EARLIER EMPLOYMENT:

DebtSlavery.org, March 28,2005 – April 15, 2005 Swanson worked as coordinator of a coalition opposing the bankruptcy bill inthe US House of Representatives. He was hired by Democrats.com and managed a website, now gone at DebtSlavery.org.  Members of the coalition that he formed and worked with included: Democrats.com,Progressive Democrats of America, AFL-CIO, The Nation, National Organizationfor Women, American Progress Action Fund, National Community ReinvestmentCoalition, People’s Email Network, Public Citizen, Democracy Week, BlackCommentator, Thom Hartmann Show, Milwaukee Labor Press, Politology, FlyBy News, Billionaires for Bush, Evans Media USA, Take Back America, UnitedProgressives for Democracy, Rapid Response Network, Public Campaign ActionFund, Progressive Populist, ACORN, Drum Major Institute, Campaign forAmerica’s Future, American Center for International Law, and MoveOn.org.

International Labor Communications Association: Media Coordinator, May 2004 – March 2005 Swanson recruited members, built alliances, spoke at conferences, spoke on radio shows, created and maintained a website and an Email newsletter, wrote and published articles and position papers, laid out hardcopy newsletters and brochures, sold advertising, organized panels and events, recruited judges and helped run contests, hired and managed interns, developed training materials, assisted labor media outlets with their work, and strategized to develop larger and more democratic labor media.

While at the ILCA, and afterwards as a freelance member, Swanson served on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA, AFL-CIO, http://wbng.org.

In 2005 Swanson provided regular weekly commentary on the Thom Hartmann Show, a radio show aired in cities around the country.

ReDefeatBush.com: February 2004 – April 2004. Swanson worked as Communications Director for a campaign to register new Democrats in swing states.

Dennis Kucinich for President: Campaign Press Secretary, September 2003 – February 2004 In this position Swanson served as the primary media spokesperson for a presidential campaign. He wrote the press releases, served as editor of the website, oversaw the development of responses to written questionnaires from the media and of new policy positions. He spoke at public events and represented the candidate in debates and forums. He gave print, internet, television, and radio interviews. He also wrote the campaign’s regular Emails to supporters nationally and in particular states, developed web tools for supporters, developed and edited flyers and handouts and advertisements, and worked closely with endorsers of the campaign. He had a national communications staff of a half-dozen paid employees and worked closely with paid and volunteer communications staff in each state.

ACORN: Communications Coordinator, November 2000 – September 2003 Swanson worked as communications coordinator for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). At ACORN he developed relationships with reporters and contributed to many successful campaigns through aggressive use of the media. He wrote press advisories, press releases, testimony for hearings, letters to editors, op-eds, newspaper articles, public service announcements, speeches, advertisements, website content, an Email newsletter, fact sheets, flyers, brochures, sample letters to elected officials, book chapters, and cover letters for packets of press clips mailed to funders. He assisted with the writing of lengthy reports. He appeared on national television programs, conducted workshops, door-knocked, phone-banked, worked polling stations, conducted media skills trainings, and engaged in a very wide range of other duties. He managed a staff of three interns. He helped increase ACORN’s national profile as well as making strategic use of targeted media in numerous local campaigns.

Bureau of National Affairs: Labor Reporter, July 2000 – October 2000 Swanson wrote for two newsletters, the Union Labor Report and the Bulletin to Management, printed by the Bureau of National Affairs. He belonged to the Baltimore-Washington Newspaper Guild, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO.

Culpeper News: Reporter and Online Editor, August 1999 – July 2000 Swanson worked as a full-time reporter at the Culpeper News, a weekly newspaper in Culpeper, Va. Duties included researching, reporting, photographing, writing editorials and columns, and proofreading. He also served as the online editor, putting selected articles and images on the internet. He also served as editor for the print version when the regular editor was away. He reported on DNA testing in a questionable capital conviction (winning Second Prize from the Virginia Press Association for a series of news articles for 2000), opposition to the application of sewage sludge to farmland, county and town politics, high school sports, an airplane crash, changes in college and vocational education opportunities, the encroachment of Northern Virginia sprawl on Central Virginia, local artists and entrepreneurs, changes in social services and poverty, treatments for substance abusers, treatments for abused children, and skateboarding, among much else.

Carden Jennings Publishing: Compositor, January 1999 – August 1999 Swanson worked at Carden Jennings Publishing in Charlottesville, Va., as a compositor using Microsoft Word and QuarkXpress to lay out and edit journals for the American Diabetes Association. He also wrote part-time for Albemarle magazine, an affiliate of CJP.
 

Education

Master’s in Philosophy from University of Virginia, 1994-1996 Swanson earned a Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia (despite never having completed a Bachelor’s). He was a member of UVA’s Washington Literary and Debate Society, and wrote for a student publication, Critical Mass.

TEFLA Certificate from Cambridge, 1992 Swanson earned a Royal Society of the Arts, Cambridge, Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Adults.

Architecture School, Pratt Institute, 1989-1990 Swanson attended Pratt Institute School of Architecture in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he wrote for Pratt’s student newspaper.

Architecture School, University of North Carolina, 1988-1989 Swanson attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Architecture. He served as vice president of the freshman male dormitory at UNC-Charlotte.

Exchange Student in Italy, 1987-1988 Swanson was a Rotarian exchange student at Q.U.S. Liceo Linguistico (High School for Language Studies) in Bassano del Grappa, Italy.

High School Diploma, 1983-1987 Swanson earned a diploma at Herndon High School in Herndon, Va.

Reference Letters
Here are reference letters: One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.

“David Swanson is a truth-teller and witness-bearer whose voice and action warrant our attention.” —Cornel West, author.

“David Swanson is the most consistently great writer of this generation.” —Jean Athey.

“The world needs more true advocates of democracy like David Swanson!” —Thom Hartmann, radio host.

“David Swanson will be remembered and well recognized as the citizen who held up a lamp in the darkness and cried, as did good Tom Paine: ‘We have it in our power to begin the world over again.'” —John Nichols, columnist, The Nation.

“David Swanson predicates his belief that nonviolence can change the world on careful research and historical analysis.” —Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

“David Swanson’s War Is A Lie may be the most comprehensive antiwar statement available in the English language.” —Kevin Young, Znet.

“Our times cry out for a smart, witty and courageous Populist who hasn’t forgotten how to play offense. Luckily we have David Swanson.” —Mike Ferner, President of Veterans For Peace.

“David Swanson, who has been a one-man wonder leading the charge for accountability, writes a compelling narrative that inspires not just outrage, but ACTION.” —Medea Benjamin, Code Pink and Global Exchange.

“David Swanson despises war and lying, and unmasks them both with rare intelligence. I learn something new on every page.” —Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR.

“David Swanson’s book is a masterful exposure of the emergence of a monarch-like president coupled with an effete, irresponsible, and constitutionally ignorant Congress.” —Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General.

“David Swanson has written a fascinating account of how peace once became the law of the land.  It is particularly pertinent in the era of the Endless War, by giving encouragement and suggestions of a path forward to those who want to give peace a chance.” —Liz Holtzman, former member of the U.S. Congress.

“Swanson’s book is far more uplifting and inspiring than virtually any other book in its genre, as it devotes itself to laying out a detailed plan for how American citizens — through the activism to which he has devoted himself — can bring about a rejuvenation of our political values.” —Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com.

“David Swanson is an antidote to the toxins of complacency and evasion. He insists on rousing the sleepwalkers, confronting the deadly prevaricators and shining a bright light on possibilities for a truly better world.” —Norman Solomon, author of War Made Easy.

 

A comment on one of Swanson’s articles in 2011:
“Let me add my thanks and congratulations to those others for this profound and passionate statement. You are a VERY valuable American, and human being.” — Daniel Ellsberg

“David Swanson writes faster than anyone I know, and is always worth reading. He wields a wicked pen (well, technically a wicked keyboard), a la Swift or Twain. He thinks with precision and intelligence, with the powerful logic of an undefeated chess-playing computer program. He is fearless, speaking truth to both power all the time. He bears daily witness to the decomposition of our would-be democracy, and he carries that same crusading spirit into this book.
“Read it. Buy it for your friends, especially your younger ones. Get together and argue about it. Ask John Stewart and Stephen Colbert to have him on their shows. Because a better world is still possible, and to get there, a more democratic America is necessary.” — Steve Cobble

“I was just on a 10-day speaking tour in England, Wales and Scotland. While there, during the Q & A’s after my talks, people would ask me what is going on in the U.S. They would say they hear nothing about the peace movement in their country. I told them to check your web site. I told them it was the best place to find out what is going on at the grassroots level in the U.S. I told them I check it 3 times a day. It was good to have your site as a resource to refer to. Best wishes.
Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

“AfterDowningStreet is courageously teaching us Constitutional process. Clinton’s tawdry impeachment, a transparent punishment for sex, the right-wing’s constant preoccupation, has made our nation wary of further disruptive inquiry, especially while we’re at war. But war is precisely the matter; Congressional inquiry into the Downing Street memo is mandated by checks and balances constructed by our Founders to preserve government by the people in the face of a president who would, for example, engage us, by covert means, in a war of choice, like a divine-right king.”
Mimi Kennedy, Progressive Democrats of America National Board Chair

“David Swanson, Tim Carpenter, and friends took the evidence of deliberate pre-war intelligence manipulation and made it their mission for truth and accountability. While the mainstream first helped lead us into war and then ignored stories of the blatant lies of this administration, ADS kept the pressure on and in doing so grew into a movement of conscience. I am proud to lend my name and my time in support of this wonderful group of people who through their hard work took the facts and fixed them into open debate – something of a rare commodity these days.”
Larisa Alexandrovna, journalist, writer

“AfterDowningStreet.org has been the movement hub for Executive Branch accountability. David Swanson and all the folks associated with the ADS coalition have modeled a spirit of collaboration, intelligent analysis, and strategic action. In our collective effort to pull this country out of a Constitutional crisis, brought on by an administration infected with a blatant disregard for the balance of powers, not to mention the truth, we could ask for no better partner than AfterDowningStreet.org.”
Bill Moyer, Executive Director, Backbone Campaign

“The folks at AfterDowningStreet.org are doing vital, important work, and need all of our support!”
Thom Hartmann, bestselling author and nationally syndicated host on Air America Radio

“The founders of AfterDowningStreet.org have remained true to their ideals and that’s why I can trust what I read there. We not only need a source for the news not being reported by the MSM, we also need a soapbox for the thoughts and ideas of ordinary citizens who have found their voice and their spine. That’s why a visit to AfterDowningStreet.org is an important part of my daily routine.”
Jeeni Criscenzo, Candidate for U.S. Congress, CA Dist 49

“After Downing Street is a vital player in the UFPJ Legislative Working Group. In addition, AfterDowningStreet.org is one of the best sources on the web for up-to-the-minute news on Congressional action on the war.”
Sue Udry, Legislative Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice.

“AfterDowningStreet.org is one of the most dynamic ‘movers and shakers’ around. This coalition brings constant attention to the fact that a country like ours does not just slip into wars of aggression — we have to be carefully led into this behavior by a steady stream of lies and manipulations. With the steady drumbeat for new wars always in our ears, AfterDowningStreet.org will remain relevant long after the Iraq War comes to an end.”
Bill Scheurer, Editor of the Peace Majority Report, Independent candidate for Congress

Newsday, June 23, 2005:
“An online movement of bloggers and political activist groups is trying to keep the Downing Street memos in the public eye and stoking support for a congressional investigation. The memos, sent among top British foreign intelligence officials, state that President George W. Bush was predisposed to going to war with Iraq and ‘intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.’ The After Downing Street movement wants Congress to examine whether Bush’s path to war is grounds for impeachment.”

John Nichols in the Nation Magazine in 2005:
* MVP — Watchdog Branch:
The media did a slightly better job of monitoring political wrongdoing in 2005 than it did during the first four years of the Bush-Cheney presidency — when it actually would have mattered. But the real work of exposing the misdeeds of the administration is still being done by activist groups. And the most inspired of these in 2005 was After Downing Street, the coalition of groups that describes itself as “working to expose the lies that launched the war and to hold accountable its architects, including through censure and impeachment.” In conjunction with Progressive Democrats of America, the able activist group that seeks to create an actual opposition party in America, After Downing Street is pushing the political envelope in exactly the direction it needs to go. Check out their website at www.afterdowningstreet.org website and keep ahead of the action in 2006.

John Nichols in the Nation Magazine in 2006:
* MVP – ACCOUNTABILITY BRANCH
When Russ Feingold moved to censure Bush, the activists of the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition – who had been pushing for the better part of a year for a congressional inquiry into the administration’s warping of intelligence to fit its Iraq War goals – adjusted their focus to promote an even broader and more aggressive critique of the Bush presidency. Nancy Pelosi may have tried to take impeachment off the table, but the AfterDowningStreet.org crew, led by the indomitable David Swanson, kept forcing it back on. Their coalition’s website remains the “go-to” place for the latest on investigations, inquiries, subpoenas, legal actions and every other move to hold this president and vice president to account. And their passion for empowering citizens to promote “impeachment from below” and other accountability initiatives has forged a loose-knit but very real national movement. Watch for this movement to get a lot more attention in March, when a drive organized by Newfane, Vermont, town selectman and impeachment impresario Dan DeWalt and others will see dozens of town meetings endorse articles of impeachment.

John Nichols in the Nation Magazine in 2007:
* Most Valuable Internet Site: When people ask about how and where to follow what is happening with the movements to end the war in Iraq, to prevent a war with Iran and to hold to account those who launched one mad war and now seek to initiate another, the answer is always www.AFTERDOWNINGSTREET.org site. Constantly updated by the indefatigable DAVID SWANSON, the site is fresh — there were even six posts on Christmas Day — and it features local actions (via YouTube) as well as national interventions. Because it is so thorough and so engaged with local and regional protests and events, the AfterDowningStreet site provides the best illustration of the extent to which mainstream media has neglected the most vital movements of the moment.

 

Robert Shetterly and his portrait of David Swanson and Leah Bolger