Former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats named Davis as the fourth person – after Lech Walesa, Mikhail Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II – who had "the most critical role in bringing about the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe".

[9] John Roger Davis Jr was the Director of Eastern European Affairs at the US State Department when Polish General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law on Dec 13, 1981.

He cooperated closely with Professor Zbigniew Jaworski of the Central Lab for Radiological Protection during this period, and arranged an international deal for shipment by air of large quantities of powdered milk for Polish children to replenish strategic reserves which were rapidly being depleted.

Davis invited Walesa and Solidarity leaders Adam Michnik, Jacek Kuron and Janusz Onyszkiewicz for dinner with Whitehead.

Vice President Bush visited Poland on Sept 26, 1987, the day the official exchange of Ambassadors was agreed upon.

During his stay, Vice President Bush met with General Jaruzelski, who referred to Solidarity as “just a bunch of people that Davis is always inviting for dinner!”.

The Bush visit did not prompt the Polish government to lift the ban on Solidarity, but they did agree to Davis as the US Ambassador.

[17] As chargé, Davis shepherded the movement toward democracy along: hosting leaders of Solidarity in his residence,[10] dealing with matters regarding economic sanctions relief,[20] meeting with Lech Wałęsa after the latter won the Nobel Peace Prize that year,[21] and fostering bilateral cooperation in exchange for amnesty of dissidents.

[22] In October 1987, President Reagan nominated Davis to permanently hold the position of United States Ambassador to Poland.

[8] As ambassador, Davis continued his work with the democracy movement, cultivating a deeper relationship with Wałęsa,[25] helping bring Polish Round Table Agreement participants together, and increasing economic ties to the United States.

Recently declassified State Department documents detail Ambassador Davis’ analysis and participation in the historic events during Poland’s revolution.

[26] During the lead up to the Roundtable talks and afterwards, Davis and his embassy staff kept the President well informed, having nurtured ties both with their communist government counterparts and Solidarity leadership.

The embassy understood what the Round Table agreements and impending free elections meant:  an overwhelming victory for Solidarity.

[26] In this increasingly tense situation, Ambassador Davis met over dinner on June 22, 1989, with “some leading Solidarity legislators, who had better remain nameless”.

According to a secret cable sent the following day most Solidarity leaders felt that “If Jaruzelski is not elected president, there is a genuine danger of civil war ending …with a reluctant but brutal Soviet intervention”.

However, most Solidarity leaders had also pledged publicly not to vote for Jaruzelski, so they found themselves in a jam and came to Ambassador Davis looking for advice.

[26] By the end of June 1989, with President Bush’s visit rapidly approaching, the newly elected government had not yet settled the presidential crisis.

[26] On the evening of July 9, 1989, President Bush landed in Warsaw for a 2 day visit which included private meetings with General Jaruzelski and Lech Walesa, a reception at Ambassador Davis’ residence, and the historic opportunity to speak before the Polish parliament.

Deputy Bronislaw Geremek, who headed the Solidarity caucus, recalled it was only 2 years ago that the Bush’s had talked with members of Solidarity “right in this house, and even though at that time we heard words of hope, I believe that none of us at that time expected that we would meet in 2 years in a situation like the present” [1] It was a historic occasion, where “jailers and jailed” ate at the same table.

[26] Secretary of State James Baker cabled Davis on July 2, 1989 “The sensible advice, analysis and recommendations in Warsaw were timely, informative and right on target to the Washington audience concerned about developments in Poland.

On August 24, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, a long time Solidarity leader, was confirmed by the Sejm (the lower house of the Polish parliament) as prime minister and charged to create a government.

Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger responded by cable:  “Your next task is to promote and ensure the realization of economic prosperity in Poland, to include stable growth, full employment, low inflation, high productivity, and a Mercedes (or equivalent) in every garage”.

Davis ended his service in Poland in July 1990, at the impending appointment of his successor, Thomas W. Simons Jr.[29] Davis received the Distinguished Honor Award;the highest award the State Department confers, whose previous recipients include Philip Habib, Rozanne Ridgway and Lawrence Eagleburger.

In Nov 2019, former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said that “after Walesa, Gorbachev and John Paul II, the fourth person with the most critical role in bringing about the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe” is John Roger Davis Jr. Coats says “Ambassador Davis was a key participant in all of the events and much of the decision-making in Poland that led to the communist party retiring its flags and turning the central committee building into Poland’s first stock exchange.