Davis, John W. (John William), 1873-1955

<p>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 and lost to Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge.</p>

<p>Born and raised in West Virginia, Davis briefly worked as a teacher before beginning his long legal career. Davis's father, John J. Davis, had been a delegate to the Wheeling Convention and served in the United States 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 United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1913, helping to write the Clayton Antitrust Act. He held the position of solicitor general from 1913 to 1918, during which time he successfully argued for the illegality of Oklahoma's "grandfather law" in <i>Guinn v. United States</i>.</p>

<p>While serving as the 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. His nomination made him the second nominee (Wilson, the first, had been nominated in 1912) from a former slave state, Virginia since the Civil War, and Davis remains the only major party presidential candidate from West Virginia. Running on a ticket with Charles W. Bryan, Davis lost in a landslide to Coolidge.</p>

<p>Davis did not seek public office again after 1924 but remained a prominent attorney, representing many of the country's largest businesses. Over a 60-year legal career, he argued 140 cases before the United States Supreme Court. He famously argued the winning side in <i>Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer</i>, in which the Supreme Court ruled against President Harry Truman's seizure of the nation's steel plants. Davis also unsuccessfully defended the "separate but equal" doctrine in <i>Briggs v. Elliott</i>, one of the companion cases to <i>Brown v. Board of Education</i>.</p>