Town Hall with President Clinton (1999)

On November 8, 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton participated in the first ever presidential webcast. The forum was held at George Washington University in Washington DC, moderated by DLC chairman, Al From and directed by Marc Scarpa. The President and participants engaged in an online discussion on a range of issues from Medicare to gun control via questions submitted by the online users. 50,000 participants logged on to chat live with the President for 90 minutes (he stayed on for an additional 20 minutes). The broadcast received worldwide media attention and was simultaneously broadcast live throughout the United States on several television news networks including CNN, MSNBC and NBC. In 2005, the historical participatory media event was inducted into the permanent collection of the Clinton Presidential Library, in Little Rock, Arkansas and is the first Internet-age broadcast in a Presidential library. The event has stood the test of time, as a model for real-time political communication between the President and voters.