Clifford Davis

Clifford Davis (born November 18, 1897 in Hazlehurst , Mississippi , † June 8, 1970 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . He represented the state of Tennessee between 1940 and 1965 as a member of the US House of Representatives .

Early years

When Clifford Davis turned 14, his family moved to Memphis . There he finished high school and in 1917 the Law School of the University of Mississippi . He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1918.

Civil service

In 1923 Davis became a judge in Memphis. He carried out this activity until 1927. From 1928 to 1940 he was deputy mayor and commissioner for public security. He became a close associate of Memphis' political leader Edward Crump .

congress

The seat of the 10th Congressional District, which included Memphis, became vacant in 1940. Incumbent Walter Chandler , who served three terms, was elected Mayor of Memphis. Through Crump's help, Davis got the Democratic nomination for the post. In those days, in most parts of Tennessee, that nomination was equivalent to an election (the Republican East made the exception ). Davis won the extraordinary election and accepted the vote on February 15, 1940. This term of office was followed by eleven more.

Davis' district was renamed the 9th Tennessee District after Tennessee lost one district to the 1950 Census.

Crump died in 1954, but many of his protégés remained in their positions for years. Davis was re-elected five more times after Crump's death. During this time, Davis participated in the 1956 constitution of the Southern Manifesto , a letter that spoke out against racial integration in public institutions. Davis was also chairman of the Campaign Expenditure Committee, a group tasked with finding a legal way to control the influence of money on politicians. It was not until years later that campaign financing was realized after the Watergate affair .

Davis was one of five MPs shot in the U.S. Capitol on March 1, 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on House members from a balcony. Davis was shot in the leg. He was not seriously wounded.

defeat

In the 1960s, the Memphis area became much friendlier to Republican influence, in part because of a massive shift in white Democratic voters. This influence was felt for Davis in the 1962 election, when he narrowly defeated the Republican challenger by just 1,200 votes. This was particularly appalling given the fact that he had not been a candidate for re-election two years earlier.

In August 1964, Davis lost the Democratic primary to George W. Grider , a retired Navy officer and lawyer. After that Davis did not return to Memphis, but to Washington DC, where he practiced his practice as a lawyer until his death. He was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery , Memphis.

legacy

The Clifford Davis Federal Building in Memphis, Tennessee bears his name.

Web links

• Clifford Davis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)