Charleston, WV (Wowk) – In the many years of the state’s existence, West Virginia became only one naturally become the presidential candidate of the United States.
Born on April 13, 1873 in Clarksburg, John William Davis studied and taught right at the Washington and Lee University In Virginia before returning his practice to Clarksburg in 1897. In 1906 he finally became president of the West Virginia Bar Association.
As for politics, Davis had its start in 1899 as a democrat at the WV House of Delegates and the US House of Representatives in 1910 and made a name for itself through legislation such as the Clayton Anti-Schul-Act of 1914.
From 1913 to 1918 Davis was also the US general Prosecutor and Ambassador in England from 1918 to 1921. He moved his legal practice to New York in 1921 and only became President of the American Bar Association a year later.
All of this work would lead to the democratic candidate for president in 1924, although his nomination was not the cleanest.
The Democratic National Convention initially spoke out for the appointment of New York governor Alfred E. Smith or William G. McAdoo. So none of the candidates collected enough support for the nomination, i.e. Davis was selected as a compromise.
It was believed that Davis resigned from his law firm to support his course, but He said reports “In my opinion, every lawyer who gives up his independence or fulfills his duty to his client by contributing his professional course to meet the gusts of popular opinion not only himself, but also the profession he should be proud of.”
Davis was a greatest conservative democrat. In fact, despite his loyalty to the party, he later proved to be decisive against the fresh deal against the fresh deal. He lost the presidency to the Republican Calvin Coolidge through a significant lead and could not even win his hometown and his home state.
He then spent the rest of his days in his New York law firm Davis Polk Wardwell Gardiner & Reed.
From the 141 cases he was in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, his most controversial one was his last. In 1952 Briggs v. ElliotHe spoke out for the continuation of the racial regulation in South Carolina. The case was one of four others who testified in 1954 Brown against educational authority.
One of the last things he did was Help to defend the father of the atomic bombRobert Oppenheimer, during his security hearing from 1954 at the Atomic Energy Commission.
Davis died on March 24, 1955 in Charleston, South Carolina, and was buried on the Locust Valley Cemetery in New York.
