Norman Davis
Norman Hezekiah Davis (born August 9, 1878 in Bedford County , Tennessee , † July 2, 1944 in Hot Springs , Virginia ) was an American businessman. He served as a high-ranking government official and diplomat under four different US presidents and was chairman of the American Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies, today's International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies , from 1938 to 1944 .
Life
Norman Davis made his personal fortune through financial deals and a stake in the sugar trade in Cuba . Among other things, he worked for the Trust Company of Cuba from 1905 to 1917 . In 1918 he began a career in the public service and worked in various government and diplomatic positions until his death. After a brief period as a business diplomat in Great Britain and France , he was a senior official in the United States Treasury from 1919 to 1920 ( Assistant Secretary of Treasury ) under President Woodrow Wilson and later from 1920 to 1921 Secretary of State ( United States Under Secretary of State ). President Calvin Coolidge sent him to the 1927 International Economic Conference in Geneva . From 1932 he took part in the Geneva Disarmament Conference on behalf of then President Herbert Hoover as a delegate . From 1936 to 1944 he was president of the Council on Foreign Relations .
After Norman Davis was a member of the Central Committee of the American Red Cross from 1920 , President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him in 1938, succeeding Cary Travers Grayson as chairman of the organization. In the same year he was also chairman of the League of Red Cross Societies . He headed the American Red Cross and the League until his death and thus in the time before and the first three years after the start of the US involvement in World War II . During this time, with a significant increase in the number of voluntary members, extensive aid programs for civilian victims of the war as well as for prisoners of war were started. One of the newly introduced services of the American Red Cross under the direction of Norman Davis was blood donation .
He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in July 1944 . His successor as Chairman of the American Red Cross was Basil O'Connor . The leadership of the League of Red Cross Societies took over the Swiss Johannes von Muralt, the first non-US chairman since the organization was founded in 1919.
literature
- Davis, Norman Hezekiah. In: Michael Martin, Leonard Gelber: Dictionary of American History. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 1978, ISBN 0-8226-0124-9 , p. 168
- Died. Norman Hezekiah Davis, 65th obituary in: Time Magazine . Issued July 10, 1944
Web links
- Biography on the American Red Cross website : Norman H. Davis (1878–1944) (English)
- Newspaper article about Norman Davis in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Davis, Norman |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Davis, Norman Hezekiah (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American businessman, diplomat and Red Cross official |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 9, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bedford County , Tennessee |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 2, 1944 |
| Place of death | Hot Springs , Virginia |