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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Ellen Graham Bassell Davis |
| Address |
, New York , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
00, 1869
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| Died | July 13, 1943
(74 years)
|
| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Chronicler
Apr 18, 2009 06:51am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Born in Clarksburg WV c. 1869. Daughter of John & Martha L. Bassel. They moved to Long Island in 1918; their house there was hit by lightening and burned down a month before her death.
Second wife of John W. Davis, 1924 Democratic Presidential nominee.
After her marriage Ellen Graham Bassell became Mrs. John W. Davis. Twelve years later she became the wife of a nominee. As such she now figures.
Like her husband, or perhaps because of her husband, she has not abstained from politics. But the politics of which she partakes is not the kind of politics which her husband pursues. John W. Davis is the son of the late John J. Davis, who was for long a political leader in West Virginia. The son marched into politics along the practical path followed by his father. He marched into the House of Representatives.
It was at this point that Ellen Graham Bassell appeared on the scene, to become the second Mrs. Davis. Said Town Topics: "In entertaining small talk she is the equal of John William himself, certainly of Robert Lansing, and is entirely comparable to the second Mrs. Woodrow Wilson." Besides, she had the reputation of patronizing the best dressmakers in Washington. What is more, Mrs. Davis hits it off quite as well with Mrs. Lansing as her husband did with Mrs. Lansing's husband. The Lansings introduced the Davis's to Washington's inner circle. Then Mr. Lansing spoke well of Mr. Davis to Woodrow Wilson. From then on, Mr. Davis's rise was steady and only semipolitical in character.
Now the Davis star has turned purely political once more. No longer can Mr. Davis be advanced by a well-pleased leader. To win this Fall, he must please a crowd of, say, 15,000,000 people not all of whom can belong to the socially elite. So politicians are beginning to question: "Is the nominee's wife a political asset?"
She indulges in politics as a member of the Women's Democratic Union. Some of her co-members include Mrs. John Blair, Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson, Mrs. James W. Gerard, Mrs. Norman H. Davis, Mrs. Abram I. Elkus, Mrs. Montgomery Hare, Mrs. David F. Houston, Mrs. Pierre Jay, Miss Amey Aldrich, and Mrs. Frank L. Polk. These are the very aristocracy of politics. Most of them have slid into the game because of wealth or husbands. These are quite a different set from the gang of women who go out and get votes and bring them home to the Party.
The woman who was Vice Chairman of the Democratic Convention, Miss May Kennedy, was not one of Mrs. Davis's intimates; she was a little worker who had gone into the Bronx and brought out votes for Tammany. During the same period, Mrs. Davis was on a committee which showed up the iniquities of the Republican tariff by an "exhibit." In the exhibit, mannequins ambled about dressed in imported gowns (or their equivalent) with jewels, silk stockings, slippersāa complete costume and everything price-marked. By contrast, another part of the exhibit showed what the same articles would cost under a Democratic tariff. Mrs. Davis was not one of the mannequins.
A woman politician was reported as remarking: "Mr. Davis is a diplomat. Nothing in the whole political problem facing him will need more skill than the handling of his sensitive women constituents, his friends and his wife's friends on the one hand, Tammany Hall and its numerous voters on the other. When the women's campaign committees for New York City are appointed the world will see how good a politician Mr. Davis is."
[Link] ; NYT 7/14/1943 |
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