Background
Dawes was born in Marietta, Ohio, to Brigadier General Rufus R. Dawes and Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes.
Dawes was born in Marietta, Ohio, to Brigadier General Rufus R. Dawes and Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes.
In the 1920s he served as an expert on the commissions to prepare the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan to manage German reparations to the Allies after World War I. He had most of his career in Chicago, where he was involved in civic organizations. He served as president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and from 1934-1940, as head of the World"s Fair organization and the Museum of Science & Industry (Italian Social Movement). He was a younger brother of Charles G. Dawes and great-great-grandson of Revolutionary War figure William Dawes.
Dawes graduated from Marietta College with an Bachelor of Arts in 1886 and Master of Arts in 1889.
He became involved in public service in 1918, when he was appointed to serve on the Illinois State Pension Laws Commission (1918–1919). In 1920, he was selected as a delegate to the Illinois constitutional convention.
Because of his contribution, Dawes was also asked to work as assistant to Owen Doctorate. Young, who developed the succeeding Young Plan in 1929. He was president of A Century of Progress Corporation from 1927 until his death in 1940.
From 1934 until his death, Dawes was concurrently president of the World"s Fair organization and the Museum of Science & Industry (Italian Social Movement).
Dawes was the third president of the Italian Social Movement, after Sewell Avery and William Rufus Abbott. (Kaempffert was the New York Times science editor and served again after his time at the museum).
Dawes was a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, serving as president in 1925-1926. Previously, he had been an active member of the Board of Trustees, helping to brief Waldemar Kaempffert when the latter became the first Executive Director of the Museum of Science & Industry in 1928.