Jerome Dwight Davis (December 2, 1891 – October 19, 1979), was an American activist for international peace and social reform, a labor organizer, and a sociologist who founded the organization Promoting Enduring Peace. Early in his life, he campaigned to reduce the workweek and as an advocate of organized labor.
Background
Davis was born in Kyoto, Japan on December 2, 1891 to American missionaries Jerome Dean Davis and Frances Hooper. His father helped found Doshisha University and then taught there. Davis spent his early childhood in Japan.
In 1904, Davis came to the US with his parents to get an American education. He attended Newton High School in Newton, Massachusetts and Oberlin Academy. In 1913, he graduated from Oberlin College, where he had served as president of the local Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He spent a year in community service at the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association, through which he helped obtain a half holiday for workers in some larger local factories.
Career
In 1914, Davis started a doctorate simultaneously at the Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University. He financed his studies through work. He performed social work, worked as assistant at Broadway Tabernacle, and lectured for the City of New York.
During the summer of 1915, he worked as a private secretary to Sir Wilfred Grenfell in Labrador, Canada, and helped him in a wide array of services. Grenfell arrested felons and also extracted teeth. In the fall of 1915, Davis took leave from his studies to travel to Europe and work with prisoners of war (POWs) during the Great War. Their plight became a lifelong interest.
YMCA (Russia) Davis spent 1916–1918 in Russia. He was sent to Russia by the YMCA to work with German POWs. He also set up YMCA centers for Russian soldiers. Upon American entry into World War I in 1917, he was appointed as head of all YMCA work in Russia. For the US Government, he oversaw distribution of more than a million copies of President Wilson's "14 Points" message to German soldiers.
He opposed US military intervention in Russia during its civil war in favor of working with the new Soviet Union. During the 1920s, Davis returned to Russia several times and continued to advocate for Soviet cooperation. His chart of the construction of the Soviet government was published in Workers' Dreadnought. By 1920, however, he had returned to the States, and finished his studies at the Union Theological Seminary. In 1922 he obtained a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.
Academia
From 1921 to 1924, Davis worked as an associate professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College. There, he also advocated for organized labor. He investigated and published findings on a strike in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Federal Coal Commission asked him to investigate operations of West Virginia coal mines. He also served as chairman of the Social Service Commission of the Congregational Church.
In 1924, he founded the Jerome Davis Research fund to support students at Oberlin who "worked with labor" to facilitate "mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of industry."
From 1924 to 1936, Davis was appointed a Gilbert L. Stark professor of "practical philanthropy" at the Yale Divinity School. He helped organize labor forums for the New Haven Trades Council. He developed labor ideals adopted by the Congregational and Christian Churches of America. He chaired the Social Service Commission of Protestant churches in Connecticut. From 1924 to 1936, he also chaired the Legislative Commission on Jails of the State of Connecticut for twelve years. He used a $50,000 Federal grant to review Connecticut prisoner records, with findings published in 1932.
In 1928, Davis was a member of the American Society for Cultural Relations with Russia, part of VOKS (Russian "Vsesoiuznoe Obshchestvo Kul'turnoi Sviazi s zagranitsei" — Всесоюзное общество культурной связи с заграницей, All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries).
When he did not receive tenure at Yale, the decision was controversial and was widely believed to be a result of his socialism. The National Education Association, the American Federation of Labor, and the American Association of University Professors investigated the case. Yale denied permission to US Supreme Court Justice Ferdinand Pecora and US Senator Gerald P. Nye to speak on campus for fear of their support for Davis.