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John W. Davis

John William Davis (April 13, 1873 – March 24, 1955) was an American politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served under President Woodrow Wilson as the Solicitor General of the United States and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was the Democratic nominee for president in 1924 but lost to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.

John W. Davis
Davis, c. 1920–1924
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office
December 18, 1918 – March 9, 1921
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Warren G. Harding
Preceded byWalter Page
Succeeded byGeorge Harvey
15th Solicitor General of the United States
In office
August 30, 1913 – November 26, 1918
PresidentWoodrow Wilson
Preceded byWilliam Bullitt
Succeeded byAlexander King
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from West Virginia's 1st district
In office
March 4, 1911 – August 29, 1913
Preceded byWilliam Hubbard
Succeeded byMatthew Neely
Personal details
Born
John William Davis

(1873-04-13)April 13, 1873
Clarksburg, West Virginia, U.S.
DiedMarch 24, 1955(1955-03-24) (aged 81)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Resting placeLocust Valley Cemetery
Locust Valley, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Julia McDonald
(m. 1899; died 1900)
Ellen Bassel
(m. 1912; died 1943)
Children1
RelativesCyrus Vance (cousin; later adopted son)
EducationWashington and Lee University (BA, LLB)

Davis was born and raised in West Virginia, where his father, John James Davis, had been a delegate to the Wheeling Convention and served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1870s. Davis joined his father's legal practice and adopted many of his father's political views, including opposition to anti-lynching legislation and support for states' rights. Davis served in the U.S. House from 1911 to 1913, helping to write the Clayton Antitrust Act. He held the position of solicitor general in the Justice Department from 1913 to 1918, during which time he successfully argued for the unconstitutionality of the grandfather clause in Oklahoma's constitution, which had a discriminatory effect against African-American voters, in Guinn v. United States.

While serving as ambassador to Britain from 1918 to 1921, Davis was a dark horse candidate for the 1920 Democratic presidential nomination. After he left office, Davis helped establish the Council on Foreign Relations and advocated for the repeal of Prohibition. The 1924 Democratic National Convention nominated Davis for president after 103 ballots. He remains the only major party presidential nominee from West Virginia. Running on a ticket with Charles W. Bryan, Davis lost in a landslide to incumbent President Coolidge. Davis did not seek public office again after 1924.

He continued as a prominent attorney, associated with several law firms over the years, and represented many of the largest companies in the United States from the 1920s onwards. Davis argued 140 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In addition to his legal work, Davis was also involved in the New York City Bar Association, serving as its president from 1931 to 1933. In 1933, he represented J.P. Morgan, Jr. and his companies during a Senate investigation into private banking and the causes of the Great Depression. During the last two decades of his career, Davis represented large corporations before the Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality and application of New Deal legislation. He lost many of these cases but he scored a major victory in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), in which the Supreme Court ruled against President Harry Truman's seizure of the nation's steel plants. Davis unsuccessfully defended the "separate but equal" doctrine in Briggs v. Elliott (1952), one of the companion cases to Brown v. Board of Education (1954), in which the Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

Family and early life edit

Family background edit

Davis's paternal family had roots in western Virginia and what became West Virginia. His great-grandfather, Caleb Davis, was a clockmaker in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1816, his grandfather, John Davis, moved to Clarksburg in what would later become West Virginia. Its population then was 600–700, and he ran a saddle and harness business. His father, John James Davis, attended Lexington Law School, which later became the Washington and Lee University School of Law. By the age of twenty, John J. had established a law practice in Clarksburg. He was a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly, and after the northwestern portion of Virginia broke away from the rest of Virginia in 1863 and formed West Virginia, he was elected to the new state's House of Delegates and later to the United States House of Representatives.[1]

John W. Davis's mother Anna Kennedy (1841–1917) was from Baltimore, Maryland, daughter of William Wilson Kennedy and his wife Catherine Esdale Martin. Kennedy was a lumber merchant. Catherine was the daughter of Tobias Martin, dairy farmer and amateur poet, and his wife, a member of the Esdale family. The Esdales were members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, who had settled near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Reportedly they helped provide support for the Continental Army under George Washington, which had camped there in the winter of 1777–1778.[2]

Early years edit

Davis's Sunday school teacher recalled that "John W. Davis had a noble face even when small." His biographer said, "[h]e used better English, kept himself cleaner, and was more dignified than most youngsters. He was also extraordinarily well-mannered."[3]

Education edit

 
Davis during the period in which he served in Congress

Davis's education began at home, as his mother taught him to read before he had memorized the alphabet. She had him read poetry and other literature from their home library. After turning ten, Davis was put in a class with older students to prepare him for the state teachers examination. A few years later, he was enrolled in a previously all-female seminary that doubled as a private boarding and day school. He never had grades under 94.[4]

Davis entered Washington and Lee University at the age of sixteen. He graduated in 1892 with a major in Latin. He joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, participated in intramural sports, and attended mixed parties.[5]

He would have started law school directly after graduation, but he lacked funds. Instead, he became a teacher for Major Edward H. McDonald of Charles Town, West Virginia. Davis taught McDonald's nine children and his six nieces and nephews. His student Julia, nineteen at the time, later became Davis's wife. Davis fulfilled a nine-month contract with McDonald.

He returned to Clarksburg and apprenticed at his father's law practice. For fourteen months he copied documents by hand, read cases, and did much of what other aspiring lawyers did at the time to "read the law".[6]

Davis graduated with a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1895 and was elected Law Class Orator.[7] His speech gave a glimpse of his advocacy skills:

[The] lawyer has been always the sentinel of the watchtower of liberty. In all times and all countries has he stood forth in defense of his nation, her laws and liberties, not, it may be, under a shower of leaden death, but often with the frown of a revengeful and angry tyrant bent upon him. Fellow classmates of 1895, shall we ... prove unworthy?[3]

Early legal career edit

After graduation, Davis obtained the three signatures required to receive his law license (one from a local judge, and two from local attorneys, who attested to his proficiency in the law and upstanding moral character) and joined his father in practice in Clarksburg. They called their partnership Davis and Davis, Attorneys at Law. Davis lost his first three cases before his fortunes began to turn.

Before Davis had completed his first year of private practice, he was recruited to Washington & Lee Law School as an assistant professor, starting in the fall of 1896. At the time, the law school had a faculty of two, and Davis became the third. At the end of the year, Davis was asked to return but demurred. He decided that he needed the "rough & tumble" of private practice.[8]

Family connections edit

 
Ellen G. Bassel (Philip Alexius de Laszlo, 1920)

On June 20, 1899, he married Julia T. McDonald, who died on August 17, 1900. They had one daughter together, Julia McDonald Davis. She later married Charles P. Healy, and then William M. Adams. The widower Davis married again, on January 2, 1912, to Ellen G. Bassel. She died in 1943.

Davis was the cousin and adoptive father of Cyrus Vance, who later served as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter. Vance, born in Clarksburg in 1917, lost his father in 1922 and was sent by his widowed mother to study in Switzerland. The much older and by then quite prominent Davis, referred to as an "uncle" within the family, mentored young Vance and adopted him.[9]

Davis's daughter Julia was one of the first two female journalists hired by the Associated Press in 1926. (The other was probably Marguerite Young.[10][11]) Julia married first Charles P. Healy and later William McMillan Adams, president of Sprague International, the export subsidiary of Sprague Electric. He was the son of Arthur Henry Adams, president of the United States Rubber Company. Both father and son were aboard the luxury liner RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. Arthur Adams died; his son survived.

Julia and William divorced, and both remarried. She divorced again, and later they remarried in their old age. Adams had two sons by his second wife, John Perry and Arthur Henry Adams II. Julia died in 1993 with no natural children but claimed six "by theft and circumstance."[citation needed]

Political and diplomatic career edit

 
Davis (right) and Secretary of State Robert Lansing in 1917

Early career edit

Davis's father had been a delegate to the Wheeling Convention, which had created the state of West Virginia, but he had also opposed the abolitionists and Radical Republicans, and opposed ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment. Davis acquired much of his father's southern Democratic politics, opposing women's suffrage, Federal child-labor laws and anti-lynching legislation, and Harry S. Truman's civil rights program. He defended states' rights to establish the poll tax by questioning whether uneducated non-taxpayers should be allowed to vote. Davis was as much opposed to centralism in politics as he was to the concentration of capital by large corporations, supporting a number of early progressive laws regulating interstate commerce and limiting the power of corporations. Consequently he felt distinctly out of place in the Republican Party, which supported free association and free markets, and maintained his father's staunch allegiance to the Democratic Party, even as he later represented the interests of business opposed to the New Deal. Davis ranked as one of the last Jeffersonians, as he supported states' rights and opposed a strong executive (he would be the lead attorney against Truman's nationalization of the steel industry).

In 1898, Davis was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates, ending a 20-year Republican hold on the seat. Even though Davis had argued in behalf of some railroad companies during his legal career, he was elected by denouncing them, as his opponent had made enemies by supporting railroad interests. He was touted for speaker, but ended up becoming the Democratic floor leader. He became well-known in the legislature, as few, if any, in the body could match his legal abilities.

After his one term in the legislature, Davis became the Harrison County party chairman for 12 years. He was also a delegate to the 1904 Democratic National Convention and voted for the more conservative candidate, Alton B. Parker. The populism of William Jennings Bryan never appealed to him, and he was pleased to see the Democrats moving in Parker's direction.[12]

He represented West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1913, where he was one of the authors of the Clayton Antitrust Act. Davis also served as one of the impeachment managers in the successful impeachment trial of Judge Robert W. Archbald. He served as U.S. Solicitor General from 1913 to 1918. As Solicitor General, he successfully argued in Guinn v. United States for the unconstitutionality of the grandfather clause in Oklahoma's constitution. It exempted residents descended from a voter registered in 1866 (i.e. whites) from a literacy test that effectively disenfranchised blacks. Davis's personal posture differed from his position as an advocate. Throughout his career, he could separate his personal views and professional advocacy.

Davis served as President Wilson's ambassador to Great Britain from 1918 to 1921. He reflected deep Southern support for Wilsonianism, based on a reborn Southern patriotism, a distrust of the Republican Party, and a resurgence of Anglophilism. Davis proselytized in London for the League of Nations based on his paternalistic belief that peace depended primarily on Anglo-American friendship and leadership. He was disappointed by Wilson's mismanagement of the treaty ratification and by Republican isolationism and distrust of the League.[13] In his diaries Davis kept records of various developments in British politics at that time, such as social reform proposals and enactments such as unemployment insurance, profit-sharing,[14] a minimum wage law, and an eight-hour law. Davis’s diary also noted how prime minister David Lloyd George stated “that not only was his programme liberal but so liberal that his programme shocked an American Democrat.”[15]

Davis was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1924.[16]

Presidential candidate edit

Davis was a dark horse candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in both 1920 and 1924. His friend and partner Frank Polk managed his campaign at the 1924 Democratic National Convention. He won the nomination in 1924 as a compromise candidate on the 103rd ballot. Although Tennessee's Andrew Johnson served as president after Lincoln was assassinated, Davis's nomination made him the first presidential candidate from a former slave state since the Civil War, and as of 2020 he remains the only ever nominee from West Virginia.[17] Davis's denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan and prior defense of black voting rights as solicitor general cost him votes in the South and among conservative Democrats elsewhere. He lost in a landslide to Calvin Coolidge, who did not leave the White House to campaign. Davis's 28.8 percent remains the smallest percentage of the popular vote ever won by a Democratic presidential nominee. Nonetheless, he won every state of the former Confederacy and Oklahoma.

Later political involvement edit

Davis was a member of the National Advisory Council of the Crusaders, an influential organization that promoted the repeal of Prohibition. He was the founding president of the Council on Foreign Relations, formed in 1921, chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1922 to 1939. Davis also served as a delegate from New York to the 1928 and 1932 Democratic National Conventions.

In the 1932 presidential election Davis campaigned in behalf of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but never developed a close relationship with him. After Roosevelt took office, Davis quickly turned against the New Deal and joined with Al Smith and other anti-New Deal Democrats in forming the American Liberty League. He supported the Republican presidential candidate in the 1936, 1940, and 1944 elections.[18]

Davis was implicated by retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler in the Business Plot, an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 to overthrow Roosevelt, in testimony before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee, whose deliberations began on November 20, 1934 and culminated in the Committee's report to the U.S. House of Representatives on February 15, 1935. Davis was not called to testify because "The committee will not take cognizance of names brought into the testimony which constitute mere hearsay."

In 1949 Davis, as a member of the board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, testified as a character witness for Alger Hiss (Carnegie's president) during his trials (part of the Hiss-Chambers Case): "In the twilight of his career, following the end of World War II, Davis publicly supported Alger Hiss and J. Robert Oppenheimer during the hysteria of the McCarthy hearings" (more accurately, the "McCarthy Era" as the Hiss Case (1948–1950) preceded McCarthyism in the 1950s).[19][20][21]

Legal career edit

 
Davis in his later years

Davis was one of the most prominent and successful lawyers of the first half of the 20th century, arguing 140 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.[22] His firm, variously titled Stetson Jennings Russell & Davis, then Davis Polk Wardwell Gardiner & Reed, then Davis Polk Wardwell Sunderland & Kiendl (now Davis Polk & Wardwell), represented many of the largest companies in the United States in the 1920s and following decades. From 1931 to 1933, Davis also served as president of the New York City Bar Association.

In 1933, Davis served as legal counsel for the financier J.P. Morgan, Jr. and his companies during the Senate investigation into private banking and the causes of the recent Great Depression.[23][24][25]

The last twenty years of Davis's practice included representing large corporations before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality and application of New Deal legislation. Davis lost many of these battles.

Appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court edit

Of the 140 cases Davis argued before the Supreme Court,[22] 73 were as Solicitor General, and 67 as a private lawyer. Lawrence Wallace, who retired from the Office of the Solicitor General in 2003, argued 157 cases during his career but many believe that few attorneys have argued more cases than Davis.[26] Daniel Webster and Walter Jones are believed to have argued more cases than Davis, but they were lawyers of a much earlier era.[22]

Youngstown Steel case edit

One of Davis's most influential arguments before the Supreme Court was in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer in May 1952, when the Court ruled on President Truman's seizure of the nation's steel plants.

While Davis wasn't brought into the case until March 1952, he was already familiar with the concept of a presidential seizure of a steel mill. In 1949, the Republic Steel Company, fearful of advice given to Truman by Attorney General Tom C. Clark, asked Davis for an opinion letter on whether the President could seize private industry in a "National Emergency." Davis wrote that the President could not do so, unless such power already was vested in the President by law. He further went on to opine on the Selective Service Act of 1948's intent, and that seizures were only authorized if a company did not sufficiently prioritize government production in a time of crisis.

Arguing for the steel industry, Davis spoke for 87 minutes before the Court. He described Truman's acts as a "'usurpation' of power, that were 'without parallel in American history.'"[27] The justices allowed him to proceed uninterrupted, with only one question from Justice Felix Frankfurter,[citation needed] who may have had a personal feeling against Davis relating to his 1924 presidential campaign.[28] It had been predicted that the President's actions would be upheld, and the injunction would be lifted, but the Court decided 6–3 to uphold the injunction stopping the seizure of the steel mills.

Washington Post writer Chalmers Roberts subsequently wrote that rarely "has a courtroom sat in such silent admiration for a lawyer at the bar" in reference to Davis's oral argument. Unfortunately, Davis did not allow the oral argument to be printed because the stenographic transcript was so garbled he feared it would not be close to what was said at the Court.[29]

Of particular note in this case is that one of the justices in the majority was Tom Clark, who as attorney general in 1949 had advised Truman to proceed with the seizure of Republic Steel. Yet, in 1952, Justice Clark voted with the majority without joining Justice Hugo Black's opinion, in direct opposition to his previous advice.[30]

Brown v. Board of Education edit

Davis's legal career is most remembered for his final appearance before the Supreme Court, in which he unsuccessfully defended the "separate but equal" doctrine in Briggs v. Elliott, a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education. Davis, as a defender of racial segregation and state control of education, uncharacteristically displayed his emotions in arguing that South Carolina had shown good faith in attempting to eliminate any inequality between black and white schools and should be allowed to continue to do so without judicial intervention. He expected to win, most likely through a divided Supreme Court, even after the matter was re-argued after the death of Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson. After the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against his client's position, he returned the $25,000 (equivalent to $300,000 in 2022),[31] that he had received from South Carolina, although he was not required to do so, but kept a silver tea service that had been presented to him.[32] It has also been reported that he never charged South Carolina in the first place.[33] He declined to participate further in the case, as he did not wish to be involved in the drafting of decrees to implement the Court's decision.[32]

Death and legacy edit

Davis was a member of the American Bar Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Freemasons, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Psi. He was a resident of Nassau County, New York, and practiced law in New York City until his death in Charleston, South Carolina, at the age of 81. He is interred at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley, New York.

The John W. Davis Federal Building on West Pike Street in Clarksburg, West Virginia, is named for him. The building housing the Student Health Center at Washington and Lee University is named for him, as is the Law School's appellate advocacy program, and an award for the graduating student with the highest grade point average.[34][35]

In the 1991 television film Separate But Equal, a dramatization of the Brown case, Davis was portrayed by the famed actor Burt Lancaster in his final film role.

Electoral history edit

West Virginia's 1st congressional district, 1910:[36]

  • John W. Davis (D) – 20,370 (48.9%)
  • Charles E. Carrigan (R) – 16,962 (40.7%)
  • A.L. Bauer (Socialist) – 3,239 (7.8%)
  • Ulysses A. Clayton (Prohibition) – 1,099 (2.6%)

West Virginia's 1st congressional district, 1912:[37]

  • John W. Davis (D) (inc.) – 24,777 (45.0%)
  • George A. Laughlin (R) – 24,613 (44.7%)
  • D.M.S. Scott (Socialist) – 4,230 (7.7%)
  • L.E. Peters (Prohibition) – 1,482 (2.7%)

1924 Democratic presidential primaries

1924 United States presidential election

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 2–9. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  2. ^ Theodore A. Huntley, "The Life of John W. Davis"
  3. ^ a b Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: The Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 13. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  4. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  5. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  6. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  7. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 24. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  8. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 25–30. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  9. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  10. ^ Young, Marguerite (1993). Nothing but the Truth. Carlton. pp. i (photo with siblings). LCCN 93219200.
  11. ^ Ritchie, Donald A. (2005). Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517861-6. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
  12. ^ Southwick, Leslie H. (1998). Presidential also-rans and running mates, 1788 through 1996 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. p. 509. ISBN 0-7864-0310-1. OCLC 37379896.
  13. ^ Tennant S. Mcwilliams, "John W. Davis and Southern Wilsonianism." Virginia Quarterly Review 64.3 (1988): 398–416 online.
  14. ^ The Ambassadorial Diary of John W. Davis The Court of St. James's, 1918-1921 By John William Davis, Julia Davis, 1993, P.135
  15. ^ The Ambassadorial Diary of John W. Davis The Court of St. James's, 1918-1921 By John William Davis, Julia Davis, 1993, P.192
  16. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  17. ^ 'What States do Presidents Come From?'
  18. ^ Southwick (1998), p. 512
  19. ^ Nolan, Cathal J., ed. (1997). Notable U.S. Ambassadors Since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 81. Retrieved August 27, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: The Life of John W. Davis. Oxford University Press. pp. 441, 464. ISBN 978-0-19-501699-4. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  21. ^ Davis, Mark (November 11, 2012). Solicitor General Bullitt. BookBaby. Retrieved August 27, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  22. ^ a b c Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 531. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  23. ^ Stock Exchange Practices. Report of the Committee on Banking and Finances. 1934.
  24. ^ Paul Mallon, "National Whirligig: The news behind the news", The Palm Beach Post, April 4, 1933, p. 1
  25. ^ Associated Press, "Morgan Shows Assets of $424,708,095.56; Witness At Hearing", The Evening Independent, St. Petersburg FL, May 23, 1933, p. 1
  26. ^ Deputy Solicitor General, Lawrence Wallace, to Retire from the Justice Department after 35 Years of Service
  27. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 462. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  28. ^ Sydnor Thompson, "John W. Davis And His Role In The Public School Segregation Cases – A Personal Memoir", 52 WLLR 1679, at FN 19 (1995), which states "Frankfurter faulted Davis and Wall Street lawyers in general for their 'crass materialism': 'Davis's career is ... subtly mischievous in its influence on the standards of the next generation.'"
  29. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. pp. 464–465, 476, 482. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  30. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  31. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  32. ^ a b Kluger, Richard (1976). Simple Justice: the History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black America's Struggle For Equality. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-47289-6.
  33. ^ Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's Lawyer: the Life of John W. Davis. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. p. 507. ISBN 0-19-501699-8.
  34. ^ W&L Valedictorians December 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ 2007–2008 W&L Moot Court Executive Board :: Moot Court :: W&L Law School
  36. ^ Our Campaigns – WV District 1 Race – Nov 8, 1910
  37. ^ Our Campaigns – WV District 1 Race – Nov 5, 1912

Further reading edit

  • Tucker, Garland. High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election (Greenleaf, 2012).
  • Harbaugh, William Henry (1973). Lawyer's lawyer: the life of John W. Davis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-501699-8., a standard scholarly biography.
  • Lambert, Jeremiah, and Geoffrey S. Stewart. The Anointed: New York’s White Shoe Law Firms—How They Started, How They Grew, and How They Ran the Country (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021). online
  • McWilliams, Tennant S. (1988). "John W. Davis and Southern Wilsonianism". The Virginia Quarterly Review. 64 (3): 398–416. JSTOR 26437693.
  • Southwick, Leslie (1998). Presidential Also-Rans and Running Mates, 1788 through 1996 (Second ed.). McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0310-1.
  • Thompson, Sydnor (January 1, 1996). "John W. Davis and His Role in the Public School Segregation Cases - A Personal Memoir". Washington and Lee Law Review. 52 (5): 1679–1697.

External links edit

  • John W. Davis papers (MS 170). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. [1]
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from West Virginia's 1st congressional district

1911–1913
Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by United States Solicitor General
1913–1918
Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
1918–1921
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for President of the United States
1924
Succeeded by

john, davis, other, people, named, disambiguation, john, william, davis, april, 1873, march, 1955, american, politician, diplomat, lawyer, served, under, president, woodrow, wilson, solicitor, general, united, states, united, states, ambassador, united, kingdo. For other people named John W Davis see John W Davis disambiguation John William Davis April 13 1873 March 24 1955 was an American politician diplomat and lawyer He served under President Woodrow Wilson as the Solicitor General of the United States and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom He was the Democratic nominee for president in 1924 but lost to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge John W DavisDavis c 1920 1924United States Ambassador to the United KingdomIn office December 18 1918 March 9 1921PresidentWoodrow WilsonWarren G HardingPreceded byWalter PageSucceeded byGeorge Harvey15th Solicitor General of the United StatesIn office August 30 1913 November 26 1918PresidentWoodrow WilsonPreceded byWilliam BullittSucceeded byAlexander KingMember of the U S House of Representatives from West Virginia s 1st districtIn office March 4 1911 August 29 1913Preceded byWilliam HubbardSucceeded byMatthew NeelyPersonal detailsBornJohn William Davis 1873 04 13 April 13 1873Clarksburg West Virginia U S DiedMarch 24 1955 1955 03 24 aged 81 Charleston South Carolina U S Resting placeLocust Valley CemeteryLocust Valley New York U S Political partyDemocraticSpousesJulia McDonald m 1899 died 1900 wbr Ellen Bassel m 1912 died 1943 wbr Children1RelativesCyrus Vance cousin later adopted son EducationWashington and Lee University BA LLB Davis was born and raised in West Virginia where his father John James Davis had been a delegate to the Wheeling Convention and served in the U S House of Representatives in the 1870s Davis joined his father s legal practice and adopted many of his father s political views including opposition to anti lynching legislation and support for states rights Davis served in the U S House from 1911 to 1913 helping to write the Clayton Antitrust Act He held the position of solicitor general in the Justice Department from 1913 to 1918 during which time he successfully argued for the unconstitutionality of the grandfather clause in Oklahoma s constitution which had a discriminatory effect against African American voters in Guinn v United States While serving as ambassador to Britain from 1918 to 1921 Davis was a dark horse candidate for the 1920 Democratic presidential nomination After he left office Davis helped establish the Council on Foreign Relations and advocated for the repeal of Prohibition The 1924 Democratic National Convention nominated Davis for president after 103 ballots He remains the only major party presidential nominee from West Virginia Running on a ticket with Charles W Bryan Davis lost in a landslide to incumbent President Coolidge Davis did not seek public office again after 1924 He continued as a prominent attorney associated with several law firms over the years and represented many of the largest companies in the United States from the 1920s onwards Davis argued 140 cases before the U S Supreme Court In addition to his legal work Davis was also involved in the New York City Bar Association serving as its president from 1931 to 1933 In 1933 he represented J P Morgan Jr and his companies during a Senate investigation into private banking and the causes of the Great Depression During the last two decades of his career Davis represented large corporations before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality and application of New Deal legislation He lost many of these cases but he scored a major victory in Youngstown Sheet amp Tube Co v Sawyer 1952 in which the Supreme Court ruled against President Harry Truman s seizure of the nation s steel plants Davis unsuccessfully defended the separate but equal doctrine in Briggs v Elliott 1952 one of the companion cases to Brown v Board of Education 1954 in which the Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional Contents 1 Family and early life 1 1 Family background 1 2 Early years 1 3 Education 1 4 Early legal career 1 5 Family connections 2 Political and diplomatic career 2 1 Early career 2 2 Presidential candidate 2 3 Later political involvement 3 Legal career 3 1 Appearances before the U S Supreme Court 3 2 Youngstown Steel case 3 3 Brown v Board of Education 4 Death and legacy 5 Electoral history 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksFamily and early life editFamily background edit Davis s paternal family had roots in western Virginia and what became West Virginia His great grandfather Caleb Davis was a clockmaker in the Shenandoah Valley In 1816 his grandfather John Davis moved to Clarksburg in what would later become West Virginia Its population then was 600 700 and he ran a saddle and harness business His father John James Davis attended Lexington Law School which later became the Washington and Lee University School of Law By the age of twenty John J had established a law practice in Clarksburg He was a delegate in the Virginia General Assembly and after the northwestern portion of Virginia broke away from the rest of Virginia in 1863 and formed West Virginia he was elected to the new state s House of Delegates and later to the United States House of Representatives 1 John W Davis s mother Anna Kennedy 1841 1917 was from Baltimore Maryland daughter of William Wilson Kennedy and his wife Catherine Esdale Martin Kennedy was a lumber merchant Catherine was the daughter of Tobias Martin dairy farmer and amateur poet and his wife a member of the Esdale family The Esdales were members of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers who had settled near Valley Forge Pennsylvania Reportedly they helped provide support for the Continental Army under George Washington which had camped there in the winter of 1777 1778 2 Early years edit Davis s Sunday school teacher recalled that John W Davis had a noble face even when small His biographer said h e used better English kept himself cleaner and was more dignified than most youngsters He was also extraordinarily well mannered 3 Education edit nbsp Davis during the period in which he served in CongressDavis s education began at home as his mother taught him to read before he had memorized the alphabet She had him read poetry and other literature from their home library After turning ten Davis was put in a class with older students to prepare him for the state teachers examination A few years later he was enrolled in a previously all female seminary that doubled as a private boarding and day school He never had grades under 94 4 Davis entered Washington and Lee University at the age of sixteen He graduated in 1892 with a major in Latin He joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity participated in intramural sports and attended mixed parties 5 He would have started law school directly after graduation but he lacked funds Instead he became a teacher for Major Edward H McDonald of Charles Town West Virginia Davis taught McDonald s nine children and his six nieces and nephews His student Julia nineteen at the time later became Davis s wife Davis fulfilled a nine month contract with McDonald He returned to Clarksburg and apprenticed at his father s law practice For fourteen months he copied documents by hand read cases and did much of what other aspiring lawyers did at the time to read the law 6 Davis graduated with a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1895 and was elected Law Class Orator 7 His speech gave a glimpse of his advocacy skills The lawyer has been always the sentinel of the watchtower of liberty In all times and all countries has he stood forth in defense of his nation her laws and liberties not it may be under a shower of leaden death but often with the frown of a revengeful and angry tyrant bent upon him Fellow classmates of 1895 shall we prove unworthy 3 Early legal career edit After graduation Davis obtained the three signatures required to receive his law license one from a local judge and two from local attorneys who attested to his proficiency in the law and upstanding moral character and joined his father in practice in Clarksburg They called their partnership Davis and Davis Attorneys at Law Davis lost his first three cases before his fortunes began to turn Before Davis had completed his first year of private practice he was recruited to Washington amp Lee Law School as an assistant professor starting in the fall of 1896 At the time the law school had a faculty of two and Davis became the third At the end of the year Davis was asked to return but demurred He decided that he needed the rough amp tumble of private practice 8 Family connections edit nbsp Ellen G Bassel Philip Alexius de Laszlo 1920 On June 20 1899 he married Julia T McDonald who died on August 17 1900 They had one daughter together Julia McDonald Davis She later married Charles P Healy and then William M Adams The widower Davis married again on January 2 1912 to Ellen G Bassel She died in 1943 Davis was the cousin and adoptive father of Cyrus Vance who later served as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter Vance born in Clarksburg in 1917 lost his father in 1922 and was sent by his widowed mother to study in Switzerland The much older and by then quite prominent Davis referred to as an uncle within the family mentored young Vance and adopted him 9 Davis s daughter Julia was one of the first two female journalists hired by the Associated Press in 1926 The other was probably Marguerite Young 10 11 Julia married first Charles P Healy and later William McMillan Adams president of Sprague International the export subsidiary of Sprague Electric He was the son of Arthur Henry Adams president of the United States Rubber Company Both father and son were aboard the luxury liner RMS Lusitania when it was sunk by a German submarine in 1915 Arthur Adams died his son survived Julia and William divorced and both remarried She divorced again and later they remarried in their old age Adams had two sons by his second wife John Perry and Arthur Henry Adams II Julia died in 1993 with no natural children but claimed six by theft and circumstance citation needed Political and diplomatic career edit nbsp Davis right and Secretary of State Robert Lansing in 1917Early career edit Davis s father had been a delegate to the Wheeling Convention which had created the state of West Virginia but he had also opposed the abolitionists and Radical Republicans and opposed ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment Davis acquired much of his father s southern Democratic politics opposing women s suffrage Federal child labor laws and anti lynching legislation and Harry S Truman s civil rights program He defended states rights to establish the poll tax by questioning whether uneducated non taxpayers should be allowed to vote Davis was as much opposed to centralism in politics as he was to the concentration of capital by large corporations supporting a number of early progressive laws regulating interstate commerce and limiting the power of corporations Consequently he felt distinctly out of place in the Republican Party which supported free association and free markets and maintained his father s staunch allegiance to the Democratic Party even as he later represented the interests of business opposed to the New Deal Davis ranked as one of the last Jeffersonians as he supported states rights and opposed a strong executive he would be the lead attorney against Truman s nationalization of the steel industry In 1898 Davis was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates ending a 20 year Republican hold on the seat Even though Davis had argued in behalf of some railroad companies during his legal career he was elected by denouncing them as his opponent had made enemies by supporting railroad interests He was touted for speaker but ended up becoming the Democratic floor leader He became well known in the legislature as few if any in the body could match his legal abilities After his one term in the legislature Davis became the Harrison County party chairman for 12 years He was also a delegate to the 1904 Democratic National Convention and voted for the more conservative candidate Alton B Parker The populism of William Jennings Bryan never appealed to him and he was pleased to see the Democrats moving in Parker s direction 12 He represented West Virginia in the U S House of Representatives from 1911 to 1913 where he was one of the authors of the Clayton Antitrust Act Davis also served as one of the impeachment managers in the successful impeachment trial of Judge Robert W Archbald He served as U S Solicitor General from 1913 to 1918 As Solicitor General he successfully argued in Guinn v United States for the unconstitutionality of the grandfather clause in Oklahoma s constitution It exempted residents descended from a voter registered in 1866 i e whites from a literacy test that effectively disenfranchised blacks Davis s personal posture differed from his position as an advocate Throughout his career he could separate his personal views and professional advocacy Davis served as President Wilson s ambassador to Great Britain from 1918 to 1921 He reflected deep Southern support for Wilsonianism based on a reborn Southern patriotism a distrust of the Republican Party and a resurgence of Anglophilism Davis proselytized in London for the League of Nations based on his paternalistic belief that peace depended primarily on Anglo American friendship and leadership He was disappointed by Wilson s mismanagement of the treaty ratification and by Republican isolationism and distrust of the League 13 In his diaries Davis kept records of various developments in British politics at that time such as social reform proposals and enactments such as unemployment insurance profit sharing 14 a minimum wage law and an eight hour law Davis s diary also noted how prime minister David Lloyd George stated that not only was his programme liberal but so liberal that his programme shocked an American Democrat 15 Davis was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1924 16 Presidential candidate edit Davis was a dark horse candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in both 1920 and 1924 His friend and partner Frank Polk managed his campaign at the 1924 Democratic National Convention He won the nomination in 1924 as a compromise candidate on the 103rd ballot Although Tennessee s Andrew Johnson served as president after Lincoln was assassinated Davis s nomination made him the first presidential candidate from a former slave state since the Civil War and as of 2020 he remains the only ever nominee from West Virginia 17 Davis s denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan and prior defense of black voting rights as solicitor general cost him votes in the South and among conservative Democrats elsewhere He lost in a landslide to Calvin Coolidge who did not leave the White House to campaign Davis s 28 8 percent remains the smallest percentage of the popular vote ever won by a Democratic presidential nominee Nonetheless he won every state of the former Confederacy and Oklahoma Later political involvement edit Davis was a member of the National Advisory Council of the Crusaders an influential organization that promoted the repeal of Prohibition He was the founding president of the Council on Foreign Relations formed in 1921 chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation from 1922 to 1939 Davis also served as a delegate from New York to the 1928 and 1932 Democratic National Conventions In the 1932 presidential election Davis campaigned in behalf of Franklin D Roosevelt but never developed a close relationship with him After Roosevelt took office Davis quickly turned against the New Deal and joined with Al Smith and other anti New Deal Democrats in forming the American Liberty League He supported the Republican presidential candidate in the 1936 1940 and 1944 elections 18 Davis was implicated by retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler in the Business Plot an alleged political conspiracy in 1933 to overthrow Roosevelt in testimony before the McCormack Dickstein Committee whose deliberations began on November 20 1934 and culminated in the Committee s report to the U S House of Representatives on February 15 1935 Davis was not called to testify because The committee will not take cognizance of names brought into the testimony which constitute mere hearsay In 1949 Davis as a member of the board of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace testified as a character witness for Alger Hiss Carnegie s president during his trials part of the Hiss Chambers Case In the twilight of his career following the end of World War II Davis publicly supported Alger Hiss and J Robert Oppenheimer during the hysteria of the McCarthy hearings more accurately the McCarthy Era as the Hiss Case 1948 1950 preceded McCarthyism in the 1950s 19 20 21 Legal career edit nbsp Davis in his later yearsDavis was one of the most prominent and successful lawyers of the first half of the 20th century arguing 140 cases before the U S Supreme Court 22 His firm variously titled Stetson Jennings Russell amp Davis then Davis Polk Wardwell Gardiner amp Reed then Davis Polk Wardwell Sunderland amp Kiendl now Davis Polk amp Wardwell represented many of the largest companies in the United States in the 1920s and following decades From 1931 to 1933 Davis also served as president of the New York City Bar Association In 1933 Davis served as legal counsel for the financier J P Morgan Jr and his companies during the Senate investigation into private banking and the causes of the recent Great Depression 23 24 25 The last twenty years of Davis s practice included representing large corporations before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality and application of New Deal legislation Davis lost many of these battles Appearances before the U S Supreme Court edit Of the 140 cases Davis argued before the Supreme Court 22 73 were as Solicitor General and 67 as a private lawyer Lawrence Wallace who retired from the Office of the Solicitor General in 2003 argued 157 cases during his career but many believe that few attorneys have argued more cases than Davis 26 Daniel Webster and Walter Jones are believed to have argued more cases than Davis but they were lawyers of a much earlier era 22 Youngstown Steel case edit Main article Youngstown Sheet amp Tube Co v Sawyer One of Davis s most influential arguments before the Supreme Court was in Youngstown Sheet amp Tube Co v Sawyer in May 1952 when the Court ruled on President Truman s seizure of the nation s steel plants While Davis wasn t brought into the case until March 1952 he was already familiar with the concept of a presidential seizure of a steel mill In 1949 the Republic Steel Company fearful of advice given to Truman by Attorney General Tom C Clark asked Davis for an opinion letter on whether the President could seize private industry in a National Emergency Davis wrote that the President could not do so unless such power already was vested in the President by law He further went on to opine on the Selective Service Act of 1948 s intent and that seizures were only authorized if a company did not sufficiently prioritize government production in a time of crisis Arguing for the steel industry Davis spoke for 87 minutes before the Court He described Truman s acts as a usurpation of power that were without parallel in American history 27 The justices allowed him to proceed uninterrupted with only one question from Justice Felix Frankfurter citation needed who may have had a personal feeling against Davis relating to his 1924 presidential campaign 28 It had been predicted that the President s actions would be upheld and the injunction would be lifted but the Court decided 6 3 to uphold the injunction stopping the seizure of the steel mills Washington Post writer Chalmers Roberts subsequently wrote that rarely has a courtroom sat in such silent admiration for a lawyer at the bar in reference to Davis s oral argument Unfortunately Davis did not allow the oral argument to be printed because the stenographic transcript was so garbled he feared it would not be close to what was said at the Court 29 Of particular note in this case is that one of the justices in the majority was Tom Clark who as attorney general in 1949 had advised Truman to proceed with the seizure of Republic Steel Yet in 1952 Justice Clark voted with the majority without joining Justice Hugo Black s opinion in direct opposition to his previous advice 30 Brown v Board of Education edit Main article Brown v Board of Education Davis s legal career is most remembered for his final appearance before the Supreme Court in which he unsuccessfully defended the separate but equal doctrine in Briggs v Elliott a companion case to Brown v Board of Education Davis as a defender of racial segregation and state control of education uncharacteristically displayed his emotions in arguing that South Carolina had shown good faith in attempting to eliminate any inequality between black and white schools and should be allowed to continue to do so without judicial intervention He expected to win most likely through a divided Supreme Court even after the matter was re argued after the death of Chief Justice Fred M Vinson After the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against his client s position he returned the 25 000 equivalent to 300 000 in 2022 31 that he had received from South Carolina although he was not required to do so but kept a silver tea service that had been presented to him 32 It has also been reported that he never charged South Carolina in the first place 33 He declined to participate further in the case as he did not wish to be involved in the drafting of decrees to implement the Court s decision 32 Death and legacy editDavis was a member of the American Bar Association the Council on Foreign Relations the Freemasons Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Psi He was a resident of Nassau County New York and practiced law in New York City until his death in Charleston South Carolina at the age of 81 He is interred at Locust Valley Cemetery in Locust Valley New York The John W Davis Federal Building on West Pike Street in Clarksburg West Virginia is named for him The building housing the Student Health Center at Washington and Lee University is named for him as is the Law School s appellate advocacy program and an award for the graduating student with the highest grade point average 34 35 In the 1991 television film Separate But Equal a dramatization of the Brown case Davis was portrayed by the famed actor Burt Lancaster in his final film role Electoral history editWest Virginia s 1st congressional district 1910 36 John W Davis D 20 370 48 9 Charles E Carrigan R 16 962 40 7 A L Bauer Socialist 3 239 7 8 Ulysses A Clayton Prohibition 1 099 2 6 West Virginia s 1st congressional district 1912 37 John W Davis D inc 24 777 45 0 George A Laughlin R 24 613 44 7 D M S Scott Socialist 4 230 7 7 L E Peters Prohibition 1 482 2 7 1924 Democratic presidential primaries William McAdoo 562 601 56 1 Oscar W Underwood 77 583 7 7 James M Cox 74 183 7 4 Unpledged 59 217 5 9 Henry Ford 49 737 5 0 Thomas J Walsh 43 108 4 3 Woodbridge N Ferris 42 028 4 2 George Silzer 35 601 3 6 Al Smith 16 459 1 6 L B Musgrove 12 110 1 2 William Dever 1 574 0 2 James A Reed 84 0 0 John W Davis 21 0 0 1924 United States presidential election Calvin Coolidge Charles G Dawes R 15 723 789 54 0 and 382 electoral votes 35 states carried John W Davis Charles W Bryan D 8 386 242 28 8 and 136 electoral votes 12 states carried Robert M La Follette Sr Burton K Wheeler Progressive 4 831 706 16 6 and 13 electoral votes 1 state carried See also editBrown v Board of Education Guinn v United States Youngstown Sheet amp Tube Co v SawyerReferences edit Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 2 9 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Theodore A Huntley The Life of John W Davis a b Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer The Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 13 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 14 15 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 16 17 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 17 19 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 24 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 25 30 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 389 390 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Young Marguerite 1993 Nothing but the Truth Carlton pp i photo with siblings LCCN 93219200 Ritchie Donald A 2005 Reporting from Washington The History of the Washington Press Corps Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 517861 6 Retrieved December 18 2016 Southwick Leslie H 1998 Presidential also rans and running mates 1788 through 1996 2nd ed Jefferson NC McFarland amp Co p 509 ISBN 0 7864 0310 1 OCLC 37379896 Tennant S Mcwilliams John W Davis and Southern Wilsonianism Virginia Quarterly Review 64 3 1988 398 416 online The Ambassadorial Diary of John W Davis The Court of St James s 1918 1921 By John William Davis Julia Davis 1993 P 135 The Ambassadorial Diary of John W Davis The Court of St James s 1918 1921 By John William Davis Julia Davis 1993 P 192 APS Member History search amphilsoc org Retrieved August 24 2023 What States do Presidents Come From Southwick 1998 p 512 Nolan Cathal J ed 1997 Notable U S Ambassadors Since 1775 A Biographical Dictionary Greenwood Publishing Group p 81 Retrieved August 27 2017 permanent dead link Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer The Life of John W Davis Oxford University Press pp 441 464 ISBN 978 0 19 501699 4 Retrieved August 27 2017 Davis Mark November 11 2012 Solicitor General Bullitt BookBaby Retrieved August 27 2017 permanent dead link a b c Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press p 531 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Stock Exchange Practices Report of the Committee on Banking and Finances 1934 Paul Mallon National Whirligig The news behind the news The Palm Beach Post April 4 1933 p 1 Associated Press Morgan Shows Assets of 424 708 095 56 Witness At Hearing The Evening Independent St Petersburg FL May 23 1933 p 1 Deputy Solicitor General Lawrence Wallace to Retire from the Justice Department after 35 Years of Service Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 462 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Sydnor Thompson John W Davis And His Role In The Public School Segregation Cases A Personal Memoir 52 WLLR 1679 at FN 19 1995 which states Frankfurter faulted Davis and Wall Street lawyers in general for their crass materialism Davis s career is subtly mischievous in its influence on the standards of the next generation Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press pp 464 465 476 482 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press p 479 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 1634 1699 McCusker J J 1997 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States Addenda et Corrigenda PDF American Antiquarian Society 1700 1799 McCusker J J 1992 How Much Is That in Real Money A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States PDF American Antiquarian Society 1800 present Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Consumer Price Index estimate 1800 Retrieved May 28 2023 a b Kluger Richard 1976 Simple Justice the History of Brown v Board of Education and Black America s Struggle For Equality New York Knopf ISBN 0 394 47289 6 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s Lawyer the Life of John W Davis Oxford Oxfordshire Oxford University Press p 507 ISBN 0 19 501699 8 W amp L Valedictorians Archived December 22 2007 at the Wayback Machine 2007 2008 W amp L Moot Court Executive Board Moot Court W amp L Law School Our Campaigns WV District 1 Race Nov 8 1910 Our Campaigns WV District 1 Race Nov 5 1912Further reading editTucker Garland High Tide of American Conservatism Davis Coolidge and the 1924 Election Greenleaf 2012 Harbaugh William Henry 1973 Lawyer s lawyer the life of John W Davis Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 501699 8 a standard scholarly biography Lambert Jeremiah and Geoffrey S Stewart The Anointed New York s White Shoe Law Firms How They Started How They Grew and How They Ran the Country Rowman amp Littlefield 2021 online McWilliams Tennant S 1988 John W Davis and Southern Wilsonianism The Virginia Quarterly Review 64 3 398 416 JSTOR 26437693 Southwick Leslie 1998 Presidential Also Rans and Running Mates 1788 through 1996 Second ed McFarland ISBN 0 7864 0310 1 Thompson Sydnor January 1 1996 John W Davis and His Role in the Public School Segregation Cases A Personal Memoir Washington and Lee Law Review 52 5 1679 1697 External links editJohn W Davis papers MS 170 Manuscripts and Archives Yale University Library 1 nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to John W Davis United States Congress John W Davis id D000121 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress West Virginia amp Regional History Center at West Virginia University John W Davis Lawyer Papers International Home of the English Speaking Uni CFR Website Continuing the Inquiry The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996 Archived August 21 2012 at the Wayback Machine The history of the Council by Peter Grose a Council member Website of Davis Polk amp Wardwell law firm of which Davis was a member and which bears his name today Political Graveyard Newspaper clippings about John W Davis in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBWU S House of RepresentativesPreceded byWilliam Hubbard Member of the U S House of Representativesfrom West Virginia s 1st congressional district1911 1913 Succeeded byMatthew NeelyLegal officesPreceded byWilliam Bullitt United States Solicitor General1913 1918 Succeeded byAlexander KingDiplomatic postsPreceded byWalter Page United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom1918 1921 Succeeded byGeorge HarveyParty political officesPreceded byJames Cox Democratic nominee for President of the United States1924 Succeeded byAl Smith Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John W Davis amp oldid 1181684510, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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