David Lyle Boren (April 21, 1941 – February 20, 2025) was an American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.
Early life and education Boren was born in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 1941, to Christine (née McKown) and former U.S. representative Lyle Hagler Boren. He attended public schools in Seminole, Oklahoma and Bethesda, Maryland. He 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. He 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.Alexandra Robbins, Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, Little, Brown and Company, 2002, page 124, 158.Lloyd Grove, "The Boren Identity; Oklahoma's Senator, Unlikely Point Man for Clinton Plan", The Washington Post, March 24, 1993. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar and earned a master's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from University of Oxford (1965). In 1968, he received a J.D. degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
Oklahoma House of Representatives In 1966 Boren defeated fellow Democrat William C. Wantland in a primary election and Clifford Conn Jr. in the general election to win a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He served four terms, 1967 to 1974.
While serving in the House, Boren was a member of the committee that investigated the University of Oklahoma after the school allowed black militant Paul Boutelle, a socialist and anti-Vietnam War activist, to give a speech there. During his House tenure Boren was also a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University.United Press International, Warsaw Times-Union, Rhodes Scholar Captures Runoff Race in Oklahoma, September 18, 1974
Boren served in the Oklahoma Army National Guard from 1963 to 1974. He attained the rank of captain and served as commander of the 2120th Supply & Service Company in Wewoka.Lawton Constitution, Morale Of Sooner Guard Troops High, July 25, 1975
Governor of Oklahoma
In 1974, Boren ran for governor. In keeping with the anti-establishment movements of that Watergate scandal-era campaign season, Boren's effort included the "Boren Broom Brigade" to demonstrate his pledge to "sweep out the Old Guard" and bring fundamental reforms to state government.United Press International, Frederick Daily Leader, Boren Sweeps Past Opponent, November 6, 1974
Boren and Congressman Clem McSpadden defeated incumbent David Hall in the primary election and moved into a runoff for the Democratic nomination.Martin Waldron, The New York Times, Gov. Hall Defeated in Oklahoma: McSpadden and Boren in Runoff; Boren Total a Surprise, August 29, 1974 Boren beat McSpadden in the runoff and subsequently defeated Republican Jim Inhofe in the general election. Inhofe would go on to be his successor in the United States Senate in the 1994 special election after his resignation.Associated Press, Lawrence World-Journal, New Oklahoma Governor is Rhodes Scholar, November 6, 1974 He was inaugurated on January 12, 1975. At 33, he was the youngest governor ever inaugurated in Oklahoma.
During his tenure Boren worked on eliminating the inheritance tax for property left by one spouse to another, a reduction in the state income tax rate, improvements to the state corrections program in the wake of the 1973 Oklahoma State Penitentiary riot, and elimination of more than a hundred state agencies, commissions, and boards. Boren attracted national attention during the Energy Crisis when he advocated nationwide deregulation of natural gas prices.
1978 U.S. Senate Campaign Boren opted not to run for reelection in 1978, instead running for the United States Senate seat held by the retiring Dewey Bartlett. He won a multi-candidate primary with 46 percent of the vote to second-place finisher Ed Edmondson's 28 percent.United Press International, Altus Times-Democrat, Derryberry Cinches Runoff Berth With Nigh, August 25, 1978 Boren then defeated Edmondson in the runoff, and Republican Robert Kamm, former President of Oklahoma State University, in the general election.National Journal, Election results: Oklahoma, Volume 10, Part 3, 1978, page 1525Arrell Morgan Gibson, Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries, 1981, page 262
During his 1978 U.S. Senate campaign while holding the office of Governor, Boren faced a crowded Democratic primary with former U.S. representative Ed Edmondson, state senators Gene Stipe and George Miskovsky, Anthony Points, Dean Bridges, and Rosella Pete Saker also running. Boren's main rival for the Democratic party's nomination, Edmondson, called Boren "a Republican" due to his support of eliminating the state inheritance tax between spouses. Edmondson took a pledge recited on a biography of President Harry Truman, that he was not nor had never been "a Republican."
Anthony Points, who ran under an assumed name and faced charges for passing bogus checks, accused Boren of being gay. Following his victory, Boren swore an oath on a family Bible, that "I know what homosexuals and bisexuals are. I further swear that I am not a homosexual or bisexual. And I further swear that I have never been a homosexual or bisexual. And I further swear that I have never engaged in any homosexual or bisexual activities nor do I approve of or condone them."
Despite the personal attacks which made The Washington Post describe the race as a "Gutter Shootout" Boren prevailed by wide margins in the primary, runoff and general election balloting.
U.S. Senator
In the United States Senate, Boren was known as a centrist or conservative Democrat, was a protégé of Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, and was often aligned with southern Democrats Sam Nunn of Georgia and Howell Heflin of Alabama. A strong advocate of tax cuts across the board as the cornerstone of economic policy, Boren opposed the windfall profit tax on the domestic oil industry, which was repealed in 1988. At one point, the tax was generating no revenue, yet still required oil companies to comply with reporting requirements and the IRS to spend $15 million to collect the tax. Of the tax, Boren said: "As long as the tax is not being collected, the accounting requirements are needless. They result in heavy burdens for the private sector and unnecessary cost to the taxpayer." He was reelected in 1984 and 1990 by landslide margins.
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), who served with him, publicly stated that Boren should be elected president."OU's Consistency Starts at Top with Boren", September 2, 2014 Boren's chief of staff was a respected Capitol Hill insider, Charles Ward, a former longtime administrative assistant to Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (and fellow Oklahoman) Carl Albert.
Boren served on the Senate Committee on Finance and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He also served as chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1987 to 1993. His six years is the longest tenure for a Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, tied with Dianne Feinstein. Boren sponsored the National Security Education Act of 1991, which established the National Security Education Program. During the George H. W. Bush administration, he served as an informal emissary to Nicaragua during the time of the Contras insurgency.
Boren was one of only two Democratic senators to vote in favor of the controversial nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1987. Boren also decided in 1991 to vote against the Persian Gulf War. Boren was one of President Bill Clinton's top choices to replace Les Aspin as U.S. Secretary of Defense in 1994. However, Clinton selected William J. Perry instead.George Stephanopoulos, All Too Human: A Political Education, 1999
In a controversial public mea culpa in a New York Times Op/Ed piece, Boren expressed regret over his vote to confirm Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. Partly as a result of that statement, The Daily Oklahoman, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma, which had encouraged and endorsed Boren's entire career, began intensely criticizing him."The Boren Standard", The Daily Oklahoman, August 11, 1992
In 1992, he co-sponsored the JFK Records Act. In 1994, he resigned his Senate seat to accept the presidency of the University of Oklahoma.
Praise from Nelson Mandela As chairman of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Boren was instrumental in building consensus and bipartisan support for the U.S. State Department initiatives to promote democracy abroad, which helped lead to the release of Nelson Mandela. 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. During his first visit to the US after his release, Mandela was a dinner guest of Boren and wife Molly.Dana Hertneky, KWTV Television News, OU President David Boren Remembers Nelson Mandela, December 11, 2013ABC News, Nightline, , December 17, 2013C-SPAN, Senate Dinner for Mandela, June 25, 1990
University of Oklahoma presidency Boren served as president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 until June 30, 2018, and was succeeded by business executive Jim Gallogly. He cut ties with the university in 2019.
He also served on the Board of Directors of Texas Instruments and AMR Corporation (then parent company of American Airlines). In 2017, his salary as president of the University of Oklahoma was $383,852.88 annually. One semester every school year, Boren taught a freshman level political science class.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon incident
In March 2015, a recording was made public of members of the University of Oklahoma's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity singing a racially derogatory song which used the racial slur nigger and included reference to lynching and racial segregation. As university president, Boren appeared widely in the U.S. media and condemned the behavior, expelled two student members of the fraternity, and with the fraternity's national headquarters' help, ordered the OU chapter's closure. He also created a mandatory Diversity Training for the whole campus. Some legal scholars have argued that these expulsions were improper, as speech, even if offensive, is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Other scholars have argued that the expulsion was based on the student code of conduct, and what was said is not protected.
2019 misconduct investigation On February 13, 2019, while on sabbatical from health issues, following his 2018 retirement it was reported that the University of Oklahoma had hired the Jones Day law firm to investigate Boren after allegations of his "serious" misconduct arose at the university. The university and specifically the OU Board of Regents declined to specify whether the investigation was actually of Boren, or to specify its start or projected end date, instead referring to it generally as an ongoing personnel investigation. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation conducted a criminal investigation which lasted a year ending with no charges.