprint directions and new ideas based

upon a ideas of the national interest. [applause] we must build the best education system in the world. [applause] we must renew and revitalize our national economy and modernize our factories. invent new technologies and train our workers. [applause] a moral commitment to our children that we will leave behind to them a natural heritage cleaner and better than we have today. [applause] we must reform our conventional defenses and drastically reduce our reliance on nuclear weapons

for this nation security. [applause] the stakes in 1988 could not be higher and the choices could not be clearer. a defense policy that takes school lunches away from poor children to care for or we canfor missiles have a policy that reforms are conventional defenses, saves taxpayer dollars, and makes this .ountry safer one choice is in the national interest and that choice could not be clearer. [applause] we can have an agriculture policy that turns over the productive farmland of this nation to a handful of giant corporations or we can have

millions of family farmers producing the food and fiber of .his nation one choice is in the national interest and that choice could not be clearer. [applause] we can have public officials who represent the ethics of donovan, deeper, and boesky, or we can have -- say to those people in washington and wall street, you are out of business. one choice is in the national interest and that choice is clear. [applause] we can continue to have our political campaigns financed by special interests and have those special interests control the flow of legislation and the quality of government or we can reform the campaign finance laws and restore dignity and on their

and integrity to this political process. one choice is in the national interest and that choice is clear. [applause] and finally we can define patriotism. patriotism ist only the symbols of this nation. and that the flag belongs to a handful of narrow right-wing ideologues or we can say that patriotism and the flag belongs to all of us who care about this nation.nd love this one choices in the national interest and that choice is clear. [applause] people want to know what is the issue of 1988. i will state that issue to you very clearly. the issue in 1988 is who is best

qualified to govern this country? the question is one of leadership. we can have leadership that unites us or leadership that divides us. we can have leadership that challenges us or leadership that makes us feel good. we can have leadership in the national interest or leadership in the narrow interest. thatn have leadership tells this country that it must move forward or leadership that says we will go back and recapture our past. 1988 andhe issue in that is what i make this race. i make this race is i love my country and i want america to do better and move forward. there is an untapped idealism in the american spirit and there is a quality in the american character that has yet to be unlocked.

a its best that is what national campaign is and ought to be about and i pledge to you that is what this campaign will be about. and the next0 days 20 months and i will give you a presidency can be proud of. [applause] thank you. let us go forward from this day committed to restore this land to all of its people, restore a sense of genuine true patriotism to america. and if we do we will have done the greatest thing for this country any of us can ever do. march on. [applause]

♪ thank you all very much.

thanks very much. >> wrote to the white house rewind continues with more from the 1988 campaign of democratic candidate very hard. entering the race, the senator faced allegations of the next are marital affair with a miami woman named donna rice. next he addresses the conference -- the charges at a news conference. this portion is just under 40 minutes. as i have made clear, i have nothing to hide. i made a mistake. a series of mistakes in fact. i regret those very much not just for myself