University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan the POLITICAL and SOCIAL THOUGHT
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This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 66~1773 ENSLEY, Philip Chalfant, 1940- THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THOUGHT OF ELMER DAVIS. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1965 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THOUGHT OF ELMER DAVIS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University "by Philip C ha Kant Easley, A.B., M.A. The Ohio State University 1965 Approved "by Adviser Department of History CONTENTS Page PREFACE...................... ..................................... i i i CHAPTER I AN AMERICAN OBSERVER..................................................................... 1 I I THE GOLDEN DECADE: ELMER DAVIS AND THE AGE OF NORMALCY............................. 27 I I I CONFIDENCE IN MOM? EEMER DAVIS AND THE HOOVER YEARS, 1929-1933 ......................... 58 IV IF ROOSEVELT FAILS: EEMER DAVIS AND THE NEW DEAL, 1933-1938. ........................................... 80 V HEADS I WEN, TAILS YOU LOSE: DAVIS* VIEKtfS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1938-19^5 ................. 102 VI YEARS OF TRIAL AND HOPE: EEMER DAVIS AND THE COLD WAR, 19^5-1950. ....................... 131 V II YEAR ONE, THERMONUCLEAR ERA: DAVIS* VIEWS OF POLITICS AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 1950-1958 .............................. 156 V III DON*T LET TEEM SCARE YOU: DAVIS* DEFENSE OF FREEDOM, 1950-1958 ........................................... l81fr BIBLIOGRAPHY .................... 219 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. .................... 259 i i PREFACE The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss the political and social thought of Elmer Davis, and to analyze.its development throughout his life. I am not attempting to write a "biographical study of his life; as a result I will use biographical data only where nec essary as background for his views. Davis discussed voluminously many aspects of the American scene through novels, short stories, essays, letters, book reviews, and radio broadcasts. Nbst of the material used in the preparation of this study was from Davis’ essays and articles, but the Elmer Davis Papers in the Library of Congress were helpful, particularly for his radio broadcasts after the war. In the dissertation I w ill select from this material the most representative aspects of his thought in order to analyze its development through his l i f e . I would like to acknowledge the co-operation and assistance of those who made this study possible. The librarians in the Manuscript room at the Library of Congress were courteous and helpful. I would like to thank Mr. Boger Burlingame and Mr. Eobert Lloyd Davis for their helpful suggestions. I would particularly like to express my appreciation to ny adviser, Eobert H. Bremner, who not only suggested the topic, but also aided and advised me during its preparation. Finally I am indebted to my wife, Cynthia Beam Ensley, whose unfailing encouragement was indispensable to the completion of this study. CHAPTER I AH AMERICAN OBSERVER As journalist, novelist, essayist, social critic, government official, radio commentator, and defender of freedom, Elmer Davis exerted a significant influence on the American scene during the middle decades of the Twentieth Century. Although hest known for this last role of de fending freedom during the McCarthy hysteria of the early 1950's, Davis also made Important contributions during the earlier phases of his life. As a journalist on The New York Times he observed the United States both as a reporter and as an editorial writer; as a free-lance writer he viewed the American scene through novels, essays, and book reviews; as a rad io news a n aly st he commented on n a tio n a l and in te rn a tio n a l developments both before and after World War II; and as a government official during the war he inspected the American scene during years of tension and crisis. His observations are characterized not by the originality of his ideas, but by the clarity with which he expressed well-known views. This ability to express familiar but sometimes for gotten ideas clearly and intelligibly was one of Davis' real contri butions to America. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the influences on and the conditions of Davis’ life, so that we can ascertain how these factors affected his political and social philos ophy. 1 Elmer Davis was "bora on January 15, 1890, in Aurora, Indiana, an Ohio River town thirty miles from Cincinnati. He was the son of Louise Severin and Elam Holmes Davis. His father was the cashier of the First National Bank of Aurora, a Republican, and an active leader in the Baptist Church. Davis' childhood was marked by a great interest in both sports and study. Because he was a sickly child until he was 1^, he excelled more in studies than in physical activity. 'Having learned to read early, and not being well enough to do much else, I was likely to read anything in sight," Davis recalled.^ This fact accounts for his proficiency in intellectual pursuits. He developed, however, an understanding of athletics which remained with him through out his entire life. While he was a reporter on The New York Times, he covered the Dempsey-Gibbons fight in 1923* the World Series of 1925, and the International match horse race between Zev and Papyrus in October 1923. Although he excelled in school without any particular effort, Davis was not a favorite of his teachers. Apparently he was a thorn in their flesh, for his inquiring mind questioned the orthodoxy prevalent in Aurora at the turn of the century. Roger Burlingame stated that "in such a Baptist stronghold, deviation from the orthodox in thought as well as in behavior was looked upon with horror by the guardians of youthful morality." Because he questioned this orthodoxy, Davis, from his earliest high school days, was a rebel. "Whether he had been bom into that camp or whether hard-shell Baptist Aurora put "Ssimer Davis, "Constant Reader," Harper's, CCI (October 1950)* 161. 2 him there, that is where he remained." As he looked "back upon his youth* Davis recalled: "we leaped defiantly over the mole-hills our elders had made into mountains; . we looked over the conventions of the day and rejected those which seemed superannuated.In his high school days he developed another characteristic trait, his wit and wry sense of humor. A boyhood friend discovered in Davis "a sort of wiry, dry, explosive, provacative humor, not respective of the dignity, of the victim, although such humor was impersonal*"1*' In the fall of 1906, at the age ;?f sixteen, Davis enrolled in Franklin College, a small institution twenty miles south of Indianapolis. He was active in his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, the college newspaper, the campus theater, and particularly in his studies. In his four years at Franklin he slipped "below an A only twice. He did well in nearly every subject, "but particularly in Greek and Latin; he read the AnabasisT the Hew Testament, and the Iliad in Greek and Livy, Horace, Plautus, Terence, and Lucretius in Latin. This great interest in the classics remained with him through life; he often used classical allusions in his writings and speeches; also, he often reviewed "books dealing with the classics or xvith Greek and Koman history for The Hew York Times and The Saturday Beview of Literature. Proficiency in the classics, together ‘Ttoger Burlingame, Don’t Let Them Scare You: The Life and Times of Elmer Davis (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 19Sl), 25. ""(Here after referred to as Burlingame.) ^Elmer Davis, "Good Old 1915*" Forum. EKXXF (May 1931)* 270 . Burlingame, 2 k. with his degree of B.A. "magna cum laude" from Franklin, won for Davis the selection as a Rhodes Scholar in 1910. Davis’ years in Oxford were significant in his development. He thoroughly enjoyed the intellectual atmosphere "because it allowed him to read and learn at his own pace. These years in preparation for his "litterae humanoresH developed further his interest in and devotion to the classics; he mastered the Greek language and read extensively in the history and literature of Greece. But it was not only in scholarship that the Oxford period was important to his future development. By travelling extensively around the continent, he broadened his outlook on life and moved further from the narrow orthodoxy and provincialism of Aurora and Indiana. On one of these travels, when in Paris, he met Florence MacMillan, a g irl from Boston, who became his wife in 1917. ^ Although the period at Oxford was a happy one, he received word that his father had been overtaken by a financial disaster. As a result Davis accelerated his studies in order to receive his degree in two years instead of the usual three. Thus in June, 1912, Davis won a Second in his examination, and received his B.A. degree. His tutor, E. W. Walker, regarded Davis’ accomplishment in only two years of study, ”as one of 7 the most remarkable achievements I have ever known in this school." His parents did not insist that he return home, so after graduation he ^ I b id .. 26-2 8 . 6X bid., 43. 7 I b i d . ^ 6 . traveled through Europe for a year. By the time he returned in June 1915# Ills father had died, and Davis had to "begin to support his mother and himself. Elmer's parents had hoped that he would "become a teacher and had attempted to discourage his interest in writing as a career. In a letter which Davis received at Oxford, his father stated that ’’"both your mother and myself were greatly shocked at the idea or suggestion of your giving up or abandoning the teacher's profession. You are a horn teacher. I cannot hear the thought of your wasting all these golden opportunities for reaching professional distinction hy using your abilities in the O preparation of foolish stories." Nonetheless this was what Davis wanted to do, end finding a job on the editorial staff of the magazine Adventure, he began to write "foolish stories." In 191^ he sold his first story to the Designer magazine, whose editor, Charles Hanson Touraer, said "it's a good little story, with nice touches all through it.