James J. Davis

The official portrait of James J. Davis in the US Department of Labor

James John Davis (born October 27, 1873 as James John Davies in Tredegar , Wales , †  November 22, 1947 in Takoma Park , Maryland ) was an American politician ( Republican Party ). He was a member of the US Cabinet from 1921 to 1930 as Secretary of Labor and represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US Senate .

Life

Born in Great Britain, James John Davies emigrated with his parents to the United States at the age of eight, where the family first settled in Pittsburgh and later in Sharon . There he completed an apprenticeship in a steel mill, which earned him his nickname Iron Puddler (or Puddler Jim ); his autobiography, published in 1922, would then also bear the title The Iron Puddler .

In 1893 he moved to Elwood , Indiana , where he served as a city civil servant from 1898 to 1902. From 1903 to 1907 he was in the service of Madison County before returning to Pittsburgh. During this time his surname was Americanized to Davis , although he himself always signed with Davies later . He was married with five children.

politics

After the Republicans won the presidential election in 1920 , the new US President Warren G. Harding appointed him as Minister of Labor in his cabinet . Davis kept the post after Harding's early death under his successor Calvin Coolidge ; he also remained in office after Herbert Hoover was elected President in 1928. He is one of only three US ministers to head the same ministry under three different presidents. The others were Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon .

James J. Davis (back left) as a member of the Cabinet of Calvin Coolidge (center).

Minister Davis' main focus was immigration, which at the time was the responsibility of the Department of Labor. He started the United States Border Patrol and proposed restrictions on immigration quotas. At the urging of the iron and steel workers' union, he succeeded in convincing US Steel to abandon the twelve-hour working day.

On December 2, 1930, James Davis resigned after being elected to the United States Senate for Pennsylvania. During his tenure in the Senate, which lasted until 1945, he was responsible for the Davis-Bacon Act , a piece of legislation that required the federal government to pay fixed wages for public works. He missed the re-election in 1944 and retired from the following year Congress made.

Three years after the end of his political career, Davis died of a heart attack. He was buried in Pittsburgh.

Web links

• James J. Davis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• James J. Davis in Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)