- Pritzker Fellows
- Current Fellows
- David Pressman
David Pressman
Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary

Biography
Ambassador David Pressman is an American diplomat, attorney, and strategist. A lawyer who represents clients in existential disputes with governments and strongmen, he has been described as a “brilliant orator” (Le Monde), “one of the world’s leading human rights advocates” (CNN), and a “high-profile diplomat” (The Guardian).
In private practice, Ambassador Pressman represents individuals and institutions in high-stakes crises around the world. His clients have included hostages held overseas, victims of terrorism seeking justice through U.S. courts, and multinational companies navigating legal and political risk in complex jurisdictions. He has also advised clients embroiled in some of the most consequential Congressional investigations in American history.
Ambassador Pressman has worked directly for four members of the U.S. Cabinet under three Presidents, all in the national security or law enforcement domain. He has twice been confirmed by the United States Senate – first as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council and more recently as United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary.
As Ambassador to Hungary, Pressman led U.S. diplomacy in Europe with one of the United States’ most challenging allies while a land-war raged next door. Ambassador Pressman led the United States' successful efforts to lift Hungary’s veto on multiple sanctions packages targeting Russia, the creation of an oil price cap scheme, adoption of a global minimum tax, opening European Union accession talks with Ukraine, and NATO’s historic expansion to include both Sweden and Finland.
As the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, Pressman served as the senior U.S. negotiator on international disputes around the world, including issues involving Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine; the crisis in Myanmar; and leading negotiations with China on a landmark package of multilateral sanctions in response to nuclear activities on the Korean Peninsula.
Prior to his service as U.S. Ambassador, Pressman served on the senior leadership team at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Pressman led the Department’s Office of Policy Development responsible for formulating and advancing policy and regulations on complex legal and security issues.
At the White House, Pressman served as the Director for War Crimes on the National Security Council. Pressman’s work led to the first Presidential directive banning human rights abusers from entering the United States; the first Presidential directive creating a standing body responsible for the early prevention of mass atrocities; the first White House body devoted to finding and bringing priority international war criminals to justice; and, mobilized U.S. efforts leading to the successful adoption of the first United Nations resolution in history recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights as human rights.
Earlier in his career, Ambassador Pressman co-founded the human rights organization Not On Our Watch with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. He also launched and led George and Amal Clooney’s family foundation, the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Ambassador Pressman began his government service as an aide to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. He received his B.A. from Brown University and graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law.
Seminars
“Atrocities, Authoritarianism & Democratic Collapse: Diplomacy in Extremis”
The United States government has historically turned to a distinct set of tools to address extreme circumstances, specifically the challenges of democratic collapse, authoritarianism, and mass atrocity. Does this still work? Are our institutions up to the challenge of advancing our interests in these extreme environments, and do Americans still share the foundational values these institutions were designed to uphold and promulgate? David Pressman is an American diplomat and lawyer who served as the United States Ambassador to Hungary from 2022 to 2025, as well as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, and on the National Security Council staff at the White House. Drawing on his work, you will interrogate how diplomats are responding to these circumstances and what that means for statecraft and state power going forward.
Fellows seminars are off the record and open to current UChicago students only.
Branded by some on the right as the “NGO industrial complex,” what role has U.S. foreign assistance played, and what role should it play, in tackling authoritarianism, corruption, and advancing U.S. interests.
Special Guest (via Zoom): Samantha Power, former Administrator of USAID (2021- 2025) and Ambassador to the United Nations (2013-2017)
The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban is described by some as a champion of conservative values and by others as a corrupt authoritarian. Fetishized by the American far right, Orban and Hungary occupy an outsized role in the American political imagination. Drawing on my service over the past few years as United States Ambassador to Hungary, this seminar will be a conversation about Orban’s Hungary, its relevance, and our response to democratic collapse.
Authoritarians are increasingly reaching across international borders to attack dissidents or silence them. As a lawyer, I have led multiple litigations designed to challenge the transnational reach of authoritarians. We will unpack the tools available to citizens, litigants, and policymakers to counter the increasingly relevant phenomenon of authoritarians reaching across borders to target dissidents.
Advocates of international justice often emphasize that peace is never sustainable without accountability for perpetrators. I have worked on preventing and responding to mass atrocities around the world both from inside the government – at the UN Security Council and the White House – and outside leading non-governmental organizations and global campaigns on human rights issues. We will discuss the state of international justice, including the institutions set up to advance it, and probe the efficacy of the adage that there can be no peace without justice.
Special Guest: Beth Van Schaack, former Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice in the Biden Administration
How are elites silenced? What happens when they are? Using Hungary as a case study – where a single political party has established a system of rewards and punishments to incentivize compliance and punish dissent – we will discuss the phenomenon of elite capitulation as it applies to other democracies in crisis, including our own.
Special Guest: Ian Bassin, Executive Director of Protect Democracy
Using Hungary as a case study, we will explore the role of so-called “gender ideology” and LGBT rights in increasingly authoritarian Hungary. What happens when “smart political judgment” argues for silence in the face of fundamental threats to a vulnerable population?