Phi Kappa Psi Historian Notes

March 24, 2014

John W. Davis ~
a solid citizen of
absolute integrity and of
great ability
delegates. It was the longest political convention
ever held in the U.S.

John W. Davis, Virginia Beta 1889 and

once the Democratic Partys nominee for
President, was described by the King of
England as "one of the most perfect gentlemen I
have ever met."
Brother Davis lost to Calvin Coolidge in the
Presidential elections of 1924. Besides his
Presidential bid, he was best known from his
service as Ambassador to Britain and as a
constitutional lawyer.
In school at Washington and Lee University, he
played football, sang with the glee club, was
secretary of the senior class, and was graduated
in three years with a degree in modern
languages.

In 1952 he represented the steel industry before

the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that President
Harry S Trumans seizure of the steel mills in an
effort to stave off a strike was illegal. He won his
case.

He was elected to the House of Representatives

in 1910 and 1912 after serving in the West
Virginia Legislature, was appointed Solicitor
General by President Woodrow Wilson, Virginia
Alpha 1879, in 1913, and in 1918 was appointed
by Wilson as Ambassador to Great Britain.

One of his last cases was representing the state

of South Carolina in a public school segregation
case. The Court rejected his arguments for
continuing segregation under the separate but
equal doctrine.

King George VI was later quoted as having said

of him: Mr. Davis is one of the most perfect
gentlemen I have ever met. He resigned as
Ambassador in 1921 following the presidential
elections and resumed his law practice.

Upon his death on March 24, 1955, the New

York Times wrote of him:
Mr. Davis was never spectacular. He was a
solid citizen of absolute integrity and of great
ability. He had the good fortune to live and to
work until an advanced age. That was his
countrys good fortune, too.

At the Democratic national convention in New

York in 1924, he was selected as the candidate
on the 103rd ballot, after William G. McAdoo and
Alfred E. Smith both released their deadlocked

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