Early life
Davis was born in Skinhead, a rural community nearWork at Alabama Polytechnic Institute
After becoming editor, Davis became involved with radio broadcasting. Birmingham News publisher Victor Hanson offered API $2,500 to establish a radio station to provide educational information to farmers and other audiences. Davis recalled to then-Auburn University president Ralph Brown Draughon that the donation was not enough to purchase broadcast equipment or operate the station daily. Then-Alabama Extension Director Luther Duncan feared negative publicity if they refused the donation. Davis, as the institution's editor and publicist, was assigned the task of securing funds and personnel to operate the station, WMAV, which was installed on the evening of February 22, 1923. The Extension Service had spent far more than the initial $2,500 donation. "We pecked and struggled as best we could with the equipment that was almost obsolete by the time it was installed," he recalled.Davis, P.O., "Radio Station WAPI; a history as told in a letter to Dr. Ralph B. Draughon from Mr. P. O. Davis, November 25, 1961," Auburn University Special Collections. After acquiring new equipment, Davis moved the facility to Comer Hall and acquired new call letters: WAPI. Davis also worked with agents to organize radio listening parties for audiences throughout the state. After unsuccessful attempts to affiliate with a national network — NBC or CBS — Davis moved the station to Birmingham after securing a pledge from city officials to provide half of the annual operating costs, totaling approximately $20,000. Davis also negotiated an arrangement with thePublicist and executive secretary
While serving as WAPI general manager, Davis continued his duties as editor of the Extension Service and the Experiment Station. His work as an Extension agricultural editor served as a model for Extension programs in other states seeking to reach farmers and other audiences through print and broadcast media. Many of Davis' staff people worked with farm-related publications, agencies, and businesses. Records show that in 1925, he traveled almost 14,000 miles by train and more than 3,300 miles by car to carry out his work. Colleagues of Davis recall that he often corrected grammatical errors in reports and other documents, even after he became Extension director.Extension director
From 1933 to 1936, he also served Alabama Extension as executive secretary and registrar. Following predecessor Luther Duncan's appointment as API president in 1937, Davis was appointed director of the Alabama Extension Service, becoming the longest tenured director in Alabama Extension history. Davis was considered an idealist who was less politically motivated than Duncan. Some criticized Davis for not identifying closely enough with farmers, while others viewed him as an extrovert with communicative and organizational skills. Davis's leadership during the Great Depression and through the war years allowed him to influence federal legislation throughout the Roosevelt years. Davis was a public speaker, sharing his views on the future of agriculture and Extension's educational mission throughout the South and the nation. Davis also expanded Alabama Extension's presence in print and broadcast media. He developed working relationships with Alabama newspapers and with farm home publications. Extension educational broadcasts were aired six days a week on most broadcast outlets in Alabama. In addition, Davis launched "This Month in Rural Alabama," an 8-page tabloid that ran as an insert in 97 Alabama weekly newspapers, with a publishing run of 100,000 weekly copies.Davis, P.O., "We Must Reach More People: An Editorial," Auburn University Special Collections, Auburn University, Alabama.Views on industrialization
Davis was concerned by the farm surpluses associated with improved cotton farming methods, as well as the region's reliance on the crop.Davis, P.O., "The Years Ahead in Home Demonstration Work," Speech to the Home Demonstration Agents' Annual Meeting, Mobile, Alabama, March 2, 1956, Agriculture and Extension Work, Part III, The Extension Service of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama, August, 1956. He advocated for farm diversification. "It is plain to me that cotton, upon which we are relying very largely for money income, must have help," wrote Davis in 1937. "It is also plain that livestock and poultry are cotton's best helpers."Davis, P.O., Agriculture: Its Background, Its Achievements, Its Organization, Its Challenge, Its Future," Extension Service, API, Auburn, Alabama. A lifelong Democrat member who maintained a working relationship with the Roosevelt Administration, Davis feared the social and cultural effects of industrialization, reflected in the growing number of Americans who were working for employers. "So, individual freedom as our ancestor knew it is largely gone because one who works for another is not exactly free in the sense that one is who finances his business and works for himself," Davis stated late in his Extension career. He believed that farmers, along with small storekeepers and small businessmen, were essential to preserving freedom in America, because they were "part capitalist and part worker."Davis, P.O., "Cooperatives in Alabama Agriculture," Address to Alabama Cooperatives, July 21, 1951, Agriculture and Extension Work, Part III, The Extension Service of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama, August, 1956. This Jeffersonian mindset accounts for his interest in and sympathy for the Farm Bureau concept, as Davis believed that Farm Bureaus would enable farmers to withstand the influence of big government and big business.Davis, P.O., "Facing the Future Together," Address to Alabama Farm Bureau Training School, Auburn, Alabama, July 30, 1952, Agriculture and Extension Work, Part III, The Extension Service of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama, August, 1956.Clash with Jim Folsom
Davis's goal of building up Extension to reach as many rural Alabamians as possible was criticized by people such as Gov. James E. "Big Jim" Folsom, who maintained that this focus often came at the expense of other agencies. As ex-officio chairman of the API Board of Trustees, Folsom filed charges at a trustees meeting February 21, 1947, claiming that Alabama agriculture had declined partly because of Davis' mismanagement of Extension. Folsom also alleged that Extension failed to cooperate with other state and federal farm agencies, controlled the Alabama Farm Bureau, and was too politically engaged. Davis was cleared by the trustees, who commended him for his work.Retirement
In the 1940s, there was a dispute between Davis and Elbert H. Norton, state school superintendent, to succeed Luther Duncan as API president, who had died in 1947. Davis retired in 1959 and was succeeded by E. T. York. He spent the last few years of his life compiling a genealogy of the Davis family and serving on several professional and charitable boards. He also served as president of the Alabama Writers Council from 1962-63. Among his honors, Progressive Farmer magazine voted him "Man of the Year" in Agriculture and the American Farm Bureau awarded him a medal and certificate in 1945. He was also listed in Who's Who in America for 1952-53.Notes