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William H. Murray
William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray (November 21, 1869 – October 15, 1956) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who served as the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, and as the 9th Governor of Oklahoma. He was a Southern Democratic member of the Democratic Party who opposed the New Deal and supported racial segregation.
Murray started his political career with several failed runs for political office in his home state of Texas before moving to Indian Territory where he married Mary Alice Hearrell Murray, the niece of Chickasaw Nation Governor Douglas H. Johnston. Although not American Indian, he was appointed by Johnston as the Chickasaw delegate to the 1905 Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah and later he was elected as a delegate to and president of the 1906 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma.
Murray was elected as a representative and the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood. He also was elected as U.S. Representative (D-Oklahoma), serving between 1913 and 1917.
In the 1920s, he traveled South America attempting to start a colony. He eventually negotiated a contract for a colony with the Bolivian government under President Bautista Saavedra in 1922, but the colony, Aguairenda, was largely unsuccessful. President Hernando Siles eventually cancelled the colony's lease in 1928 after it failed to become profitable and Murray returned to Oklahoma.
After returning to Oklahoma, he was elected the ninth governor of Oklahoma, serving from 1931 to 1935. During his tenure as governor in years of the Great Depression, he established a record for the number of times he used the National Guard to perform duties in the state and for declaring martial law at a time of unrest.
In his later life, Murray published a three-volume memoir and several books which contained racist and antisemitic claims. Historian Reinhard H. Luthin described his populist campaign tactics and rhetoric as demagoguery. His son, Johnston Murray, was later elected Governor of Oklahoma.
William Henry Davis Murray was born on November 21, 1869, in Collinsville, Texas. He was born to Uriah Dow Thomas Murray, a grist mill worker, and Bertha Elizabeth (Jones). Uriah Murray was born in Tennessee in 1839, moved to Texas in 1852, and was descended from Scottish immigrants. He had two older brothers: John Shade Murray and George Thomas Murray. He had a younger sister and brother who died in infancy. His mother died when he was two years old and in 1873 his father remarried to Mollie Green, a widow from Montague, Texas.
After the marriage, Murray moved with his father and brothers to Montague, Texas. Uriah opened a grocery store and butcher shop and had seven more children with Mollie Green. On September 18, 1881, he ran away from home with his two older brothers. He worked picking cotton, chopping wood, and as a bricklayer before attending public school in Keeter. Murray attended College Hill Institute in Springtown, Texas, and started selling books to pay for school. He graduated from College Hill with a teaching degree in 1889 and began teaching in a public school in Parker County, Texas. During this time he attended a Campbellite church, but was not particularly religious.
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William H. Murray
William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray (November 21, 1869 – October 15, 1956) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who served as the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, and as the 9th Governor of Oklahoma. He was a Southern Democratic member of the Democratic Party who opposed the New Deal and supported racial segregation.
Murray started his political career with several failed runs for political office in his home state of Texas before moving to Indian Territory where he married Mary Alice Hearrell Murray, the niece of Chickasaw Nation Governor Douglas H. Johnston. Although not American Indian, he was appointed by Johnston as the Chickasaw delegate to the 1905 Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah and later he was elected as a delegate to and president of the 1906 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma.
Murray was elected as a representative and the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood. He also was elected as U.S. Representative (D-Oklahoma), serving between 1913 and 1917.
In the 1920s, he traveled South America attempting to start a colony. He eventually negotiated a contract for a colony with the Bolivian government under President Bautista Saavedra in 1922, but the colony, Aguairenda, was largely unsuccessful. President Hernando Siles eventually cancelled the colony's lease in 1928 after it failed to become profitable and Murray returned to Oklahoma.
After returning to Oklahoma, he was elected the ninth governor of Oklahoma, serving from 1931 to 1935. During his tenure as governor in years of the Great Depression, he established a record for the number of times he used the National Guard to perform duties in the state and for declaring martial law at a time of unrest.
In his later life, Murray published a three-volume memoir and several books which contained racist and antisemitic claims. Historian Reinhard H. Luthin described his populist campaign tactics and rhetoric as demagoguery. His son, Johnston Murray, was later elected Governor of Oklahoma.
William Henry Davis Murray was born on November 21, 1869, in Collinsville, Texas. He was born to Uriah Dow Thomas Murray, a grist mill worker, and Bertha Elizabeth (Jones). Uriah Murray was born in Tennessee in 1839, moved to Texas in 1852, and was descended from Scottish immigrants. He had two older brothers: John Shade Murray and George Thomas Murray. He had a younger sister and brother who died in infancy. His mother died when he was two years old and in 1873 his father remarried to Mollie Green, a widow from Montague, Texas.
After the marriage, Murray moved with his father and brothers to Montague, Texas. Uriah opened a grocery store and butcher shop and had seven more children with Mollie Green. On September 18, 1881, he ran away from home with his two older brothers. He worked picking cotton, chopping wood, and as a bricklayer before attending public school in Keeter. Murray attended College Hill Institute in Springtown, Texas, and started selling books to pay for school. He graduated from College Hill with a teaching degree in 1889 and began teaching in a public school in Parker County, Texas. During this time he attended a Campbellite church, but was not particularly religious.