American Politics

We'll talk about the latest news in the Clinton/Lewinsky matter, including the controversy surrounding the release of videotapes made during the president's testimony in front of the grand jury. Toobin's article in the September 14, 1998 New Yorker is entitled "Terms of Impeachment."

A discussion about terrorism with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Tim Weiner. He writes about the CIA for "The New York Times." He talks about the changing nature of terrorism and specifically the challenges of tracking down Islamic militant Osama Bin Laden.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on how the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal has reminded us over the age-old debate over semantics. What is an inappropriate relationship? Can you have sex and still technically be a virgin?

Satirist and columnist Harry Shearer. He's the host of the syndicated NPR radio program, "Le Show," does several voices on "The Simpsons" and is a weekly commentator on ABC TV's World News Now. Shearer will give us his thoughts on President Clinton's talk to the nation last night regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Jeffrey Rosen is the legal affairs editor of The New Republic, where he writes about constitutional politics. He'll talk about how the courts handle perjury, in light of the Monica Lewinsky situation. Rosen is an associate professor at the George Washington University Law School, where he teaches constitutional law and criminal procedure. His essays and book reviews have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, Constitutional Commentary, and the Yale Law Journal.

Michaels talks about growing up in the sixties and seventies as the daughter of hippies in her new memoir, "Split: A counterculture Childhood." (Houghton Mifflin) Michaels grew up craving the straight life, but as a college student, she came to realize that she shared many of her parent's values. She is a contributing editor at "Threepenny Review" and a poet whose work has appeared in "Salon" and the "New York Times Magazine."

China scholar Orville Schell. He will be talking about President Clinton's imminent visit to China. Schell has appeared on ABC, NBC, and CBS, and produced shows for Frontline and Sixty Minutes. He's a board member of the Yale-China Association and Human Rights Watch, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Schell was just appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley. Schell has written many books on China.

Ellen Schrecker re-examines the McCarthy era in her new book, "Many are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America." (Little, Brown) She writes that despite the unfairness of the House Un-American Activities Committee, accusations were generally accurate. It's the first complete post-Cold War account of the McCarthy era. Schrecker is a professor of History at Yeshiva University in New York.

Author Harvey Klehr. He's co-authored a new book that examines how the Soviets controlled the American Communist party. The Communist Party as it existed in the United States is the only radical party in America to be governed by a foreign country. "The Soviet World of American Communism" draws information from documents in recently opened Soviet archives (with co-authors John Earl Haynes & Kyrill M. Anderson; Yale University Press). Klehr is a professor of Politics and History at Emory University.

Actress Jane Alexander talks about her 4 years as Chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts. She served from 1993 through 1997 when the GOP controlled Congress targeted the agency for budget cuts. She was the first artist to head the NEA. Alexander has returned to acting and is writing a book on her experiences at the NEA.