Gary Hart, an American Democratic politician representing Colorado in the Senate from 1975 to 1987, ran a campaign for President of the United States in the 1988 presidential election.

[3] He wanted to reduce America's dependence on oil and defuse the country's escalating military situation in the Persian Gulf.

After Mondale's landslide defeat by Ronald Reagan in 1984, Hart had become the heir apparent and best hope to lead the [Democratic Party] back to the White House."

After New York Governor Mario Cuomo announced that he was not running for president, Hart became the most favored presidential candidate in many national polls, beating the likely successor to Reagan, George H.W.

Gail Sheehy, a Vanity Fair reporter who covered both of Hart's presidential campaigns, wrote that he frequently lied about even innocuous subjects, such as whether he played varsity sports in high school.

[1] Multiple presidents and presidential candidates before had also cheated on their wives, but by the late 1980s, a younger liberal generation had begun to see it as a kind of political betrayal.

There was also a growing amount of journalists in the field of investigative journalism, inspired by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's work in the 1970s which publicized the Watergate scandal.

[3] In late March 1987, Hart sailed with two women on a yacht from Miami to Bimini named Monkey Business; they were Donna Rice and Lynn Armandt.

[7] Beginning on May 1, 1987, Herald reporter Jim McGee staked out Hart's townhouse in Washington D.C., wearing a hooded parka and sunglasses as a disguise.

[3][8][9] At a televised press conference in New Hampshire, when a reporter asked Hart if he had ever committed adultery, he responded, "I don't have to answer that."

"[9][10] A picture then surfaced of Rice sitting on Hart's lap, while he was wearing a shirt labeled "Monkey Business Crew".

[4][5] After the Herald report, Hart still continued campaigning for a week, but The Washington Post threatened to release details about an affair of his with another woman.