Al From (born May 31, 1943) is the founder and former CEO of the
Democratic Leadership Council
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was founded in 1985 and closed in 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, prominent members include Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton (who was elected president in 1992 and 1996), Delaware Senator Joe Biden (e ...
. His ideas and political strategies during the past quarter century played a central role in the resurgence of the modern Democratic Party. From is the author of ''The New Democrats and the Return to Power,'' released in December 2013.
Early life and education
Born in
South Bend, Indiana
South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
, From earned a master's degree in journalism from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
and was editor of the ''
Daily Northwestern
''The Daily Northwestern'' is the student newspaper at Northwestern University which is published in print on Mondays and Thursdays and online daily during the academic year. Founded in 1881, and printed in Evanston, Illinois, it is staffed primar ...
''.
While serving as a reporter and editor for the ''Daily Northwestern'', From conducted an investigation on discriminatory admissions. From, who was Jewish, uncovered an unofficial quota system that limited the number of minority students admitted to the program. According to the magazine ''
North by Northwestern
''North by Northwestern'' is a daily online news magazine at Northwestern University, started in September 2006 by students at the Medill School of Journalism. It is noted for its multimedia coverage of campus events. In 2008, the site was recog ...
'', From quoted admissions director, C. William Reiley, "making discriminatory statements and the day after the story was published, the student senate stated that Reiley's actions were inappropriate. Reiley was later reassigned as the dean of administrative services." The removal of Reiley and exposure of the quotas ended the discriminatory practice.
Career
In 2000, at a speech at Hyde Park, President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
said, "It would be hard to think of a single American citizen who, as a private citizen, has had a more positive impact on the progress of American life in the last 25 years than Al From."
Early career
From began his career working for
Sargent Shriver
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. (November 9, 1915 – January 18, 2011) was an American diplomat, politician, and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family. Shriver was the driving force behind the creation ...
's
War on Poverty
The war on poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to a national p ...
right out of graduate school, assigned to the Southeast region including Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia.
Before founding the DLC, From was executive director of the
House Democratic Caucus
The House Democratic Caucus is a congressional caucus composed of all Democratic Representatives in the United States House of Representatives and is responsible for nominating and electing the Democratic Party leadership in the chamber. In its ...
from 1981 to 1985, chaired by Representative
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long (May 4, 1923 – January 20, 1985) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana. He was a member of the Long family and was the nephew of former governors Huey Long and Earl Long a ...
from
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
. For two years—1979 and 1980—he was deputy advisor on inflation to President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
and from 1971 to 1979, he directed the
U.S. Senate
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 ...
Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, chaired by Senator
Edmund Muskie
Edmund Sixtus Muskie (March 28, 1914March 26, 1996) was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, a United States Senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 6 ...
. As staff director, he worked on the Congressional Budget Act, helped shape the stimulus package during the 1973-74 recession and was called a "legislative genius" by ''
Washingtonian'' magazine.
The Democratic Leadership Council
From led the DLC from its inception in 1985 until he stepped down as CEO in April 2009.
He founded the DLC in 1985, at a time as ''Roll Call'' writes, "Democrats appeared to be on the brink of a permanent excursion into the political wild following
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
's 49-state drubbing by incumbent President
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
in 1984."
In 1991, the Reverend
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
called the DLC "Democrats for the Leisure Class", and in 2003, former Democratic National Committee Chair and Vermont Governor
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 200 ...
sharply criticized From and the DLC as the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
![Al From 1992](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Al_From_1992.jpg)
From played a prominent role in the 1992 election of President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
– and served as domestic policy advisor to the Clinton Transition – prompting ''USA Today'' to write: "The ideas at the crux of the Clinton candidacy were largely drafted by the DLC."
Today, many of the ideas that comprise the core of the agenda of the Democratic Party's conservative wing come from work done under From's leadership at the DLC. National service, an expanded
Earned Income Tax Credit
The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit (EITC or EIC) is a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly those with children. The amount of EITC benefit depends ...
, welfare reform, charter schools, community policing, expanded trade and re-inventing government were all championed by scholars and analysts at the DLC before becoming public policy.
In 1998, with First Lady
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
, From began a dialogue with British Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
and other world leaders, and the DLC brand – known as The Third Way – became a model for resurgent liberal governments around the globe.
In April 1999, he hosted a Third Way forum in Washington with President Clinton, Prime Minister Blair, German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder Gerhard is a name of Germanic origin and may refer to:
Given name
* Gerhard (bishop of Passau) (fl. 932–946), German prelate
* Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (1292–1340), German prince, regent of Denmark
* Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–19 ...
, Prime Ministers
Wim Kok
Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.[Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...]
and
Massimo D'Alema
Massimo D'Alema (; born 20 April 1949) is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to 2008. D'Alema also serv ...
of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
In November 1999, joining President Clinton, From moderated the first-ever live presidential town hall meeting on the Internet.
Recent work
In 2013, From authored ''The New Democrats and the Return to Power''. President Bill Clinton authored the foreword. In the book, From "outlines for the first time the principles at the heart of the
ew Democratmovement… and why they are vital to the success of the Democratic Party in the years ahead." The book received praise from President Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...
, who said, "it should be read, re-read and underlined by anyone who wants to know what it takes to be successful in American politics today."
From is currently an adjunct faculty member at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in the
Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Advanced Academic Programs. His new venture, the From Company, LLC, offers strategic advice to private clients.
From serves on the Board of Advisors of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce National Chamber Foundation, the Board of Trustees of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the National Advisory Board of the Roosevelt Institution, and the Executive Board of the University of Maryland's Center for American Politics and Citizenship.
He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors in 1999, and served as chairman until December 2002 when his term expired. His writings have appeared in numerous national publications, includin
''The Wall Street Journal''''Los Angeles Times''''The Chicago Tribune'' an
Personal life
From lives in Annapolis, Maryland, with his wife, Ginger.
References
External links
Al Froms page o
The Democratic Leadership Councilwebsite
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:From, Al
1943 births
Living people
Medill School of Journalism alumni
Writers from South Bend, Indiana
Indiana Democrats