His ABC radio broadcasts were Edward Murrow's counterparts during the McCarthy era, when the New York Times called his patriotism "unassailable". Among his honors are honorary degrees from Franklin College, Franklin and Marshall College, Swarthmore, Wabash College, and St. Lawrence University. A George Foster Peabody Radio Award recipient (1951), he also was awarded the US Medal of Merit. The Indiana Society of Professional Journalists made Elmer Davis a member of their Hall of Fame on June 25, 1974.

His book But We Were Born Free (1954) was a surprise best-seller. E.B. White's review of the book for the New Yorker read: "[Davis] is over 60 and his doctor wants him to taper off. Even a tapered off Davis is worth ten of most men. He has spent his life tending the twin fires of liberty and justice in the drafty rooms of politics."