48 Facts About Frank Murphy

William Francis Murphy was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Michigan.

Frank Murphy was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving as United States Attorney General, 35th Governor of Michigan, and Mayor of Detroit.

Frank Murphy served as the last Governor-General of the Philippines and the first High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Frank Murphy served as Mayor of Detroit from 1930 to 1933.

Frank Murphy returned home in 1936 and defeated incumbent Republican Governor Frank Fitzgerald in and served a single term as Governor of Michigan.

Frank Murphy lost re-election to Fitzgerald in 1938 and accepted an appointment as the United States Attorney General the following year.

Frank Murphy was born in Harbor Beach, Michigan, in 1890.

Frank Murphy followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a lawyer.

Frank Murphy attended the University of Michigan Law School, and graduated with a BA in 1912 and an LLB in 1914.

Frank Murphy was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and the senior society Michigamua.

Frank Murphy was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1914, after which he clerked with a Detroit law firm for three years.

Frank Murphy then served with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I, achieving the rank of captain with the occupation army in Germany before leaving the service in 1919.

Frank Murphy did his graduate work at Lincoln's Inn in London and Trinity College, Dublin, which was said to be formative for his judicial philosophy.

Frank Murphy developed a need to decide cases based on his more holistic notions of justice, eschewing technical legal arguments.

Frank Murphy was appointed and took the oath of office as the first Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan on August 9,1919.

Frank Murphy was one of three assistant attorneys in the office.

When Frank Murphy began his career as a federal attorney, the workload of the attorney's office was increasing at a rapid rate, mainly because of the number of prosecutions resulting from the enforcement of national prohibition.

Frank Murphy practiced law privately to a limited extent while still a federal attorney, and resigned his position as a United States attorney on March 1,1922.

Frank Murphy had several offers to join private practices, but decided to go it alone and formed a partnership with Edward G Kemp in Detroit.

Frank Murphy ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for the United States Congress in 1920, when national and state Republicans swept Michigan, but used his legal reputation and growing political connections to win a seat on the Recorder's Court, Detroit's criminal court.

Frank Murphy was a presiding judge in the famous murder trials of Dr Ossian Sweet and his brother, Henry Sweet, in 1925 and 1926.

Frank Murphy's rulings were material to the outcome of the case.

In 1930, Frank Murphy ran as a Democrat and was elected Mayor of Detroit.

Frank Murphy served from 1930 to 1933, during the first years of the Great Depression.

Frank Murphy presided over an epidemic of urban unemployment, a crisis in which 100,000 were unemployed in the summer of 1931.

Frank Murphy named an unemployment committee of private citizens from businesses, churches, and labor and social service organizations to identify all residents who were unemployed and not receiving welfare benefits.

In 1933, Frank Murphy convened in Detroit and organized the first convention of the United States Conference of Mayors.

Frank Murphy served in that position from 1932 until 1933.

Frank Murphy was sympathetic to the plight of ordinary Filipinos, especially the land-hungry and oppressed tenant farmers, and emphasized the need for social justice.

In 1938, Frank Murphy was defeated by his predecessor, Fitzgerald, who became the only governor of Michigan to precede, and then succeed, the same person.

Frank Murphy established a Civil Liberties Unit in the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice, designed to centralize enforcement responsibility for the Bill of Rights and civil rights statutes.

One year after becoming Attorney General, on January 4,1940, Frank Murphy was nominated by President Roosevelt as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy caused by the death of Pierce Butler the previous November.

Frank Murphy was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 16, and sworn in on February 5,1940.

Frank Murphy served as the executive officer to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army George C Marshall.

Frank Murphy took an expansive view of individual liberties, and the limitations on government he found in the Bill of Rights.

Frank Murphy authored 199 opinions: 131 for the majority, 68 in dissent.

Frank Murphy has been acclaimed as a legal scholar and a champion of the common man, but Justice Felix Frankfurter disparagingly nicknamed Murphy "the Saint", criticizing his decisions as being rooted more in passion than reason.

On January 30,1944, almost exactly one year before Soviet liberation of the Auschwitz death camp on January 27,1945, Justice Frank Murphy unveiled the formation of the National Committee Against Nazi Persecution and Extermination of the Jews.

Frank Murphy was among 12 nominated at the 1944 Democratic National Convention to serve as Roosevelt's running mate in the presidential election that year.

Frank Murphy acted as chairman of the National Committee against Nazi Persecution and Extermination of the Jews and of the Philippine War Relief Committee.

Frank Murphy died in his sleep at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit on July 19,1949, of a coronary thrombosis at the age of 59.

Frank Murphy is buried in Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic Cemetery in Sand Beach Township, Michigan, near Harbor Beach.

Frank Murphy is honored with a museum in his home town, Harbor Beach, Michigan.

The Frank Murphy Museum is open during the summer months, by appointment.

Frank Murphy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law degree by the University of Michigan in 1939.

For more than 40 years, Edward G Kemp was Frank Murphy's devoted, trusted companion.

Frank Murphy did have at least two female companions of note.

At the time of his death, Frank Murphy was engaged to Joan Cuddihy; the wedding was scheduled for the following month.