P. O. Davis


Posey Oliver "P.O." Davis was an American educator, administrator, agricultural editor, and broadcaster. He served as director of the Alabama Extension Service for the longest term in the organization's history. During the 1940s and 1950s, Davis was an advocate for farming and Cooperative Extension work.

Early life

Davis was born in Skinhead, a rural community near Athens, Alabama, on August 15, 1890, to Richard Scoggins Davis and Mildred Elizabeth Barker. Before his death, Davis recounted that his family had settled in Skinhead after being displaced from McMinn County, Tennessee, during the Civil War.
After working as a public school teacher from 1909 to 1912, Davis enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn, Alabama, graduating in 1916. After graduating, Davis worked as a horticulturist for the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station before taking a job as an agriculturist with Southern Railway. He also worked briefly as an assistant boys' club agent.
In 1918, Davis married Mildred Kilburn of Florence, Alabama. Later, he worked briefly for Progressive Farmer before returning to Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1920, where he was an agricultural editor for the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station and the Alabama Extension Service.

Work at Alabama Polytechnic Institute

In 1922, API was offered $2,500 to establish an educational radio station for farmers by Birmingham News publisher Victor Hanson. Ralph Brown Draughon, then the university president, recalled Davis mentioning that the donation was not enough to fund either broadcast or operational costs. The Alabama Extension Director at the time, Luther Duncan, feared they would receive negative publicity if they rejected the donation.
Davis, the institution’s editor and publicist, was tasked with securing funding and personnel to operate WMAV, a station installed in February 1923. Ultimately, the Extension Service spent significantly more than the initial $2,500 donation.
After acquiring new equipment, API moved to Comer Hall and acquired a new call sign: WAPI. Davis worked with agents to organize radio listening parties throughout the state.
After unsuccessful attempts at affiliation with national networks such as NBC or CBS, Davis relocated the station to Birmingham, where city officials agreed to cover approximately half of the station's annual operating costs, estimated at $20,000.
Davis also negotiated with the University of Alabama and Alabama College at Montevallo to operate the station in partnership with API as a cost-cutting measure.
This remained in effect until the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, when the city withdrew the deal, forcing Davis to lease the station.
WAPI provided the three institutions with a broadcast presence and provided what they describe as a "nice annual return on their investments" from approximately 1922 to 1961.

Publicist and executive secretary

While WAPI general manager, Davis continued as editor of the Extension Service and the Experiment Station. His work as an agricultural editor informed other states' Extension programs, usually intended to target farmers through print and broadcast media.

Extension director

From 1933 to 1936, he served as executive secretary and registrar. After Luther Duncan was appointed API president in 1937, Davis became the longest tenured director of the Alabama Extension Service.
Some criticized Davis for his idealism and lack of understanding of other farmers, while others viewed him as an extrovert with strong skills. He was a prolific public speaker, speaking about his views on the future of agriculture and the Extension's educational mission.
Davis developed working relationships with Alabama newspapers and farm home publications. Extension educational broadcasts were aired six days a week across 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.

Views on industrialization

Davis was concerned by the regional reliance and farm surpluses associated with improved cotton farming methods. He felt crops should be diversified and stated in 1937, "It is plain to me that cotton, upon which we are relying very largely for money income, must have help", suggesting poultry and livestock as good options for farmers.
Davis was a member of the US Democratic Party and feared the wider societal effects of industrialization. He stated that these effects were clearly visible by the growing number of professionally employed Americans and that "individual freedom" was "largely gone because one who works for another is not exactly free", and he advocated for traditional workers.
He believed that small business owners, such as farmers and shopkeepers, were essential to preserving freedom in America because they were "part capitalist and part worker". This Jeffersonian mindset heavily influenced his sympathy for the Farm Bureau concept, believing they would enable farmers to withstand big government and big business.

Clash with Jim Folsom

Alabama Governor Jim Folsom criticized Davis's goal of building up Extension to reach as many rural Alabamians as possible, maintaining 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 on February 21, 1947. He claimed that Alabama agriculture had declined partly because of Davis's mismanagement of the Extension.
Folsom also alleged that the Extension failed to cooperate with other farm agencies, claiming a conflict of interest had occurred because of Davis's political beliefs. 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, over the succession of Luther Duncan as API president.
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 to 1963.
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.