Davis, Elmer Holmes

(1890-1958)

   Author, journalist, and radio broadcaster Elmer Davis was born in Aurora, Indiana. He graduated from Franklin College in 1910 and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. Davis returned to the United States in 1913 and began working as a journalist in New York City. In 1914, he was hired as a reporter for the New York Times. He became a freelance reporter in 1923, and he published fiction and nonfiction articles in a number of well-known journals. He also published popular novels. In 1939, he was appointed as a news analyst at CBS, and his subsequent wartime reports were heard by millions and made him as famous as his colleague, Edward R. Murrow.

   In June 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Davis head of the newly created Office of War Information (OWI). His aim was to let the people have as much information about the war as possible, but this proved difficult given the reluctance of the military to release details. Davis was also accused of running a propaganda agency for the president. He continued as director of the OWI until it ceased operation in September 1945. In the postwar years, Davis was a critic of Joseph McCarthy in both his radio broadcasts and his writing.