From 1939 to 1941, Americans listened to Elmer Davis describe the war in Europe and analyze its impact on their lives. When the United States entered World War II, Davis became head of the government agency charged with coordinating the release of all information about the war effort.

     Davis was born in Aurora, Indiana. His father was a bank clerk and his mother a school teacher, later a principal. He attended Franklin College, near Indianapolis, and graduated in 1910 with a B.A. He taught Latin for a year in a high school, then, as a Rhodes Scholar, he studied classics at Oxford University. When he graduated, he traveled across Europe and met the woman who later became his wife, Florence MacMillan of Boston. He settled in London to do postgraduate work and hoped for a career as a teacher of ancient history.

     But upon his father's death in 1913, Davis returned to the United States to take care of his mother. The two settled in New York City, and he began a career as a writer by working for Adventure Magazine. A year later, he became a reporter for the New York Times, where he worked his way up to foreign correspondent and later to editorial writer. He also wrote light fiction, including novels and short stories. In 1924 he became a full-time freelancer, writing both fiction and nonfiction. His journalistic articles appeared in many of the major magazines.

     War in Europe seemed inevitable by 1939. Davis, who had previously substituted briefly for the Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS) top commentator, H.V. Kaltenborn was asked to become a full-time news analyst for CBS. Two weeks later, World War II broke out. Soon, Davis was the third most popular commentator in the country, following Kaltenborn and Lowell Thomas. At the height of his popularity, his listeners numbered 12.5 million.

     When preparing his commentaries, Davis would look at the teletype and read the wire service news, but only take notes. He would then rewrite the material in his own style--concise and easy to understand. And he did some of his own reporting, interviewing political leaders and traveling to the scene. For example, he joined Edward R. Murrow, the CBS newsman, in England in 1941 for a month.

     Davis liked to think of his audience as being rational and gave them the relevant facts behind the story. His analysis was insightful and frequently sounded like plain old common sense, although he did have a tendency to refer to the ancient Greeks and Romans that he had studied in his youth. His most memorable characteristic was to ask a question, followed by a pause, then "Well-" and the answer. His Midwestern twang, dry sense of humor, and flat delivery seemed to reflect the average American voice and was reassuring to many.

     An admitted liberal, Davis was nevertheless not reluctant to criticize President Franklin Roosevelt. Davis favored the United States' remaining neutral during the war, but he had strong sympathies for the British. When Pearl Harbor brought America into the war in 1941, Davis became an ardent supporter of the war effort.

     In one of his commentaries, he complained that too many government agencies were turning out information about the war. Reporters didn't know where to go for facts; important information was withheld from the public; and confusing, conflicting stories were the result. Davis recommended that the president create an office to oversee all of these efforts. In 1942 Roosevelt offered him the job, and Davis accepted.

   The Office of War Information had the task of coordinating all national and international propaganda and the release of all news about the war to journalists. Davis favored getting as much information-including the negative-to the public as possible without violating security. When the military was reluctant to cooperate, President Roosevelt backed Davis up. Davis' lack of administrative experience led to some problems, but most journalists respected the efforts of one of their own to keep the news flowing during a difficult time.

     His approach to drumming up domestic support for the war was to ask the networks for voluntary cooperation. He preferred that propaganda be integrated into regular programming, rather than being broadcast through special programming or didactic speeches. And broadcasters agreed.

     When the war ended in 1945, Davis went to work for the new radio network, the American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), where he had a 15-minute program three times a week. He may have been motivated to move to ABC by a higher salary, but he also disliked CBS's policy that news analysts had to stick to the facts and not air their own opinions.

     Davis was one of the first people in the industry to attack Senator Joseph McCarthy, the powerful Republican from Wis­consin who had little tolerance for criticism. McCarthy believed that the country was threatened by communism, but Davis felt the dangers of McCarthyism to freedom of speech and freedom of thought were even greater. He wrote a best-selling book of essays on the topic, But We Were Born Free. During the 1952 elections, some stations dropped Davis' program, but at his peak he had 150 stations carrying his commentaries.

     In 1953 Davis had to retire from ABC because of his declin­ing health. A year later, he tried a weekly commentary for ABC TV but again had to stop because of poor health. He suffered a stroke and died in 1958.