Rennie Davis was, at the time of trial, the twenty-nine-year-old National Director of community organizing programs for the Students for a Democratic Society. As a Movement bureaucrat based in Chicago, Davis did most of the organizing for the Convention week demonstrations.
Davis had strong academic credentials and a wholesome, boy-next-door look. He first came to Chicago in 1956, at age 16, to win fourth prize in a 4-H chicken-judging contest. Davis graduated from Oberlin and earned a masters at the University of Illinois before joining the anti-war movement in the mid-sixties.
Davis, along with Abbie Hoffman, was one of two defendants to testify at the trial.
Davis later became a venture capitalist and lecturer on meditation and self-awareness. A recent Davis workshop was entitled "Room Without Veils." The workshop promised to "unlock a unique toolbox" that would "allow connection to your own organic intelligence." Topics covered in the workshop included "Navigating Armageddon," "Understanding Your Energy Signature," and "Unlocking Your Innocence." Davis appeared in Chicago for the 1996 Democratic National Convention to appear on a panel with Tom Hayden discussing "a progressive counterbalance to the religious right."