and other archive films. over the next few weeks, watch for our airings of portions from the 1975 church committee hearings, investigating the intelligence activities of the cia, fbi, irs and nsa. look for all of our programming every weekend on c-span 3. you're watching american history tv in prime time. each week until the 2016 election, road to the white house rewind brings you archival coverage of presidential races. up next, the 1988 campaign of candidate gary hart. we begin with the former colorado senator announcing his campaign in a ten-minute speech in denver. the senator finished a close second to mondale in the race for the 1984 democratic nomination and was considered by many observers to be the front-runner going into 1988. but within weeks of his announcement, the senator faced allegations of an extramarital

affair which led him to withdraw from the race. massachusetts governor michael dukakis lost to george bush in the general election. ♪ >> thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you. [ applause ] 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 thanks to my good friends tim worth and federico pena and all the elected official and leaders of our community and our state here on this platform. i want to take this opportunity if i may to introduce the best daughter anyone ever had, andrea

hart. [ applause ] i was tempted to introduce the next first lady of the united states, but i'll simply say, the best wife any candidate ever had, lee hart. i may or may not do that. we want to thank each and every one of you who came out here today. you are our friends. many have been our friends and supporters, contributors and boosters for many, many years. we are strengthened and heartened by your presence here and we thank you. i want to say a special word of thank 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 have organized this rally, and particularly mike straton. let's give him a hand.

[ applause ] i intend to seek the presidency of the united states in 1988. [ cheers and 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 and generations of americans, and millions of people around the world. at our best, we've 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've seen personal agreed replace a sense of social justice and equity and the national good. we've seen right wing ideology skew this nation's basic priorities. we have seen narrow single interests increasingly finance our campaigns and control our political process. and we've seen high standards for public officials and public ethics be eroded. most of all, this nation has lost the sense of the national interest, and we're in serious danger today of letting our future pass us by. i believe this nation can do better. and i believe that's what the issue in 1988 is all about. we must rebuild this nation. in the latter years of this century using a blue print of new directions and new ideas based upon a foundation of the

national interest. [ applause ] we must build the best education system in the world. [ cheers and applause ] we must renew and revitalize our national economy, and modernize our factories, invent new technologies and train your workers. [ applause ] we must make 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's security.

[ cheers and applause ] the states -- the states in 1988 could -- the stakes in 1988 could not be higher, and the choices could not be clearer. we could have a defense policy that takes school lunches away from poor children to pay for mx missiles or b-1 bombers, or we could have a defense policy that reforms our conventional defenses, saves the taxpayers dollars and makes this country safer. one choice is in the national interests, 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

this 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, defer, and boastie. or we can demand the highest standards for our elected officials and 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. and 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 honesty and integrity to this nation's political process. one choice is in the national

interest. and that choice is clear. [ applause ] and finally, we can define patriotism. we can say that patriotism is only the symbols of this nation and that the flag belongs to a handful of narrow right-wingi ideologues or we can say that patriotism and the flag blopgsz to all of us who love this nation and choose this nation. one choice is in the national interest, and that choice is clear. [ applause ] people want to know what is the issue in 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. we can have leadership that tells this country that it must move forward, or leadership that says we will go back and recapture our past. that is the issue in 1988. and that is why i make this race. i make this race because i love my country and i want america to do better and to move forward. i believe there is an untapped idealism in the american spirit, and there is a quality in the american character that is yet to be unlocked. at its best that is what a national campaign is and ought

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

♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you all very much. ♪ ♪ thanks very much. ♪

road to the white house rewind continues with more from the 1988 campaign of democratic candidate gary hart. just weeks after entering the presidential race, the former colorado senator faced allegations of an extramarital affair with a miami woman named donna rice. next he addresses the charges at a news conference in hand over, new hampshire. our coverage picks up as the news conference gets underway this. portion is just under 40 minutes. >> as i have made clear, i think, to everyone, i have nothing to hide. i made a mistake. i made a series of mistakes in mistakes, in fact. i regret those very much not just for myself but for all