Peter Davis

Peter Frank Davis born January 2 1937 is an American documentary filmmaker journalist and author best known for Hearts and Minds 1974 his Academy Awardwinning film examining American involvement in the Vietnam War Born in Santa Monica California to screenwriters Frank Davis and Tess Slesinger Davis graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1957 and began his career in journalism working briefly for The New York Times before moving into television documentary production In the 1960s and early 1970s Davis worked at CBS News where he produced and directed investigative documentaries on subjects including poverty racism student unrest and US military policy His 1971 film The Selling of the Pentagon won a Peabody Award After leaving CBS he directed Hearts and Minds which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and became a landmark work of Vietnam Warera filmmaking Davis later created the Middletown series for PBS produced the Emmywinning film JACK 1993 with his son Nick Davis and continued to write and produce nonfiction work He is also the author of several books including Hometown Where Is Nicaragua and If You Came This Way