David Cortright
David Cortright (1946–) is an activist and advocate for peace, disarmament and nonviolent policy change. He is Professor Emeritus at the Keough School of Global Affairs and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He currently chairs the Board of the Fourth Freedom Forum and serves as the editor of Peace Policy.
He has written extensively on peace and disarmament, including Governance for Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2017); Ghandi and Beyond (Paradigm, 2009); Soldiers in Revolt: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War (Haymarket Books, 2005); and A Peaceful Superpower: Lessons from the World’s Largest Antiwar Movement (New Village Press, 2023). Along with Ron Carver and Barbara Doherty, he co-edited Waging Peace in Vietnam: US Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War (New Village Press, 2019).
Cortright was an organizer for peace while an active duty soldier in the Vietnam War. In 1978, he was appointed executive director of SANE, the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (1977-88) and was involved in the nuclear freeze movement of the 1980s. In 2002, he co-founded Win Without War, a coalition of national organizations that opposed the invasion of Iraq and advocated for demilitarized national security strategies.