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Davis (JOHN WILLIAM an American)

JOHN WILLIAM, an American lawyer and public official, born in Clarksburg, W. Va., in 1873. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1892 and afterward took a course in law at that institution. He was admitted to the bar in 1895 and in the following year served as assistant professor of law in Washington and Lee University. From 1897 he was engaged in the practice of law as a member of the law firm of Davis & Davis at Clarksburg, W. Va. He was a member of the State House of Delegates in 1899 and served as delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1904. In 1911 he was elected to the 62d Congress and was reelected on the expiration of his term to the 63d Congress. He resigned in 1913 to accept the post of solicitor-general of the United States. He served until November, 1918, when he was appointed ambassador to Great Britain by President Wilson. He was a member of the American delegation for conferring with the Germans on the treatment and exchange of prisoners of war, in 1918. Mr. Davis was prominently mentioned as a candidate of the Democratic nomination for president in 1920.