Davies, Joseph Edward (1876-1958)

Joseph Davies

Joseph Davies

American politician, diplomat and businessman. From 1936 to 1938, as U.S. Ambassador to the USSR, Davies facilitated the 1937 Soviet-American Trade Agreement and was able to establish amicable relations with the Soviet leadership. However, his dismissive attitude toward the Soviet purge trials alienated other American diplomats. In 1938-1939, Davies was U.S. Ambassador in Belgium and concurrently Minister in Luxemburg. He subsequently wrote a book, Mission to Moscow (1941), which was made into a movie in 1943. In 1940-1941, Davies was Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull. From 1942 to 1946, he was chairman of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s War Relief Control Board and advocated the opening by the Allies of a second front in Europe. In May and June of 1943, Davies was sent to the USSR as Roosevelt’s special envoy to Joseph Stalin.