Background
Davis was born in Cleveland, Ohio in the Newburgh area to Evan and Barbara Jones Davis.
Davis was born in Cleveland, Ohio in the Newburgh area to Evan and Barbara Jones Davis.
He served as the 38th and 44th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and as the 49th Governor of Ohio. At age thirteen, he left school to work in the steel mills, studying at home and night school. He became a solicitor for the Cleveland Telephone Company at age twenty-one and later founded the Davis Rate Adjustment Company, selling telephone securities and the Harry L. Davis Company, selling insurance.
In 1909, Davis was elected Republican city treasurer.
As the city"s new mayor, Davis established the Mayor"s Advisory War Committee in 1917 to aid the American effort in World War I. His work gained national recognition. Mayor Davis also had to deal with the communist May Day Riots of 1919 and the bombing of his home by communist agitators.
The Red Scare presented a new set of dilemmas. Davis responded to the outrages by campaigning for the expulsion of all "Bolsheviks" from America.
Since 1919 was an election year, Davis resigned from the mayorship and went on to successfully campaign for governor of Ohio.
While in office, Davis restructured the executive branch to include a cabinet of seven directors to help administer state affairs Davis did not run again in 1922, but rather 1924, when he was soundly defeated by incumbent A. Victor Donahey. Davis later returned to Cleveland and became a strong opponent of the city manager plan.
He later served again as mayor from 1934 to 1935.