DAVIS, JOHN WILLIAM 1873-1955

Solicitor general of the united states

Lawyer to Congressman

In 1911 John Davis was elected to represent his West Virginia district in the House of Representatives. A man of great ambition and a lawyer of distinction in his home state, the decision to pursue a political career had not been an easy one for him. He had dedicated himself to the operation of the law office he shared with his father and had become the principal reason for its success. He did become a candidate, however, and won a seat in Congress on his first attempt. As a Democrat he faithfully supported President Wilson's legislative program in spite of the reservations he held with respect to the president's leadership and his liberal ideals. Though highly regarded by his colleagues in the house for his legal acumen, Davis received little recognition for his work outside the Congress until the impeachment trial of Judge Robert W. Archbald brought his advocacy skills well into public view. Davis was selected to deliver the prosecution's summation of the case and delivered an argument that was so forceful and persuasive as to attract the personal attention of the president. On 30 August 1913 Davis, nearing the end of his term and tiring of his legislative role, was offered and eagerly accepted an appointment to the post of solicitor general of the United States.

Solicitor General

As solicitor general Davis argued more cases before the Supreme Court than had any of his predecessors and established his reputation as one of the nation's foremost appellate lawyers. Even the justices before whom he often appeared felt nothing but the highest regard for his technical proficiency and strength as an advocate. Given his involvement in the defense of so many of the most important legislative accomplishments of the Progressive Era, such praise was clearly deserved, even though his efforts did not always meet with success. In one of his most memorable cases, Hammer v. Dagenharty he was unable to dissuade the Supreme Court from viewing the nation's first major child labor law as an unconstitutional extension of federal authority. He did, nevertheless, become far better known for his successes, which, given the conservatism of the federal bench, were indeed major accomplishments and often involved issues of exceptionally great interest to the public. Among the cases he handled on behalf of the federal government were those that resulted in the extension of federal regulatory control over public lands, oil company pipelines, and certain utilities. His name appeared in the journals of the day in connection with the Supreme Court's decision finding Oklahoma's attempt to deprive African Americans of their right to vote through the use of a grandfather clause unconstitutional. His defense of the Adamson Act, which regulated the work hours of railroad employees, and, later, of the draft laws of 1917 were considered among his most brilliant, but he would eventually tire of the work that brought him all but what he felt he most needed, material success.

Money, Prestige, and the Man

Davis had been born into a prominent West Virginia family and had received many advantages as a youth, including the finest education available. Sent to Washington and Lee College, he stayed there until he was awarded his law degree in 1895. He returned a year later to teach law, but remained only a short while before leaving to join his father's law firm, where he benefited from the work provided him by the firm's established clientele. Driven by a consuming desire to increase his wealth and establish his position in the firm as its principal counsel, Davis devoted himself entirely to his practice and prospered from the activities of the railroad and mining companies that had come to dominate West Virginia's economy. In 1910, believing public office would bring him greater recognition and expand the firm's list of clients, he somewhat reluctantly sought endorsement of his candidacy for Congress from the Democratic Party, and won the election. This was the first step of a career in government that would culminate in his appointment as ambassador to Great Britain in 1918. Davis remained active on the national scene until his death in 1955.

Presidential Candidate

Following his return to the United States in 1921, he left government service to join a Wall Street firm that counted J. P. Morgan and Company among its prestigious clients. The following year he was elected president of the American Bar Association, and rejected, much to Chief Justice William Howard Taft's disappointment, any further suggestion of his being considered for the Supreme Court. In 1924, on the 103rd ballot, he won his party's nomination for the presidency, but the campaign he conducted revealed his fundamental conservatism, a factor that made him indistinguishable from the incumbent, Republican Calvin Coolidge. Much to his surprise, he was forced to contend with criticism of his service and reputation as a lawyer for the wealthy and powerful. His candidacy revealed more clearly than anything else Davis' deeply held conservatism and his basic prejudices.

Later Career

As a lawyer, he tended to favor a strict constructionist view of the Constitution, and as a man who became fearful of the expansion of federal power and had proven himself a states' rights advocate, he came to feel nothing but disappointment for the changes wrought by the New Deal. Though a witness to the enormous changes in the law and its practice all about him, Davis chose to remain steadfast in his defense of a much more conservative philosophy, attacking the Democratic administration for what he perceived as an emasculation of state authority and its usurpation of power the framers of the Constitution had never envisioned. He was not content merely to criticize, but devoted his energies to the organization of the American Liberty League in 1934 to resist the legal and social changes then well under way. He was, however, still capable of acting somewhat unpredictably, and sometimes with momentous results. In 1931 in the case of United States v. Macintosh, he represented a theologian who claimed that his selective conscientious objection to war should not disqualify him from citizenship. But in the main, Davis's beliefs and perceptions reflected those of the social and professional milieu he had worked so hard to become a part of and whose values and attitudes he would make his own. In 1952, appalled by President Truman's threat to take over the nation's steel industry and by his forcing it to end the strike and resume production, he successfully defended the industry against the government's seizure of its plants and production properties. Two years later, in his last major case before the Supreme Court, he represented the state of South Carolina in its unsuccessful defense of "separate but equal" school systems for blacks in the case of Brown v. Board of Education.

Source:

William H. Harbaugh, Lawyer's Lawyer: The Life of John Davis (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973).

John William Davis 1873–1955, American lawyer and public official, b. Clarksburg, W.Va. Admitted (1895) to the bar, he taught (1896–97) at Washington and Lee Univ. and later practiced (1897–1913) in Clarksburg. He served as Congressman (1911–13), U.S. Solicitor General (1913–18), and ambassador to Great Britain (1918–21). After 1921 he practiced law in New York City. He was nominated for President in 1924 on the 103d ballot, when, after a two-week deadlock at the Democratic convention, the forces of Alfred E. Smith and William Gibbs McAdoo agreed to compromise on a third candidate. Hampered by his legal affiliation with large corporations, Davis, even though he carried the South, won only 136 electoral votes and 8,386,500 popular votes. His speeches are collected in Treaty-making Power in the United States (1920) and Party Government in the United States (1929).

Bibliography: See biography by W. H. Harbaugh (1973).