Born January 13, 1890

Aurora, Indiana

Died May 18, 1958

Washington, D.C.

Federal administrator, radio commentator, news reporter

"Our job at home is to give the American people the fullest possible understanding of what this war is about …not only to tell the American people how the war is going, but where it is going and where it came from."
Elmer Davis. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Elmer Davis, a popular national radio newscaster, became director of the newly formed Office of War Information (OWI), charged with coordinating government information about World War II's (1939–45) progress to the home front. It was a role that placed him in continual confrontation with U.S. military leaders concerning what the public had a right to know.

A Desire to Learn

Elmer Davis was born on January 13, 1890, in the southeast Indiana town of Aurora. He was raised in a...