APUSH American Pageant 16th Ed. Chapter 40 Vocab

Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)

Non-profit organization of centrist Democrats founded in the mid-1980s. The group attempted to push the

Democratic party toward progrowth, strong defense, and anticrime policies. Among its most influential

early members was Bill Clinton, whom it held up as an example of "third way" politics

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

From 1993 to 2010, the policy affecting homosexuals in the military. It emerged as a compromise

between the standing prohibition against homosexuals in the armed forces and President Clinton's push

to allow all citizens to serve regardless of sexual orientation. Military authorities were forbidden to ask

about a service member's orientation, and gay service personnel could be discharged if they publicly

revealed their homosexuality. At President Obama's urging, Congress repealed DADT in 2010,

permitting gays to serve openly in uniform.

Oklahoma City Bombing

Truck-bomb explosion that killed 168 people in a federal office building on April 19, 1995. The attack was

perpetrated by right-wing and anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh, later executed by the U.S.

government for the crime.

Contract with America (1994)

Multipoint program offered by Republican candidates and sitting politicians in the 1994 midterm election. The platform proposed smaller government, congressional ethics reform, term limits, greater emphasis on personal responsibility, and a general repudiation of the Democratic party. This articulation of dissent was a significant blow to the Clinton administration and led to the Republican party's takeover of both houses of Congress for the first time in half a century.

Welfare Reform Bill

Legislation that made deep cuts in welfare grants and required able-bodied welfare recipients to find

employment. Part of Bill Clinton's campaign platform in 1992, the reforms were widely seen by liberals as

an abandonment of key New Deal/Great Society provisions to care for the impoverished.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Free trade zone encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the United States. A symbol of the increased reality

of a globalized market place, the treaty passed despite opposition from protectionists and labor leaders.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

An international body to promote and supervise liberal trade among nations. The successor to the

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, it marked a key world trade policy achievement of the Clinton

Administration.

Whitewater

A series of scandals during the Clinton Administration that stemmed from a failed real estate investment

from which the Clintons were alleged to have illicitly profited. The accusations prompted the appointment

of a special federal prosecutor, though no indictments.

Lewinsky Affair

Political sex scandal that resulted in Bill Clinton's impeachment and trial by Congress. In 1998, Clinton

gave sworn testimony in a sexual harassment case that he had never engaged in sexual activity with a

White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. When prosecutors discovered evidence that the President

had lied under oath about the affair, to which Clinton admitted, Republicans in Congress began

impeachment proceedings. Although Clinton was ultimately not convicted by the Senate, the scandal put

a lasting blemish on his presidential legacy.

H. Ross Perot

-Ran on the independent ticket for the 1992 Presidential election

-Harped incessantly on the problem of the federal deficit and made a boast of the fact that he had never held any public office

-Reflected pervasive economic unease and the virulence of the throw-the-bums-out national mood

-Earned 20 percent of the popular vote

-Won no electoral votes but 19.7 million popular votes

Newt Gingrich

Promoter of the "Contract with America" and the first Republican speaker in 40 years.

Monica Lewinsky

In early 1998, inquiries led to charges that the president had had a sexual relationship with a young White House intern, Monica Lewinsky; that he had lied about in his deposition before Paula Jones's attorneys and that he had encouraged Lewinsky to do the same.