John W. Davis
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John W. Davis GBE |
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| United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
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In office December 18, 1918 – March 9, 1921 |
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| Monarch | George V |
| President |
Woodrow Wilson Warren G. Harding |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Walter Page |
| Succeeded by | George Harvey |
| 14th United States Solicitor General | |
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In office August 29, 1913 – November 21, 1918 |
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| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | William Bullitt |
| Succeeded by | Alexander King |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia's 1st district |
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In office March 4, 1911 – August 29, 1913 |
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| Preceded by | William Hubbard |
| Succeeded by | Matthew Neely |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
John William Davis April 13, 1873 Clarksburg, West Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | March 24, 1955 (aged 81) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Julia McDonald (1899–1900) Ellen Bassel (1912–1943) |
| Children | Julia (with McDonald) |
| Alma mater | Washington and Lee University |
John William Davis (April 13, 1873 – March 24, 1955) was an American politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served as a United States Representative from West Virginia from 1911 to 1913, then as Solicitor General of the United States and US Ambassador to the UK under President Woodrow Wilson. The culmination of his political career came when he ran for President in 1924 under the Democratic Party ticket, losing to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.
Over a 60-year legal career, Davis argued 140 cases before the US Supreme Court. He famously argued the winning side in Youngstown Steel. He also represented the losing side in Briggs v. Elliott, one of the companion cases to Brown v. Board of Education.
Davis's 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, which had a population of 600–700 at the time, and 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, and by the age of twenty, had established a law practice in Clarksburg. John J. Davis 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.
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