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Oct 7, 2008
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History and GovernmentCongressional BiographiesPennsylvania

DAVIS, James John

(1873—1947)

Senate Years of Service: 1930-1945
Party: Republican

DAVIS, James John, a Senator from Pennsylvania; born in Tredegar, South Wales, October 27, 1873; immigrated to the United States in 1881 with his parents, who settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., and later moved to Sharon, Pa.; attended the public schools and Sharon (Pa.) Business College; apprenticed as a puddler in the steel industry when 11 years of age; moved to Elwood, Ind., in 1893 and worked in steel and tin-plate mills; held various offices in the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of America; city clerk of Elwood, Ind., 1898-1902; recorder of Madison County, Ind., 1903-1907; moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1907, and engaged in organizational work for the Loyal Order of Moose; chairman of the Loyal Order of Moose War Relief Commission in 1918 and visited the various camps in the United States, Canada, and Europe; appointed Secretary of Labor by President Warren Harding and reappointed by Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover 1921-1930, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected on November 4, 1930, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the refusal of the Senate to seat William S.Vare; reelected in 1932 and 1938, and served from December 2, 1930, to January 3, 1945; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944; resumed educational and organizational work for the Loyal Order of Moose; died in Takoma Park, Md., November 22, 1947; interment in Uniondale Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pa.


Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography ; Chapple, Joseph. ”Our Jim”: A Biography of James Davis . Boston: Chapple Publishing Co., 1928; Davis, James John. The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of It. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1922.

Chapple, Joseph Mitchell. ”Our Jim”: A Biography of James Davis . Boston: Chapple Publishing Co., 1928.

Davis, James John. The Iron Puddler: My Life in the Rolling Mills and What Came of It. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1922.

___. Selective Immigration . St. Paul: Scott-Mitchell Publishing Co., 1925.

Dudley, John Bruce. “James J. Davis: Secretary of Labor Under Three Presidents, 1921-1930.” Ph.D. dissertation, Ball State University, 1972.

Zieger, Robert H. “The Career of James J. Davis.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 98 (January 1974): 67-89.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present

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