Background

Davis was born on September 29, 1912, in Salina, Kansas, United States, and raised in Manhattan, Kansas.

Education

Kenneth was a 1934 graduate of Kansas State University with a degree in journalism, and received a master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1936.

Career

After university Kenneth S. Davis served as an information specialist for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, then spent two years as a journalism teacher at New York University. He worked on the public relations staff of Milton Eisenhower in the 1940s. For two years he was an editor of the plant newspaper at Hercules Powder Company, Louisiana, Missouri. In 1944 he worked as a temporary instructor in the Department of Industrial Journalism and Printing at Kansas State College. During 1945-1946 Kenneth was at New York University in a position of Instructor of Journalism.

In 1951 he began his long career as a full-time author and continued writing up until his death. Many of his works focus on well-known figures such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Charles Lindbergh. In addition to his works on Roosevelt, Davis also wrote A Prophet in His Own Country: The Triumphs and Defeats of Adlai E. Stevenson, Experience of War: The United States in World War II and other works.

In 1976 he also worked at Clark University, taught The Art of Biography. In 1977 he was a visiting professor at Kansas State University.

Shortly before his death, Davis completed a fifth installment, The War President. The books took more than three decades to research and write. He died on June 10, 1999.

Achievements

• Kenneth Sydney Davis was probably best known as the author of what has been called the most comprehensive biography ever written of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It won the Francis Parkman Prize, which is considered one of the top awards in the field of history.

Works

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• book

  • FDR: Into the Storm 1937-1940
  • FDR: The War President, 1940-1943: A History
  • Don't Know Much About American History
  • FDR: The New Deal Years 1933-1937
  • Dwight Eisenhower

Membership

In 1962 he became member of The Century Club in New York. His membership was promoted by Adlai E. Stevenson.

Personality

Some of Davis' friends describe him as basically a shy person.

Quotes from others about the person

• "Kenneth Davis has the rare gift of writing history that reads with the immediacy of a novel; and though the outcome of this history is well known, the events and people depicted here keep the reader focused on an enthralling suspense story." - From Book Jacket

Connections

On February 19, 1937, Kenneth S. Davis married Florence Marie Olenhouse. She passed away in 1987. Later, in 1990, he married his second wife, Jean Stafford Dormer Davis.

Spouse:

Jean Stafford Dormer Davis

ex-spouse:

Florence Marie Olenhouse

References

• Contemporary Authors, Vol. 181