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Midwest Lawyer and Progressive Democrat

Joseph Davies lived the classic American success story. From modest origins in late nineteenth-century, small town Wisconsin, he rose to national and international prominence, amassed a fortune, and hobnobbed with the greats of the world. Davies combined the multiple personalities of lawyer, politician, businessman and diplomat. Never elected to public office, he wielded behind the scenes influence in the style of Bernard M. Baruch, millionaire Democrat and unofficial adviser to presidents. Davies possessed the savvy, self-confidence, optimism, and ambition of the self-made man.”.

Davies began legal studies at the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1898.

Joining youthful idealism with a practical eye on the future, Davies spurned the Republican organization on Campus to form a club for ‘Fair-Minded Democrats.’

Graduating with honors from law school in 1901, Davies returned to Watertown to make his reputation as an attorney-at-law and budding politician. Considered ‘one of the brightest young orators in the state,’ he won the support of leading Democratic progressives and by the fall of 1902, while serving as a delegate to the State's Democratic convention, was on his way to capturing the two-year district attorneyship. (District Attorney of Jefferson County, Wisconsin)

''“In 1901 he married Mary Emlen Knight daughter of Civil War Colonel John Henry Knight originally of Dover, Delaware; and after the Civil War of Ashland (The Knight Hotel), Bayfield and Madison, Wisconsin -- a leading conservative Democrat and business associate of William Freeman Vilas and Jay Cooke. Emlen’s mother was Ella Bouldin Clark of Wilmington, Delaware, a direct descendant of Augustine Herman through his daughter Judith who had married Col John Thomson of the Arc and the Dove"''.

In 1907, Davies sought a wider field for his legal and political talents. Moving to Madison, he joined two other young progressive attorneys, Republican Michael Olbrich and perennial Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Aylward, in what became one of the more prestigious law firms in the state. Always ready to talk, always cheerful, always confident, Davies struck observers as a young man with an 'undeniable charm of personality.

As the Presidential campaign of 1912 neared, Aylward and Davies, who was then chairing the Wisconsin Democratic Committee, looked to New Jersey's progressive governor, Woodrow Wilson, as a national standard bearer for the party. Wilson's image of the ‘man on the make' appealed to ambitious, public-spirited, middle-class professionals, such as Davies and Aylward, who sought to restore the tradition values of individualism and opportunity associated with the nineteenth century while reaping the economic benefits of the twentieth century. Not out to destroy capitalism nor to engineer a social revolution, they hoped to strengthen government on a national level so it could take a more active roll in protecting the interests of the public as a whole.

Davies’ critical role in shepherding Wilson to victory in the Wisconsin primary in April 1912 catapulted him onto the steering committee at the Democratic National Convention, where the party took full advantage of his oratorical and organizational skills. His activities as floor leader were deemed of inestimable value in holding the Wilson forces together, and even his dark Welsh good looks were enlisted to lure one female delegate into the Wilson column. In dealing with the powerful, old-line, conservative bosses, Davies’ tactics were brash, occasionally unethical, and usually persuasive. After clinching the nomination, Wilson demonstrated his confidence in his young aide by making him head of the entire campaign in the West. ("Which meant everywhere from Chicago to San Francisco." ). In the general election, Davies drew most of the West and Midwest into the Wilson column, including Wisconsin, which had voted Republican in eleven out of the thirteen elections since the Civil War.

Davies assumed that he would be rewarded with a cabinet post. The president-elect decided, however, that his thirty-seven-year-old campaigner was too young for the cabinet. He proffered the post of assistant secretary of war, but Davies allowed what he later acknowledged was his own 'vaulting ambition' to turn it down. He also rejected, ironically, the ambassadorship to Russia. Having devoted so much time to the campaign, the preceding year had 'been a dead loss' financially, and he hardly relished taking on a government post in which he had to subsidize himself. ... "Wilson pleaded with him to accept the top slot in the Bureau of Corporations.  When Davies agreed, the president-elect threw his arm around the young man and proclaimed, ‘I knew you would do it, my boy.’

With antitrust legislation a priority on the agenda of the new administration, Davies' position as commissioner of corporations gave him access to the White House and allowed him an influential role in the creation of the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that was to oversee government-business relations.

Responding to the needs of small business, some of Davies' adversaries claimed that big business by its very nature threatened the interests of the small entrepreneur. They opposed 'bigness' per se, and expected the FTC to make a frontal assault on its power. Davies opposed 'monopolies,' but he accepted big business as part of twentieth-century American life. He believed that large-scale enterprise, if kept within legal channels, would not develop inevitably into monopoly nor threaten the independent entrepreneur. Bigness was not inherently evil; coexistence was possible. He adopted an approach to government-business relations that put the needs of the consumer ahead of the small entrepreneur. It was the consumer-oriented approach that was at the heart of the conflict over policy within the FTC.

Davies relationship with Wilson aggravated the conflict with his opponents on the commission. Convinced that he had the inside track on the president’s policies, Davies viewed his adversaries as a threat to the New Freedom. Some of Davies’ opponents suggested that he was an incompetent lawyer and administrator. A 1980 study of the early trade commission suggested, on the other hand, that Davies had the clearest understanding of economics of any of the commissioners. His comments and questions in hearings and his memoranda and letters showed that he went to the core of the economic issues that came before the commission.

Outside the commission, Davies enjoyed warm relationships with a wide range of Washington friends whose views spanned the political spectrum. Republican Senator Warren Harding and Democratic Assistant Secretary of Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt were close friends and golfing buddies. They and their wives were regulars at Wilson’s ‘Administration Dancing Classes’ and both were active members of the Common Council Club for young Democratic progressives.

''“At that time we lived at 2117 Leroy Place down the street from Colonial Billy Mitchell, one of my father's closest friends. My father was best man at “Uncle" Billy’s second wedding and godfather to his son, Billy Mitchell, Jr.

''In 1918, two years after I was born we moved to 2941 Massachusetts Avenue, today the Saudi Arabian Embassy in DC. My mother lived there until 1943 when it was sold and she moved to Kalarama Road.''”

In 1918 the sudden death of Senator Paul Husting of Wisconsin lured Davies into electoral politics… Davies resigned from the FTC and in the general election brought out the largest Democratic vote in Wisconsin up to that time. Yet he lost the race… Wisconsin was not prepared to endorse Wilsonian internationalism.Having risked his career and his savings on the senatorial race, the defeated candidate found himself out of a job and deeply in dept. Spurning offers to reenter government service, he opted instead for private law practice.

Having risked his career and his savings on the senatorial race, the defeated candidate found himself out of a job and deeply in dept. Spurning offers to reenter government service, he opted instead for private law practice.

For the next decade and a half, as a private attorney, Davies gave his drive and ambition free reign… Davies enjoyed making money and the life that his wealth provided.

Davies represented a wide range of clients, including politicians, labor leaders and minority groups but it was his reputation as a specialist in antitrust laws that gave prominence to the firm. ''("Among my father's corporate clients were Seagrams, National Dairy, Anglo-Swiss and many others. In 1937 his law firm was: Davies, Richberg, Beebe, Busick and Richardson") '' The former commissioner was eminently successful as a lawyer. His ‘qualification of .. legal mind [were] second to few if any,’ wrote one admirer. Less charitable observers claimed he was not ‘a good lawyer,’ but certainly ‘a clever one.’ Davies handled with ease the details of complex historic disputes and the fine points of domestic and international law. His remarkable auditory memory allowed him to retain minutiae of oral testimony and made him an expert at cross-examination. (Goldman Sachs) businessman Sidney Weinberg, who once faced the Washington attorney as a witness, was astounded by Davies’ ability to pull his testimony to shreds. “I never thought any man could do that to me,” Weinberg later admitted.

''"Weinberg went up to him afterward and shook his hand. 'I want any man who did what you did to me on the stand today to be my friend.' Their friendship lasted until Davies death in 1958."

In the courtroom and out, he had a remarkable facility with words that made him exceptionally persuasive. Joe Tumulty (Joseph Patrick Tumulty) referred to it as Davies’ ‘magic.”

THE FORD TAX CASE AND LONG-TERM INTERNATIONAL CASES

In the most celebrated case of his career, Davies defended former Ford Motor Company stockholders against a $30,000,000. U.S. Treasure Department tax suit. Davies stood the government's case on end by proving not only that the stockholders owed the Treasure nothing in back taxes, but that the government owed the defendants a whopping refund of $3,6000,000. After hearing the verdict, former War Industries Board Chairman, Bernard Baruch told Davies that his clients must be 'greatly relieved' and 'particularly gratified to' have come into the substantial refund, but warned that their appreciation could be 'diminished with every passing day.' Following Baruch's advice to 'collect for the coffin while the tears were still running,' Davies netted some $2,000,000. the largest fee up to the time in history of the Washington bar.

''"Of all the cases which I handled during those fabulous twenties, the one that proved the most absorbing and rewarding was the so-called Ford Tax Case. It arose from the great industrial revolution created by a a single unique genious; it involved enormous and intricate calculations of value, equity and law.  As a reflection of this extraordinary era it had everything." . ''

''"James Couzens, then a bookkeeper in a lumber and coal yard hocked his shirt to invest in this venture and became the treasurer of the company (Ford). John Anderson and Horace Rackham made some of their payment in legal services..."  "Millions had been made in profits and the stockholders would have to pay a huge tax on the profits of their investment. This was complicated by the fact that the cost of the stockholders was not based on their original 1903 investment but on the March 1, 1913 value when the tax on profits law was enacted." ''

''"...The Detroit Trust Company, as trustee for the estate of the Dodge Brothers and Horace Rackham, brought me into the picture (to which I devoted myself exclusively for two years.)" ''

Davies' involvement in several long-term international cases brought him into contact with the State Department, producing a a relationship described at best as mutually frustrating. Accustomed to handling matters in his own way, Davies chafed at the red tape and elephantine pace of the State Department initiatives. Perturbed by the lack of progress at the lower levels, he pulled out all the stops to galvanize the support of top officials. Relations between Davies and the State Department deteriorated in the early thirties when the former commissioner became counsel for Rafael Trujillo, President of the Dominican Republic. Trujillo sought Davies' aid in extending a moratorium on the republic's debt to American Bondholders. The 1934 accord that Davies achieved won the support of the Council of Foreign Bondholders and even some officials in the State Department. Whatever good will the Washington attorney reaped from the settlement, however, disappeared when he accepted the enormous fee of $480,000 from Trujillo. Criticism from inside and outside the department forced the White House to investigate and the fee was scaled down to $300,000. President Franklin Roosevelt gave no indication, however, that he personally disapproved of Davies' handling of the bond issue.

Roosevelt's benign response to the episode was indicative of the warm and mutually beneficial relationship he and he old 'sidekick' maintained over the years. The two friends had kept in touch during the Republican twenties, and when the 1932 campaign got underway, Davies generously contributed his time, oratorical talents, and money to the Democratic cause.

While assuming no official role in the New Deal administration, Davies supported FDR's relief program 'to the hilt.' He praised Roosevelt for his 'passionate devotion to the underdog' and chided the 'reactionaries in business and politics' who criticized liberals for trying 'to accommodate government to meet human needs.'

The warm relationship that Davies established with Roosevelt was typical of other friendships he developed over the year with many Washington officials, including FDR aides Stephen Early and Marvin McIntyre, supreme court justices, senators, and congressmen. Party loyalties made no difference. Davies made friends easily. They were drawn to him by his warm smile, genial personality, and gracious hospitality. Davies enjoyed hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and his contacts benefitted him professionally and politically. With his own fortune he was remarkably generous. He provided financial assistance to friends scarred by the depression, old associates from Watertown, (Wisconsin) and a host of public causes.

In early 1935....Davies attended a dinner party hosted by the glamourous Marjorie Post Close Hutton, heiress of the General Foods empire of Charles W. Post. During the weeks preceding the party, Davies had visited several wealthy friends and, in return for their hospitality, had endured an unrelenting diatribe against Roosevelt and the New Deal. His patience having worn thin, he took the opportunity afforded by a farewell toast at Marjorie Hutton's party to let off steam. With a captive audience stunned into silence, he delivered a twenty-minute harangue on the selfishness of the rich in the midst of the depression and on the merits of his commander in chief (FDR), who had saved millions from hunger and restored hope to the unemployed. Without the New Deal, he declared, we would have faced revolution. 'Where would your millions be' then? When he finished his remarks, Marjorie Hutton got up from her chair and, to the astonishment of the assembled guests, went over to Davies and kissed him, exclaiming, 'That's what...[I've] been wanting to say to this crowd.'

From that moment a romance began.

Three months later, Davies and Marjorie were married.

Davies divorce and remarriage scandalized Washington society. Emlen Davies had the reputation of a 'great lady' and counted among her closest friends such notables as Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and the wife of William E. Borah, former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It was a painful experience for Davies' three daughters, made all the more so because of their deep affection for their father... of the three, only Bijou (Emlen Knight) then still a student at Vassar, attended the wedding.

"My mother was a sweet, lovely, gentle woman. She and my father were very different.  She was soft and gentle, and he was an intensely involved, hard driving man totally involved in his professional life.  For the day they were a model couple working together to raise their three children.  She had many friends in Washington, DC.  People loved her.  She was one of the founding members of the Sulgrave Club;  a faithful wife who ran a beautiful home and family life, and they entertained wonderfully together at "2941" (Massachusetts Avenue) which was such a marvelous home!

"We had a full staff who stayed with us for years. They were devoted to my Mother and Daddy. I don’t know of any home where something didn’t touched the family structure -  but nothing did in our home.  So my parents’ divorce was a devastating blow for me. Many of my father's friends his own age did not accept Daddy's marriage to his second wife Marjorie. Many of them... Judges, Senators, White House Cabinet members.  They just did not accept it. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson never spoke to him again.  But he fell in love with Marjorie and she with him.  It was a 'coup de foudre' and they were married for 20 years."

"I did learn to love Marjorie. She was very good to me and we became close. But now that I look back -- after she divorced my father three years before he died -- I see what my father had given up for her and how it destroyed my mother…”

In May of 1943 FDR sent Davies on a second Mission to Moscow. He was gone 27 days and traveled 25,779 carrying a secret letter from the President to Stalin. Because of the War raging in Europe Davies could not fly over Europe and so flew from New York to Brazil, to Dakar; Luxor, Egypt; Baghdad, Iraq; Teheran, Iran; Kuibyshev, Russia; Stalingrad, Russia and on to Moscow. He returned to the States via Novo Sibirsk and Alaska.”

FDR wanted to discuss matters with Stalin--one on one--and felt that setting up such a meeting could be done more easily through a mutual and trusted friend--Davies. In the letter, FDR was asking for a visit between himself and Stalin where they could talk over matters without restraint. It would only include an interpreter and stenography. Prime Minister Churchill and Foreign Minister Eden had often met with Stalin and Molotov. FDR and Secretary Hull had not. Stalin agreed to a meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska on July 15th. He asked that Davies stress to FDR that Hitler was massing his armies for an all-out drive and that they needed more of everything through Lend-Lease. .

Davies was surprised to find that much the same hostility and prejudice in the Moscow Diplomatic Crops (toward the Russians) as when he was in Moscow between 1937-1938. He urged them that public criticism of our ally (Russia) might be harmful to the war effort.