F. Trubee Davison
Encyclopedia
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
aviator, Assistant US Secretary of War, Director of Personnel for the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, and President of the American Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
.
Davison was the brother-in-law of Artemus Gates
Artemus Gates
Artemus Lamb Gates was an American businessman, naval aviator, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air in charge of naval aviation efforts in World War II . He also was briefly Undersecretary of the Navy...
and the son of Henry P. Davison
Henry P. Davison
Henry Pomeroy Davison, Sr. was an American banker and philanthropist.-Biography:He was born on June 12, 1867 in Troy, Pennsylvania, the oldest of the four children of Henrietta and George B. Davison. Henry's mother died when he was just eight years old in 1875...
. He graduated from Groton School and then attended Yale University as part of the class of 1918.; He was a member of Yale’s secret Skull & Bones
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones is an undergraduate senior or secret society at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. It is a traditional peer society to Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head, as the three senior class 'landed societies' at Yale....
Society. Davison was a founding member of the First Yale Unit
First Yale Unit
The First Yale Unit was started by then Yale sophomore F. Trubee Davison in 1915. The First Yale Unit is considered to be the first naval air reserve unit. Davison and 11 other Yale students were fascinated with the possibilities of aviation in general and of naval aviation specifically...
which began in 1916.
War Years
Davison was the founder of the First Yale UnitFirst Yale Unit
The First Yale Unit was started by then Yale sophomore F. Trubee Davison in 1915. The First Yale Unit is considered to be the first naval air reserve unit. Davison and 11 other Yale students were fascinated with the possibilities of aviation in general and of naval aviation specifically...
, which is considered to be the first naval air reserve unit. He founded the unit in 1916 in response to the war that was raging in Europe. Davison and a handful of other students from Yale feared that the United States would soon be dragged into the war effort and would find itself poorly prepared, especially in aviation. Davison told his mother that the government was "asleep at the switch." After consulting with John Hays Hammond Jr. and Henry Woodhouse, Davison decided to pull together a group of twelve from amongst Yale’s undergraduates to form a unit of flyboys that would possibly operate along the Atlantic Coast. Hammond and Admiral Peary of the American navy had worked out plans to develop a type of coast guard along the eastern shores that would operate from the air. They wanted to set up a series of seaplane stations which would each of a specific piece of territory to patrol. Trubee Davison took to this idea immediately and formed the Unit. In the First Yale Unit with him were Robert A. Lovett, John Vorys, John Farwell 3rd, Albert, Ditman, Wellesley Laud Brown, Artemus L. “Di” Gates, Erl Gould, Allan Ames, C. D. Wiman, A. D. Sturtevant, and H.P. Davison Jr. Davison and his friends began their aviation training privately with the help of pilot David McCulloch in the summer of 1916 while staying at the Davison’s house at Peacock Point. on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
.
Trubee also relied on the financial aid provided by his father, Henry P. Davison, and his friends in the form of flying boats and equipment for the Unit. Over the next year, F. Trubee Davison would fight tirelessly to have the Unit officially recognized by the U.S. navy making trips to Washington to speak to the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels. Turned down again and again, Trubee didn’t lose hope but instead became more persistent in his efforts to have the Unit trained under military conditions and to have all of the members earn their navy Wings so that they would be prepared to serve America at a moment’s notice. A short while after returning to the Yale campus, Davison learned that Lieutenant John H. Towers, a legendary pilot and the third ever to earn navy Wings, was in New York. Trubee went to speak with him and Towers was sympathetic to their cause and asked him to write a letter to Daniels telling him about their meeting. When he didn’t hear a response, Davison again contacted Towers and then went to Washington to meet with him. It was during this meeting that the he gained the approval of the U.S. Navy to have the Unit become part of the Naval Reserve and train in Palm Beach. Within five days Trubee Davison was off to Palm Beach along with the rest of the First Yale Unit to continue training as Naval Pilots.
On July 28, 1917, the F. Trubee Davison was set to take his flying test in order to obtain his navy wings. Having fainted only a short while before the test, Davison was not sure about whether or not he should fly but decided he felt well enough. During the flight, he lost control of his seaplane in a panic attack and spiralled into the sea, the impact of which split the plane in two. Davison was admitted to St. Luke’s hospital where he was diagnosed with a broken back and injured spinal cord. He would spend six weeks there. Davison never saw combat but was active in unit activities throughout the war and was awarded the Navy Cross for his services.
After the war
After the war, Trubee went back to Yale and, while rooming with fellow Unit member Di Gates, finished his undergraduate program graduating in 1919. In 1920, Trubee Davison married Dorothy Peabody, the daughter of the headmaster at Groton School where he had attended before attending Yale. After his father passed away Trubee and Dorothy built a house on the Davison estate, Peacock Point, in order to keep his mother company.Trubee proceeded to attend Columbia where he earned a Law Degree and then went on to work with White and Case, Manhattan lawyers.
Every year, Trubee held a reunion for the First Yale Unit in New York City in the summer and sometimes other naval aviators would attend as well original members.
He was on the cover of Time Magazine for the August issue in 1925.
Political life
Trubee was elected to the New York State legislature after the war where he gained a reputation as being one of the hardest-working members. In 1925, he became head of the unofficial Crime Commission, sponsored by Judge E. H. GaryElbert Henry Gary
Elbert Henry Gary was an American lawyer, county judge and corporate officer. He was a key founder of U.S. Steel in 1901, bringing together partners J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Charles M. Schwab. The city of Gary, Indiana, a steel town, was named for him when it was founded in 1906...
. In 1926, F. Trubee Davison was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Army to direct aviation by President Coolidge.
He was a Republican member from Nassau County
Nassau County, New York
Nassau County is a suburban county on Long Island, east of New York City in the U.S. state of New York, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,339,532...
of the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
from 1922 to 1926. He was Assistant U.S. Secretary of War for Aeronautics from July 1926 to March 1933. In 1932, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York
Lieutenant Governor of New York
The Lieutenant Governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of New York State. It is the second highest ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four year term...
with William J. Donovan, but they were defeated in a landslide by Democrats Herbert H. Lehman
Herbert H. Lehman
Herbert Henry Lehman was a Democratic Party politician from New York. He was the 45th Governor of New York from 1933 to 1942, and represented New York in the United States Senate from 1950 to 1957.-Lehman Brothers:...
and M. William Bray
M. William Bray
M. William Bray was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1933 to 1938.-Life:...
. He was an alternate delegate to the 1940 Republican National Convention
1940 Republican National Convention
The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of Indiana for President and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for Vice-President....
.
See also
- List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s
- List of Skull and Bones members