¶ Democratic Leadership Council
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The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was an American nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. It was affiliated with the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), which served as the DLC's think tank.
¶ History
The DLC was founded in 1985 by Al From and "a small group of reform-minded" governors and congressmen, with assistance from Will Marshall,[1][2] modelled after the Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM).[3] Founding members of the DLC included Arkansas governor Bill Clinton,[1:1] Al Gore, Richard Riley[4] and Chuck Robb.[5] In January 1989, Marshall founded the Progressive Policy Institute to act as the DLC's "intellectual center."[2:1][6]
Clinton became chair of the DLC in 1990.[7] During his tenure as chair, Clinton shaped the ideas he would use in his successful campaign for President of the United States, demonstrating the viability of a New Democrat platform.[1:2]
The DLC ceased operations in February 2011, and in July 2011, From announced that the organization's historical records had been purchased by the Clinton Foundation.[8][1:3]
¶ Organization
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chuck Alston | Executive Director[9] | Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), New Democrat Magazine, Congressional Quarterly, Greensboro News and Record |
| Evan Bayh | Chairman[10] | United States Senate, Third Way |
| Joe Biden | Member[11] | President of the United States |
| Tom Carper | Vice Chairman[12] | United States Senate, Third Way |
| Bill Clinton | Chairman[13] | President of the United States |
| Al From | Founder[1:4] | House Democratic Caucus |
| Al Gore | Founding member[5:1] | Vice President of the United States |
| Nancy Jacobson | Senior Advisor[14] | Democratic Party, Democratic National Committee (DNC), No Labels, NEXT Generation |
| Michael Lewan | Washington Steering Committee head[15] | New Democrat Coalition |
| Steven Liebes | Director of Trade Policy (June 1998-February 2000)[16] | State of the World Forum |
| Blanche Lincoln | Member[17][18] | Third Way |
| Will Marshall | Founding Policy Director[2:2] | Progressive Policy Institute |
| Sam Nunn | Chairman[13:1] | Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM) |
| Holly Page | Vice President and Political Director[19] | Blueprint: Ideas for a New Century, Democratic National Committee (DNC) |
| Bruce Reed | President[20] | - |
| Chuck Robb | Founding member[5:2] | Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM) |
| Ellen Tauscher | Vice Chair[21] | ChildCare Registry |
¶ Funding
The DLC refused to disclose its funders, but some have been identified from sources like event programs. Known donors to the DLC included:[22][5:3]
- Aetna
- American Airlines
- American Association of Health Plans
- American International Group (AIG)
- AOL
- ARCO
- AT&T
- BellSouth
- Bernard Schwartz
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
- Boeing
- BP
- Bristol-Myers Squibb
- Chevron
- Cigna
- Citigroup
- Coca-Cola Company
- Dell
- Dow
- DuPont
- Eli Lilly
- Enron
- FedEx
- General Electric (GE)
- Glaxo Wellcome
- IBM
- Intel
- Koch Industries
- Merck
- Michael Steinhardt
- Microsoft
- Motorola
- Oracle
- PaineWebber
- Pharmacia & Upjohn
- Pfizer
- Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
- Philip Morris International
- Richard Fink
- Robert Hall III
- Texaco
- TRW
- Union Carbide
- Verizon Communications
- Xerox
¶ External links
¶ Further reading
- May 22, 2024: "Behind Third Way’s All Out War to Sink Kennedy" by Liam Sturgess, published by The Kennedy Beacon
From, A. (2011, July 5). Statement from DLC Founder Al From. Democratic Leadership Council. http://archive.today/2012.06.11-101033/http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=84&contentid=255239 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Will Marshall. Progressive Policy Institute. Retrieved December 16, 2023, from https://web.archive.org/web/20231216052841/https://www.progressivepolicy.org/people/will-marshall-2/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Kotkin, J. (2022, November 11). The Democrats’ False Victory. Joel Kotkin. https://web.archive.org/web/20240516205555/https://joelkotkin.com/the-democrats-false-victory/ ↩︎
Hover, D. (2018, August 4). From the archives: Dick Riley, Bill Clinton and the emergence of the Democratic Leadership Council. The Greenville News. http://archive.today/2024.03.29-010847/https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2018/08/04/archives-emergence-democratic-leadership-council/875356002/ ↩︎
Dreyfuss, R. (2001, December 19). How the DLC Does It. The American Prospect. https://web.archive.org/web/20240419104100/https://prospect.org/features/dlc/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
From, A. (2013, December 3). Recruiting Bill Clinton. The Atlantic. http://archive.today/2019.10.23-043755/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/12/recruiting-bill-clinton/281946/ ↩︎
Scola, N. (2023, November 2). Biden’s Elusive AI Whisperer Finally Goes On the Record. Here’s His Warning. Politico. http://archive.today/2023.11.18-022804/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/02/bruce-reed-ai-biden-tech-00124375 ↩︎
Smith, B. (2011, February 7). Democratic Leadership Council will fold. Politico. https://web.archive.org/web/20240115223243/https://www.politico.com/blogs/ben-smith/2011/02/democratic-leadership-council-will-fold-033157 ↩︎
Chuck Alston. New Democrats Online. Retrieved April 20, 2001, from http://archive.today/2001.04.20-013058/http://ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=191&contentid=1139 ↩︎
Co-Chairs. Third Way. Retrieved August 6, 2004, from http://archive.today/2004.08.06-185509/http://www.third-way.com/cochairs/ ↩︎
Marcetic, B. (2020, February 23). Joe Biden Helped Pull the Democrats to the Right. Jacobin. https://web.archive.org/web/20220607075205/https://jacobin.com/2020/02/yesterdays-man-case-against-joe-biden-new-deal-reagan ↩︎
Carper Named Vice-Chair of Democratic Leadership Council. (2005, July 15). Senator Tom Carper. http://archive.today/2024.03.29-000851/https://www.carper.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/null-101/ ↩︎
Von Drehle, D., & Dewar, H. (1993, May 3). The Contrary Democrat: What is Sam Nunn Thinking? Washington Post. http://archive.today/2024.03.29-005128/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/05/03/the-contrary-democrat-what-is-sam-nunn-thinking/43dcf3ad-d8c7-4368-ae46-39658215132d/ ↩︎ ↩︎
Experience | Nancy Jacobson. LinkedIn. Retrieved November 16, 2023, from http://archive.today/2023.11.16-210436/https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyjacobson/details/experience/ ↩︎
Michael Lewan. The Livingston Group, L.L.C. Retrieved May 19, 2024, from http://archive.today/2024.05.19-003808/https://www.livingstongroupdc.com/about/bios/michael-lewan/ ↩︎
Experience | Steven F. Liebes. LinkedIn. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-f-liebes-ba0200149/details/experience/ ↩︎
Roggio, B. (2004, December 8). The Credibility Gap. FDD’s Long War Journal. https://web.archive.org/web/20230529215233/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2004/12/the_credibility_1.php ↩︎
Balz, D. (2010, May 30). Still onstage and shaping Clintonism. Washington Post. http://archive.today/2024.05.13-215320/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/national/2010/05/30/still-onstage-and-shaping-clintonism/cefd2f72-ca3d-47e7-b386-3b29553e792f/ ↩︎
Holly Page. New Democrats Online. Retrieved July 13, 2001, from https://web.archive.org/web/20010713030243/http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=191&contentid=1141 ↩︎
About the Democratic Leadership Council. New Democrats Online. Retrieved April 20, 2001, from https://web.archive.org/web/20010420014937/http://ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=86&subid=85&contentid=893 ↩︎
Ellen Tauscher. New Democrats Online. Retrieved May 13, 2001, from https://web.archive.org/web/20010513063532/http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=2878&subid=110&kaid=103 ↩︎
Turque, B. (2000, August 20). The Soul And The Steel. Newsweek. http://archive.today/2020.08.06-155924/https://www.newsweek.com/soul-and-steel-158731 ↩︎