Dwight Filley Davis was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 5, 1879. He attended Harvard University and graduated in 1900. An accomplished tennis player, Davis played at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships for singles in 1898 and 1899. With his partner, Holcombe Ward, he won the doubles championships in 1899, 1900, and 1901 at the same tournament. In 1900, Davis and three friends developed the structure for an international tennis competition. He bought a silver trophy and donated it to the competition. The trophy bears his name (the "Davis Cup"), and they established a premier international team event in men's tennis. He was a runner up in doubles at Wimbledon in 1901 and participated in the 1904 summer Olympics. 

Davis graduated from Washington University Law School in 1903. In St. Louis, he served as delegate to the city commission (1907-1909), parks commissioner (1911-1915), and on the executive committee of the National Municipal League (1908-1912). At the start of World War I, Davis joined the Missouri National Guard and saw action in France, earning the French Legion of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery under fire in 1917. 

An unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1920, Davis was appointed to the War Finance Corporation in 1921 and became assistant secretary of war from 1923 to 1925. On President Calvin Coolidge's succession to office, Davis became secretary of war (1925-1929). He served as governor general of the Philippines from 1929 to 1932 during President Herbert Hoover's administration. Davis died on November 28, 1945, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.