Frank Murphy

Frank Murphy
Official portrait, 1940s
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office
February 5, 1940[1] – July 19, 1949[1]
Nominated byFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byPierce Butler
Succeeded byTom C. Clark
56th United States Attorney General
In office
January 2, 1939 – January 18, 1940
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byHomer Stille Cummings
Succeeded byRobert H. Jackson
35th Governor of Michigan
In office
January 1, 1937 – January 1, 1939
LieutenantLeo J. Nowicki
Preceded byFrank Fitzgerald
Succeeded byFrank Fitzgerald
1st High Commissioner to the Philippines
In office
November 15, 1935 – December 31, 1936
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJ. Weldon Jones (Acting)
Governor General of the Philippine Islands
In office
July 15, 1933 – November 15, 1935
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byTheodore Roosevelt Jr.
Succeeded byManuel L. Quezon (President)
55th Mayor of Detroit
In office
September 23, 1930 – May 10, 1933
Preceded byCharles Bowles
Succeeded byFrank Couzens
1st President of the United States Conference of Mayors
In office
1932–1933
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJames Michael Curley
Associate Judge of the Detroit Recorder’s Court
In office
January 1, 1924 – August 19, 1930[2][3]
Preceded byseat established[4][5]
Succeeded byJohn P. Scallen[6]
Personal details
Born
William Francis Murphy

(1890-04-13)April 13, 1890
Harbor Beach, Michigan, U.S.
DiedJuly 19, 1949(1949-07-19) (aged 59)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Resting placeOur Lady of Lake Huron Catholic Cemetery, Harbor Beach, Huron County, Michigan
Political partyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Michigan (BA, LLB)
Military service
AllegianceUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1917–1919 (active)
1942 (reserve)
RankLieutenant Colonel
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II

William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890 – July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer, and jurist from Michigan. He 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. He also served as the last Governor-General of the Philippines and the first High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Born in "The Thumb" region of Michigan, Murphy graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1914. After serving in the United States Army during World War I, he served as a federal attorney and trial judge. He served as Mayor of Detroit from 1930 to 1933. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him among the ten best mayors in American history.[7] In 1933 he was appointed as Governor-General of the Philippine Islands. He returned home in 1936 and defeated incumbent Republican governor Frank Fitzgerald in the 1936 Michigan gubernatorial election and served a single term as Governor of Michigan. Murphy lost re-election to Fitzgerald in 1938 and accepted an appointment as the United States Attorney General the following year.

In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Murphy to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Pierce Butler. Murphy served on the Court from 1940 until his death in 1949, and was succeeded by Tom C. Clark. Murphy wrote the Court's majority opinion in SEC v. W. J. Howey Co., and wrote a dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United States.

  1. ^ a b "Justices 1789 to Present". Washington, D.C.: Supreme Court of the United States. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  2. ^ Fine, Sidney (October 21, 1969). Sit-Down: The General Motors Strike of 1936-1937. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472329489.
  3. ^ Vander Hill, Warner, C. Warren, Robert Mark (1974). Michigan Reader: 1865 to the Present. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802870308.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Morris-Crowther, Jayne (March 15, 2013). The Political Activities of Detroit Clubwomen in the 1920s. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814338162.
  5. ^ [Boyle, Kevin (April 2007). Arc of Justice - A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age. Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9781429900164.
  6. ^ The American Catholic Who's Who: Volume 5; Volumes 7-9; Volumes 11-20 (1960–1961)
  7. ^ Melvin G. Holli, The American Mayor: The Best and the Worst Big-City Leaders (Pennsylvania State UP, 1999), p. 4–11.