Davis, Dwight

Davis, Dwight (Filley)

(1879–1945) public official, sportsman; born in St. Louis, Mo. While still a student at Harvard, he was the U.S. national doubles champion (1899–1901). Independently wealthy, in 1900 he donated the Davis Cup, a silver bowl awarded each year to the national team that wins the world's men's tennis championship. He was active in St. Louis affairs until World War I when he volunteered for military service. He was assistant secretary of war (1923–25) and the secretary of war (1925–29). As governor general of the Philippines (1929–32), he introduced various educational and economic reforms. A trustee of the Brookings Institution from its founding in 1927, he served as its chairman (1937–45).

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.