Martin L. Davey

Martin Luther Davey ( born July 25, 1884 in Kent, Ohio, † March 31, 1946 ) was an American politician and from 1935 to 1939 the 53th Governor of the state of Ohio.

Early years and political rise

Martin Davey attended until 1906, the Oberlin Academy and then Oberlin College. Then he went into the nursery business of his father. In 1909 he became manager in 1923 and president of the Davey Tree Export Company. He also participated in the real estate business.

As a member of the Democratic Party, he was 1913-1918 Mayor of Kent and 1918-1921 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. From 1923 to 1929 he was again in the Congress. In 1932 and 1940 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, in which each Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated as a presidential candidate. In 1928, he competed unsuccessfully against Myers Y. Cooper to the Office of the Governor of Ohio. In the gubernatorial election of 1934, he then managed with 51.1 percent of the vote to win election to Republican Clarence J. Brown.

Governor of Ohio

Martin Davey took up his new post on 17 January 1935. After a re-election in 1936 he was able to exercise it until 9 January 1939. His reign was marred by conflicts with the Legislature ( House and Senate from Ohio) and the Federal Government under President Roosevelt. The dispute with the Legislature was sparked by the governor's special requests for luxury items for setting up the governor villa or the purchase of an expensive sedan. Deputies and senators opposed the funding of these items as unnecessary and exaggerated. The governor rejected the objects concerned anyway and billed it on the budget of the National Guard. As their commander in chief, he believed he had the right to do so. With the dismissal of an overseer of the prison he let his house by the National Guard vacate and asked him the furniture on the street. Despite these negative circumstances Davey managed to be re-elected in 1936, where he defeated John W. Bricker. The reason for this was the abolition of taxes on food, which the legislature resisted, but was well received by the population.

The conflict with President Roosevelt began six weeks after taking office, 1935. Davey described the New Deal policies of President for Ohio as cruel, inhumane and wasteful. The federal government threw an action before the governor waste of federal money. The conflict dragged on through Davey's entire reign, and rested only during the gubernatorial election campaign in 1936. Regardless of these events, the schools were financially better support, improved the pension system and introduced unemployment insurance in Davey's tenure. Nevertheless, the infighting led to the Roosevelt administration in 1938 to the fact that the Democratic Party of Ohio, supported by the Federal Party and the federal government, Davey not nominated for another term. Then he had to leave his post in January 1939. The Democrats nominated Charles W. Sawyer as their candidate. Davey refused to give him his support and has, though not officially, the Republican candidate John W. Bricker supported.

Further CV

In 1940 he was again nominated by the Democrats for another term as governor. Many Democrats had not forgiven him for his behavior towards the Federal government and with Charles Sawyer and chose largely Republican Bricker. Davey suffered by one of the all-time high electoral defeats in gubernatorial elections of Ohio. After he retired from politics and devoted himself to his private business. He died in 1946 in Kent. Martin Davey was married to Berenice Chrisman, with whom he had three children.

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