Background
Richard Harding Davis was born in 1864. He was the son of Rebecca Harding Davis, American famous novelist, and L. Clarke Davis, editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Richard Harding Davis was born in 1864. He was the son of Rebecca Harding Davis, American famous novelist, and L. Clarke Davis, editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Davis's childhood was for the most part idyllic; Davis divided his time between private school and tutors, never fully caring about his studies. He attended both Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins University. In both cases, he paid more attention to his social and extra-curricular life than to his academics, and Davis was therefore asked to leave both schools.
Davis attended Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins University.
Davis's father landed him a job at the Philadelphia Record, but he was quickly fired. Things came relatively easy for Davis, however, and he soon found work at the Philadelphia Press. He didn’t stay long, accepting a more lucrative position at the New York Evening Sun, where he would establish his melodramatic style and earn a modest degree of fame as a reporter who covered such controversial subjects as abortion, execution, and suicide.
Always ambitious for more recognition, Davis began writing short stories in addition to his reporting duties. His first published effort, Gallegher and Other Stories, appeared in 1891. This volume earned Davis more notoriety. Encouraged and eager for more attention, from 1891 to 1894, Davis continued his literary efforts, publishing several volumes of short stories as well as travel books. During this time, Davis fielded many job offers from magazines. He accepted what he felt was the most lucrative one - working as the editor of Harper’s Weekly.
While Davis enjoyed the perks involved with his new editorial post at Harper’s, he wasn’t prepared for the workload. In 1895, the magazine’s publishers and Davis agreed to split amicably, and Davis left to pursue his idealized notion of conquering the world.
Back in America, Davis returned his attention to his literary career. He published an ambitious novel in 1902, Captain Macklin, which was received without much fanfare. From there, Davis turned his attention to the theater. In 1904, his first two plays, Ranson’s Folly and The Dictator were produced, once again earning Davis fame and fortune. He followed up these efforts with two more plays in 1905, The Galloper and Miss Civilization. These dramatic successes allowed Davis the opportunity to once again travel and enjoy a luxurious lifestyle.
The early 1900s also saw Davis plagued by concerns about money. While his new wife was an accomplished stage actress, Davis would not allow her to work. Thus, he was the sole provider and was soon traveling abroad in an effort to earn enough money to keep up with his lavish lifestyle. In 1914, Davis went to Mexico to cover the conflict with America. This would not last long, as World War II came to fruition and Davis was sent to France to cover the war.
His coverage of the war is considered some of his best work, and he returned to America in 1915 with a new, enlightened perspective. He would enjoy this transformation for only a short period of time, however. In April of 1916, Davis passed away at the age of fifty-two, leaving behind a young wife and baby.
Davis was conservative in his politics.
David was chauvinistic in his patriotism, imperialistic in his world view, and carelessly, unthinkingly bigoted in his notions of caste and race.
Davis always possessed a romanticized idea about foreign affairs, especially when it came to war. Beginning in 1898, he would cover every war during the course of his career. His first was the Spanish American War, which he covered extensively for the New York Herald.
Davis’s next war coverage would be of the Boer War in South Africa, which he reported for both the New York Herald and London’s Daily Mail. Davis sided with the Boers, who were Dutch settlers, over the British, and condemned the British for their shoddy treatment of the local people. As passionately as Davis had sided with the Boers, he now turned his back on them.
World War I changed Davis’s perspective about war considerably. The romanticism of war lifted from his view, he discovered in the trenches new reverence for human life, new regard for the sufferings of his fellow creatures, and a great, if unsophisticated regard for beauty. This new consciousness made Davis not only a better human being, but a better writer.
Davis was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
While he inherited much of his talent from his literary mother, Rebecca Blaine Davis, Richard’s personal style was all his own. A flamboyant self-promoter, Davis covered almost every war that occurred during his career. While much of his early writing was considered weak and biased, Davis experienced a transformation during World War I. Not only would it affect him personally, but this transformation would also improve his writing. Thus, it was in the last years of his life that this literary figure came to terms with the greed and self-absorption that had navigated his early career.
His death was ill-timed, as it seemed that Davis had just come to grips with his inner demons, and could have had a steady stream of successes for years to come. Regardless of his personality quirks, he was an ambitious and driven man. His coverage of numerous wars provided the world with a view of the front-line action in a time when there was no access to television or cable news networks.
Richard's divorce, coupled with his mother’ death in 1910, left Davis in a deep depression. This depression would mark the beginning of a personal transformation in Davis.
Physical Characteristics: Davis was not only a popular writer but also an icon in the public eye. His fashion sense and gentlemanly manner were used as a model for others. The popular illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, whose “Gibson girl” typified the ideal of American female beauty at the turn of the century, illustrated some of Davis’ stories and appropriated Davis as a model. Davis’ square-jawed, clean-shaven likeness, seen in proximity with many lovely women in Gibson’s sketches, is widely credited with contributing to the sudden unpopularity of beards and mustaches.
Quotes from others about the person
“Davis was prepared for this new position neither by talent not by disposition, and while he improved the Harper’s Weekly coverage of theater and sports - topics of which he was found - he soon preferred the romance of the traveler’s life to the confines of the editor’s chair. He spent more than half of 1892 outside New York spending the next year traveling the Mediterranean basin.” - John C. Bromley
“Davis did as much as any man to make Roosevelt a hero and then president. Critical at times of U.S. leadership, Davis was never critical of his country’s cause in Cuba. Davis was not a man of great complexity, and in him simple faith ran both deep and pure.” - John C. Bromley
“Davis had failed to see the Boer War as a white man’s struggle over land and riches properly belonging to blacks, and, with the war still unsettled, he left South Africa to return to America.” - John C. Bromley
During his time in Cuba, Davis befriended Theodore Roosevelt, then a leader of the Rough Riders. Davis basically followed Roosevelt around Cuba, covering the war in an incredibly unbiased fashion.
Davis was married twice, first to Cecil Clark, an artist, in 1899, and after their divorce in 1912, he was married to Bessie McCoy, an actress and vaudeville performer. Davis and Bessie had a daughter, Hope.