David A. French

David Austin French (born January 24, 1969) is an American attorney, journalist, and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute. He is a veteran of the Iraq War and a major in the United States Army Reserve. He is a past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. A staff writer for National Review, he has also written several nonfiction books.

Early life and education
Born in Georgetown, Kentucky, French earned a bachelor's degree in 1991 from David Lipscomb University. He then began studies at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1991, earning a law degree in 1994.

Career
French served as the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and as a lecturer at Cornell Law School. French has also served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom.

French was deployed to Iraq with JAG in Iraq in 2007 with the Army Reserve. He was awarded a Bronze Star.

French retired as president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in 2005, citing plans to serve in the United States Army Reserve as an officer. He was deployed to Iraq in 2007 during the Iraq War, serving in the Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate.

French has called for young men to become physically strong again.

Potential 2016 U.S. presidential campaign
In January 2016, French said that he would vote for Donald Trump if he became the Republican nominee; he later changed his mind and said he would not vote for Trump. Political commentator Bill Kristol, a supporter of the Stop Trump movement, named French as his choice to run for U.S. President as an independent conservative candidate to defeat presumptive Republican nominee Trump on May 31. On June 5, French announced that he had considered running, but ultimately decided not to. In a June 18, 2016, interview with The Daily Herald, French revealed that he had strongly considered entering the presidential race, but ultimately decided that he did not have the name recognition nor the financial support to mount a viable campaign.

Personal life
French is married to author Nancy French. French has lived in Columbia, Tennessee since 2006. They have three children, including an adolescent son and daughter, and a daughter adopted from Ethiopia after French returned from active duty in Iraq.