Joseph E. Davies
Joseph Edward Davies (November 29, 1876 – May 9, 1958) was an American lawyer and diplomat. He was appointed by President Wilson to be Commissioner of Corporations in 1912, and he was the first chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in 1915. He was the second ambassador to represent the United States in the Soviet Union and U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg. From 1939 to 1941 Davies was special assistant to Secretary of State Hull, in charge of War Emergency Problems and Policies. From 1942 through 1946 he was chairman of President Roosevelt's War Relief Control Board. Ambassador Davies was special advisor of President Harry Truman and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes with rank of ambassador at the Potsdam Conference in 1945.
Joseph E. Davies
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Position Established
May 9, 1958 (aged 81)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
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Mary Emlen Knight(m. 1902; div. 1935)
3
Edward Davies
Rachel Davies
Lawyer
Postwar career[edit]
Following World War II, the Davies took up residence at Tregaron in Washington, D.C. (named after the village in Wales where Davies' father was born), where they entertained extensively.
In 1945 Davies was made Special Envoy of President Harry Truman, with rank of Ambassador, to confer with Prime Minister Churchill, and Special Advisor of President Truman and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, with rank of Ambassador, at the Potsdam Conference. His papers from this period deposited in the Library of Congress were long classified documents.
Davies was divorced by his wife Marjorie in 1955. She sold her yacht, the Sea Cloud, to the longtime dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo. Davies continued to live at Tregaron until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage on May 9, 1958.
Ambassador Davies' ashes are buried in the crypt at the National Cathedral, in Washington, DC. He gave both the 50-foot (15 m) baptistery stained glass window to the Cathedral in honor of his mother, Rachel Davies (Rahel o Fôn), as well as his collection of Russian icons and chalices for their newly formed museum—created by the Dean of the cathedral, Frank Sayre (Woodrow Wilson's grandson). These rare articles were sold at auction by Sotheby's in 1976 after Davies' death to cover the cathedral's debt.
