Francis P. Murphy

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Francis Parnell Murphy

|image = Francis Parnell Murphy.jpg

|order1 = 64th

|office1 = Governor of New Hampshire

|term_start1 = January 7, 1937

|term_end1 = January 2, 1941

|lieutenant1 =

|predecessor1= Styles Bridges

|successor1 = Robert O. Blood

|office2 = Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives

|birth_date = {{birth date|1877|08|16}}

|birth_place = Winchester, New Hampshire, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1958|12|19|1877|08|16}}

|death_place = Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.

|party = Republican (1931–1941)
Democratic (1942–1958)

|spouse =

|profession =

}}

Francis Parnell Murphy (August 16, 1877 – December 19, 1958) was an American manufacturer and politician from Nashua, New Hampshire. He served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives and on the Governor's Council before serving as the 64th governor of New Hampshire from 1937 to 1941.

Murphy supported Roosevelt's New Deal policies and switched to the Democratic Party in an attempt to unseat U.S. Senator Styles Bridges in the 1942 Senate election. He retired from politics to enter the radio broadcasting business and later started the WMUR radio and television stations in Manchester - the station takes its name from Murphy's surname.Wetherbee, Fritz. [https://www.wmur.com/article/fritz-wetherbee-robert-o-blood/46552285 "Fritz Wetherbee: Robert O. Blood"]. WMUR. Published January 25, 2024. Accessed January 31, 2023.

A large flood control project in northern New Hampshire at the headwaters of the Connecticut River is named for him, with Murphy Dam impounding Lake Francis.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/34880716/tracks_n_trails/ |title=Tracks 'n Trails (column) |first=Carl |last=Ackerley |newspaper=The Portsmouth Herald |location=Portsmouth, New Hampshire |page=8 |date=February 14, 1970 |access-date=August 14, 2019 |via=newspapers.com}} He was also responsible for one of the first ski area aerial tramways in the United States when the Cannon Mountain aerial tramway was built in Franconia Notch.

Biography

Murphy was the fourth of eight children born to Irish immigrant Catholic parents. His father was a tannery worker and a Civil War veteran.

Murphy graduated from high school in the factory town of Hudson, Massachusetts, and secured an entry-level job nailing packing cases for shoes together at a local shoe factory. Murphy worked his way up from this entry position, holding successively more responsible jobs at factories in Newport, Manchester, and Nashua, New Hampshire.

During World War I Murphy was chairman of New Hampshire's Committee on Electric Power Supply, and he was a longtime member of the New Hampshire National Guard. In 1922, Murphy and two partners organized the J.F. McElwain Company, a manufacturer of shoes, and in 1925 Murphy served on Governor John Gilbert Winant's military staff with the rank of major. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives (1931), and to Governor Winant's Executive Council (1933).

By 1936, Murphy's shoe manufacturing plant had grown to twelve shoe manufacturing plants, and J.F. McElwain Company was the largest employer of labor in New Hampshire. Murphy won the Republican nomination for governor in 1936. Then he won the election in the face of an overwhelming electoral landslide for Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Democrat entering his second of four election victories as president. Even Republican New Hampshire voted (narrowly) for Roosevelt, so much split-ticket voting was necessary for Murphy to win. He was reelected to a second term in 1938.

Governor Murphy supported much New Deal legislation, particularly legislation which supported labor rights. He also had the traditional New Hampshire concern for sound budgeting. In order to ease homeowners' tax burdens, he eliminated the state tax on real estate in favor of a new tax on tobacco products. The State House annex was built to bring all state agencies under one roof and improve efficiency. The state got into tourism with the new Cannon Mountain Tramway, and with new state-owned bathing facilities at Hampton Beach. The New Hampshire State Police were established at this time and a statewide system of probation was set up to make law enforcement more efficient.

In 1940, just before he was due to retire as governor, Murphy entered the broadcasting business. He founded Radio Voice of New Hampshire, Inc. and opened WMUR (AM 610, now WGIR) in 1941. He made one last effort at political life, campaigning against Styles Bridges for the U.S. Senate seat in 1942. When Murphy lost that election (by 15,000 votes), he returned to his business interests. When television came, he set up WMUR-TV in 1954.

Sources

[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00470 Melville Corporation-J.F. McElwain Company papers] at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

References

External links

[http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/murpfran.html Murphy at New Hampshire's Division of Historic Resources]
{{Find a Grave|10949776}}

{{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of New Hampshire|years=1936, 1938}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
(Class 2)|years=1942}}

{{succession box |title=Governor of New Hampshire | before=H. Styles Bridges | after=Robert O. Blood | years=1937–1941}}

Category:1877 births

Category:1958 deaths

Category:People from Winchester, New Hampshire

Category:American manufacturing businesspeople

Category:New Hampshire Republicans

Category:Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives

Category:Governors of New Hampshire

Category:American people of Irish descent

Category:Members of the Executive Council of New Hampshire

Category:New Hampshire Democrats

Category:Republican Party governors of New Hampshire

Category:People from Nashua, New Hampshire

Category:Catholics from New Hampshire

Category:20th-century members of the New Hampshire General Court