white house, democratic candidate gary hart withdraws from the 1988 presidential race less than a month after his campaign began. the former colorado senator faced allegations of the extramarital affair with a miami woman named donna rice. in this 10 minute event in denver the former colorado , senator continues to deny the affair, saying he is quitting the race to spare his family and friends from rumors and gossip. michael dukakis won the 1988 democratic nomination but lost to vice president george h w bush in the general election. [applause] sen. hart: thank you very much. i apologize for being late. there was a little traffic on bear creek canyon this morning. intended quite frankly to come down here this morning and read a short, carefully worded political statement saying i was withdrawing from the race and

then quietly disappear from the stage. and then after frankly, tossing and turning all night as i have for the last three or four nights, i woke up about 4:00 this morning with a start, and i said to myself, hell no. [applause] sen. hart: no. no, no, no. i am not going to do that. i'm not going to do that because it is not my style and because i am a proud man and i am proud of what i have accomplished. [applause] sen. hart: let's hold on the applause, thank you. [laughter] sen. hart: i appreciate it, but let's get through this.

clearly leigh and i have never had a tougher week, but i am not a beaten man, i an am angry and defiant man. i have said that i been but i do not break, and believe me, i am not broken. instead of getting this over fast, i am going to talk a while about this week in the times we are in. frankly, the hardest part about making this decision has been my children. they are both more angry and confused than i have ever seen them in my lives, and they are angry with me, they do not want me to get out of this race. and i believe there are also a lot of angry and confused voters around this country. what i have to say for my children and those voters, sense -- since getting into politics a

long time ago, there are two things i have not been very good at, talking about myself and playing the political games. i have never felt the voters really cared about either one of those things, frankly. they are smart enough to know who you are without you telling them. you look them in the eye and you talk to them and they decide whether or not you are telling the truth or not. i had not spent a lot of time and effort trying to create an image. i am i am, take it or leave it. [applause] sen. hart: frankly, and frankly i am pretty happy with who i am and evidently some voters have been also. i have not based my campaigns on the support of politicians, even though some of them are my very best friends. with all due respect, most politicians with the exception of a few with great courage wait to see how political events are breaking before risking their political capital, and i understand that.

what this means for the rest of it is, i guess i have become a rare bird, some extraordinary creature that has to be dissected by those who analyze politics to find out what makes them tick. well, i resist that so i become cool and even roof -- aloof or elusive or enigmatic or whatnot. the more people talk about me, the more i resisted so it becomes the cat chasing its tail. a number of friends of mine around the country will tell you that in the weeks leading up to this race, i gave serious thought to not running for president. in many ways, i did not want to. it is because i had to do a number of these profiles, and i could see what was happening, i was going to be the issue. i did not want to be the issue and i cannot be the issue, because that breaks the link between me and the voters and that is what i tried to explain

to my children. if someone is able to throw up a smokescreen and keep it up there long enough, you cannot get your message across. cannot raise the money to finance her campaign, too much static and you cannot communicate. in the final analysis, the american people decide what qualities are important to govern this country in the national interest and they have not been heard from yet. the last public event we did was the night before last in littleton, new hampshire. there were maybe 100 to 150 people there, the height of the circus. not one question about me. people there wanted to know everything about south africa, aids, ireland, day care, job training, central america and the list went on. i doubt any of that got on the evening news. and that is the point. in public life, some things may be interesting, but that does not necessarily mean they are important. whether i change my name or still owe campaign debts may be

interesting for a while, but for most people in this country, that is not what concerns them. the farmers in amarillo, oilfield workers in louisiana, steelworkers in pennsylvania, i can tell you because i have listened to them. they want jobs. their kids want a chance to get an education. like all of the rest of us, they do not want to be killed by some nuclear weapon. if you are going to have to spend all of your time talking about yourself and you are not particularly good about that anyway, then you cannot maintain that link with the voters that lets you listen to their concerns and offer your ideas and proposals. that is about where we are today. clearly, under present circumstances this campaign cannot go on. i refuse to submit my family, and my friends and innocent people and myself to further rumors and gossip. it is simply an intolerable situation. i believe i would have been a successful candidate. i know i could've been a very good president, particularly for

these times, but apparently now we will never know. i have had the support of some of the most talented people in this country, particularly young people and want to say to all of them today, march on. there's a lot of work to do. we are all going to have to seriously question the system for selecting our national leaders. it reduces the press to hunters and presidential candidates to being hunted. bushes,andidates in photographers in our windows, helicopters hovering over our roof and my strong wife close to , tears because she cannot even get into her own house tonight, without being harassed. after all of that ponderous pundits wonder in mock seriousness why some of the best people in this country choose not to run for high office. i want those talented people who supported me to insist that the system be changed. too much of it is just a

mockery, and if it continues to destroy people's integrity and honor the system will eventually , destroy itself. politics in this country, it is all on the verge of becoming another athletic competition or sporting match. we all better do something to make the system work. order we are all going to be rephrasing jefferson to say i tremble for my country when i think we may in fact get the kind of leaders we deserve. i say to my children and other frustrated and angry young people i am angry, too. , i have made some mistakes, some big mistakes but not bad mistakes. but i am an idealist and i love this country deeply and i want to serve this country. the events of this week should not deter any of you who are idealistic young people from moving on and moving up. i would say to the young people

of this country, the torch of idealism burns bright in your hearts. it should lead you into public service and national service. it should lead you to want to make this country better, and whoever you are and whatever you do in that cause at least in , spirit, i will be with you. thank you very much. [applause] >> madam secretary, we proudly votes tof our delegate the next president of the united states.

>> this weekend, historian james robertson talks about robert e lee's ties to virginia and various civil war campaigns throughout the state. here's a preview. >> speaking of the outbreak of the war, if i could make a comment about lee's anguished decision about which way to go in april 1861 when he turned down every soldier's dream of being commander of the army in order to go with his native state. we virginians talk all the time about our history. we probably talk too much about it but i am not apologizing. we do so because we have so much more of it than everybody else.

1787, when a nation was proposed, virginia was already 180 years old. we celebrated colonial thanksgiving a decade before the pilgrims got the nerve to cross the atlantic ocean. 1860, the united states was 70 years old, not old enough to have wisdom. that time hadt been living in virginia 225 years. i do not think lee anguished at all over the decision that he made that april evening. >> you can watch the entire event tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern on the civil war. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. >> independent media is the oxygen of a democracy. holding those in power accountable.

we're not there to serve some kind of corporate agenda. when we cover war and peace we are not brought to you by the weapons manufacturers. hostsrnalist amy goodman an executive producer of the daily news program democracy now, talks about the book she has co-authored. it looks back on some of the stories and people the show has covered. >> the idea of democracy now starting 20 years ago, it really has not changed. me out the voices of people at the grassroots and around the world. they very much represent the majority of people. i think people who are concerned deeply about war and peace, about the growing inequality in this country, about climate planet,the state of the are not a fringe minority, not

even a silent majority, but the stopped by the corporate media, which is why we have to take it back. >> sunday on c-span's q&a. >> coming up next, a discussion with men who were at the center of the events known as watergate. richard nixon's deputy assistant played a role in revealing the cover-up that destroyed the presidency. he reflects along with "washington post" reporter, bob woodward on his personality and they offer opinions on topics ranging from watergate to nixon's policies in vietnam. the event was cohosted by the harry ransom center at the university of texas and the lyndon b. johnson presidential library. it is an hour. >> good evening. i want to welcome you to this conversation with alexander butterfield and bob woodward which will be conducted by my friend and colleague, director