1. David Lyle Boren was an American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma.
45 Facts About David Boren
2.
David Boren was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018.
3.
David Boren was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
4.
On September 20,2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30,2018.
5.
David Boren was born in Washington, DC, on April 21,1941, to Christine and former US representative Lyle Hagler David Boren.
6.
David Boren attended public schools in Seminole, Oklahoma and Bethesda, Maryland.
7.
David Boren later graduated in 1963 from Yale University, where he majored in American history, graduated in the top one percent of his class and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
8.
David Boren was a member of the Yale Conservative Party, Cannon and Castle ROTC Honor Society, elected president of the Yale Political Union and was a member of Skull and Bones.
9.
David Boren was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from University of Oxford.
10.
In 1966 Boren defeated fellow Democrat William C Wantland in a primary election and Clifford Conn Jr.
11.
David Boren served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard from 1963 to 1974.
12.
In keeping with the anti-establishment movements of that Watergate scandal-era campaign season, David Boren's effort included the "David Boren Broom Brigade" to demonstrate his pledge to "sweep out the Old Guard" and bring fundamental reforms to state government.
13.
David Boren beat McSpadden in the runoff and subsequently defeated Republican Jim Inhofe in the general election.
14.
David Boren attracted national attention during the Energy Crisis when he advocated nationwide deregulation of natural gas prices.
15.
David Boren opted not to run for reelection in 1978, instead running for the United States Senate seat held by the retiring Dewey Bartlett.
16.
David Boren won a multi-candidate primary with 46 percent of the vote to second-place finisher Ed Edmondson's 28 percent.
17.
David Boren then defeated Edmondson in the runoff, and Republican Robert Kamm, former President of Oklahoma State University, in the general election.
18.
Anthony Points, who ran under an assumed name and faced charges for passing bogus checks, accused David Boren of being gay.
19.
Barry Goldwater, who served with him, publicly stated that David Boren should be elected president.
20.
David Boren's chief of staff was a respected Capitol Hill insider, Charles Ward, a former longtime administrative assistant to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Carl Albert.
21.
David Boren served on the Senate Committee on Finance and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
22.
David Boren served as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1987 to 1993.
23.
David Boren sponsored the National Security Education Act of 1991, which established the National Security Education Program.
24.
David Boren was one of only two Democratic senators to vote in favor of the controversial nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, in 1987.
25.
David Boren decided in 1991 to vote against the Persian Gulf War.
26.
David Boren was one of President Bill Clinton's top choices to replace Les Aspin as a US Secretary of Defense in 1994.
27.
David Boren was praised and received a standing ovation led by Mandela at a special broadcast of ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel, which commemorated Mandela's historic release from prison in South Africa.
28.
David Boren served as president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 until June 30,2018, and was succeeded by business executive Jim Gallogly.
29.
David Boren served on the Board of Directors of Texas Instruments and AMR Corporation.
30.
One semester every school year, David Boren taught a freshman level political science class.
31.
David Boren created a mandatory Diversity Training for the whole campus.
32.
David Boren issued a blanket denial of any misconduct or illegal activity through his attorney.
33.
In 1996, Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot unsuccessfully sought David Boren to be his vice-presidential running mate.
34.
David Boren was regarded as a mentor to former director of Central Intelligence George Tenet from his days as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
35.
In June 2007, conservative political columnist Robert Novak claimed that David Boren had met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss a possible third-party presidential campaign.
36.
Bloomberg had recently left the Republican Party, and speculation arose that he discussed the possibility of David Boren joining him as a running mate.
37.
However, on April 18,2008, David Boren endorsed the leading Democratic candidate, Sen.
38.
David Boren sat on the honorary board of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues.
39.
David Boren was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1988.
40.
In 1996, David Boren received the Foreign Language Advocacy Award from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in recognition of his support for education and his authorship of the National Security Education Act of 1992.
41.
David Boren married Pontotoc County Special District Judge Molly Shi on November 27,1977.
42.
David Boren was a lawyer in private practice for two years before being appointed a judge.
43.
The David Boren family has a strong interest in public policy and three generations of public service.
44.
David Boren died from diabetes at his home near Newcastle, Oklahoma, on February 20,2025, at the age of 83.
45.
David Boren would be buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Seminole, Oklahoma on February 24,2025, with a public memorial being held on March 29,2025.