Description

James John Davies was born in Tredegar, Wales, before emigrating with his parents to the United States in 1881 at the age of eight. Apprenticed as a puddler's assistant in a steel mill thereby acquiring his nickname. After stints as City Clerk in Elwood, Indiana, and Recorder of Madison County, Indiana he served as US Secretary of Labor from 1921 to 1930 under Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover. During his tenure, he focused on immigration (then a Labor Dept function), and established the United States Border Patrol. At the urging of the iron and steel workers union, he successfully urged U.S. Steel to abandon the 12-hour workday. He was later elected from Pennsylvania to the US Senate. In 1922 he published his autobiography, The Iron Puddler.