''Monkey Business'' is an American yacht built for the use of the
Turnberry Isle Resort Marina in southern
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. It is best known for its role in scuttling the campaign of
Gary Hart for
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
.
History
An Broward Marine motor yacht, ''Monkey Business'' was custom built for the Turnberry Isle Resort. The hull was made from
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
; cabins had
rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues.
True rosewoods
All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...
paneling and amenities included a
hot tub and full bar.
Guests hosted aboard included
Elton John,
Elizabeth Taylor,
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...
, and
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...
.
Gary Hart incident
In March 1987, at which time it was owned by developers
Donald Soffer
Donald Soffer (born September 20, 1932) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is a real estate developer who developed Florida swampland into what was to become the city of Aventura, Florida.
Early life and education
Soffe ...
and
Eddie Lewis, the yacht was rented by William C. Broadhurst, a Louisiana lawyer and lobbyist.
Together with former
US senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Gary Hart, Broadhurst sailed it to
Bimini
Bimini is the westernmost district of the Bahamas and comprises a chain of islands located about due east of Miami. Bimini is the closest point in the Bahamas to the mainland United States and approximately west-northwest of Nassau. The popula ...
for an overnight trip with two women, one of whom was
Donna Rice. After Hart
became a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the
1988 election for President of the United States, the issue of whether he was having an affair with Rice was raised in the press.
As rumors began circulating about the supposed extramarital affairs, Hart challenged the media. He told ''The New York Times'' in an interview published on May 3, 1987, "They should follow me around... They’ll be very bored." As the NBC anchor
John Chancellor
John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in TV news. He served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to 1982 and continu ...
explained a few days later, "We did. We weren’t."
On May 8, 1987, five days after issuing his challenge, the Colorado senator withdrew as a candidate after the cruise on ''Monkey Business'' became known.
On Sunday, May 3, ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.[National Enquirer
The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years.
The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...]
'', and then in hundreds of newspapers worldwide, showing Donna Rice sitting in Hart's lap with Hart in a ''Monkey Business'' T-shirt.
In 2018, Democratic media consultant Raymond Strother made public a conversation he had with Republican operative
Lee Atwater
Harvey LeRoy "Lee" Atwater (February 27, 1951 – March 29, 1991) was an American political consultant and strategist for the Republican Party. He was an adviser to US presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and chairman of the Repub ...
in the final weeks of Atwater's life in which he told Strother that the photograph of Hart and Rice had been arranged by Atwater to discredit Hart.
The yacht made an appearance early in the film ''Smokey and the Bandit Part 3''. It returned to popular culture in the film ''
The Front Runner,'' a 2018 American
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
directed by
Jason Reitman and starring
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
as Gary Hart.
References
{{reflist
Motor yachts
1988 United States presidential election