About David
David Davenport is counselor to the director and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. He specializes in international law and treaties, constitutional federalism, and American politics and law.
Davenport is the former president of Pepperdine University (1985–2000). Under his leadership of Pepperdine, the university experienced significant growth in quality and reputation. Davenport cofounded Common Sense California and the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership. He also serves on the board of California Forward, a bipartisan reform group, and was also a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Performance Review Commission. Davenport is a member of several corporate and nonprofit boards as well.
His work on policy appears in a number of places, including regular radio commentaries on the Salem Radio Network and Townhall.com (where he is a contributing editor), as well as frequent newspaper columns in the San Francisco Chronicle. He has contributed chapters to Hoover books on values in a free society and legal threats to American values. He has also authored articles in Policy Review on “The New Diplomacy” and “The Politics of Literacy.” Davenport is a popular public speaker, currently serving as a world affairs lecturer for Crystal Cruises.
Davenport earned a B.A. with distinction in international relations from Stanford University and a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and earned national and international awards in moot court competitions.
