How Gary Hart and 'Monkey Business' Changed Politics and the Media

The Leonard Lopate Show | Dec 22, 2014

Note: Today's Leonard Lopate Show in on tape. This is a rebroadcast of an interview that took place on October 6th, 2014.

In 1987, Gary Hart seemed set to win the Democratic nomination for president and was ahead of George H. W. Bush in the polls. Until rumors of marital infidelity and a photo was taken of Hart and a model near a yacht named Monkey Business. Political reporter Matt Bai recounts the Hart affair and argues that it marked a turning point in the ethos of political media-and, by extension, politics itself-when candidates' "character" began to draw more attention than their political experience. In his book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid, Bai makes the compelling case that this changed how politics is covered—private lives became public, news became entertainment, and politics became fodder for the tabloids.

All the Truth Is Out by Matt Bai

(Knopf /Courtesy of the publisher)

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy Running for Congress in New York. Plus, the Astronaut Reid Wiseman

The candidate on the role of social media in politics, and speaking out against his cousin R.F.K., Jr. Plus, the commander of NASA’s Artemis II mission on the dark side of the moon.

The New Yorker Radio Hour |

NJ Gov. Sherrill: If state police were too aggressive at Delaney Hall, we'll look into it

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill took call after call Wednesday night from people who told her state police had been overly aggressive in violent clashes with protesters outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center this weekend.

Ask Governor Sherrill |

I.C.E.'s "Wartime Recruitment" Campaign

Hiring at the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency.

On the Media |

Ask the Mayor Recap and More News From City Hall

Elizabeth Kim discusses the issues Mayor Mamdani talked about in his first "ask the mayor" segment.

The Brian Lehrer Show |