Background
Davis, Jerome was born on December 2, 1891 in Kioto, Japan, (parents American citizens). Son of Jerome Dean and Frances (Hooper) Davis.
Davis, Jerome was born on December 2, 1891 in Kioto, Japan, (parents American citizens). Son of Jerome Dean and Frances (Hooper) Davis.
He attended Newton High School in Newton, Massachusetts, then Oberlin College, where he graduated in 1913. In 1924 he founded the Jerome Davis Research fund to support students at Oberlin College who "worked with labor" to facilitate "mutual understanding and cooperation in the field of industry." He received a Doctor of Philosophy in sociology from Columbia University and was a professor at the Yale Divinity School.
Teacher evening extension courses, Minneapolis, secretary civic work Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association, 1913. Lecturer extension courses, New York City, 1914. Secretary to Doctor Wilfred Grenfell, Labrador, 1915.
Russian war work, 1916-1918 (acting in charge 1917-1918).
Surveyed Russian in American for Inter-Church World Movement, 1919-1920. Lecturer American Society for Extension University, Gilder fellow Columbia, 1920-1921.
Assistant professor sociology Dartmouth, 1921-1924. Gilbert L. Stark chair practical philanthropy Yale Division School, 1924-1937.
Director work in prisoner-of-war camps for all Canada representing world’s committee Young Men's Christian Association 1940-1943.
Was correspondent, lecturer, from 1943. Visiting professor Hiram College, 1947-1948, U. Colorado, 1950, Fisk University, 1954. President, American Federation Teachers, 1936-1939.
Head Peace Mission to Europe, 1949.
Special investigation co-operations, Scandinavia, 1950. Special mission to Soviet Union, 1943, special investigations Europe, 1947-1949.
Head Am-European Seminar touring major countries Europe, 1960-1962, 64, 66, 68, group professors around world, 1967, Peace Seminar of 50 professors, teachers, Europe, 1969, 70, 71, International Peace Mission 30 professors, Europe, summer 1966. Leader distinguished group to China, 1973, group professors to Finland, Czechoslovakia, Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, England, 1973.
Director Peace Mission to Europe, summer 1959.
Investigator conditions coal fields West Virginia, 1923, conditions in Russia, summer 1926, 27, 32. Executive director Promoting Enduring Peace. Paine Foundation lecturer to theological seminars, 1952.
Visiting professor International Christian University, Japan, 1965.
Leader educators seminar to China, 1975. Delaware Democratic National Convention, 1940.
Chairman, Connecticut State Legislative Commision on Jails, 1931-1939. President Eastern Sociological Conference, 1936-1937.
Vice president speakers research committee United Nations.
Member National Social Service Commission Congressional Churches (Executive Committee), Social Service Commission Federal Council of Churches Trustee Oberlin College.
His failure to receive tenure at Yale caused controversy, as it was widely believed to be due to his activism and Socialist leanings.
In the late 1930s he (along with DN Pritt, Upton Sinclair, Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger and others) defended the Moscow Trials from critics. "If democracy is to endure, capitalism as we know it must go." (From Capitalism and Its Culture, 1935, p 519).
Quotations: "If democracy is to endure, capitalism as we know it must go." (From Capitalism and Its Culture, 1935, p 519).
Member American Social Society (commission on international relations, 1922-1924), American Economics Association, National Conference Social Work, American Association of University Professors, Loyal Legion, Alpha Chi Rho, Congregationalist. Club: Cosmos (Washington).
Married Mildred Rood, July 20, 1920. Children: Frances Elizabeth (deceased), Helen Patricia, Wilfred Grenfell.