Charles Springs Murphy (August 20, 1909 – August 28, 1983) was an American attorney who served as the White House Counsel to U.S. President Harry S. Truman from 1950 to 1953. Prior to this, he was a staff member in the office of the legislative counsel of the U.S. Senate from 1934 to 1946 and Administrative Assistant to President Truman from 1947 to 1950. Subsequent to the Truman Administration, Murphy served as Under Secretary of Agriculture, from 1960 to 1965; and chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board from 1965 to 1968.[1]
Charles Murphy | |
|---|---|
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| Chair of the Civil Aeronautics Board | |
| In office June 1, 1965 – March 11, 1968 | |
| President | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Alan S. Boyd |
| Succeeded by | John Crooker |
| Under Secretary of Agriculture | |
| In office March 21, 1961 – June 1, 1965 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Succeeded by | John Schnittker |
| White House Counsel | |
| In office January 31, 1950 – January 20, 1953 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Clark Clifford |
| Succeeded by | Tom Stephens |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 20, 1909 Wallace, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | August 28, 1983 (aged 74) Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Katherine Chestney Graham
(m. 1931; died 1983) |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Duke University (BA, LLB) |
Biography
editEarly life
editMurphy was born on a farm in Wallace, North Carolina. During the Great Depression Murphy worked his way through college at Duke University and its law school as a night mail clerk at the post office in Durham.
Career
editAfter receiving his law degree in 1934 he went to Washington, and with the help of a former Duke Law School dean who had left the university to work in the Justice Department, he obtained a position helping to draft bills for the Senate leadership. In this role, he was called on to help draft a resolution establishing the Senate War Investigating Committee, which would later be chaired by a senator from Missouri, Harry S. Truman, beginning their friendship and long association.[1]
In 1947 Murphy was named an administrative assistant to President Truman and later served as a speech writer and adviser during his 1948 election campaign. He was named special counsel to the president in 1950.[2] He was one of the entourage at Truman's October 1950 meeting with General MacArthur on Wake Island during the Korean War. The following April when the president finally relieved MacArthur of command he advised Truman on public relations tactics. During the Truman years he was among the small group of advisers and friends called the "little cabinet" that the president sat with in late-evening meetings to develop policy and legislative strategy. When Truman left office in 1953, Murphy entered private law practice in Washington with the firm of Morison, Murphy, Clapp & Abrams.[1]
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy appointed him Under Secretary of Agriculture where he handled the detail work on crop controls, price supports, farm subsidies and loans. In 1965 he was appointed chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board by President Lyndon Johnson, a position he held until 1969 when, as a special counselor to Johnson, he supervised the transition to the Nixon Administration.[1]
From 1969 to 1983 Murphy was a partner in the Washington law firm of Baker & Hostetler. He also served as general counsel to Frontier Airlines.[1]
Murphy served on the Duke University board of trustees and on a number of committees at the university and was a trustee emeritus. Following the Watergate scandal and Nixon's subsequent resignation, Murphy resigned his various positions with Duke in protest against a plan initiated by University President Terry Sanford and former President Nixon, a 1937 alumnus of the Duke law school, to build the Richard M. Nixon presidential library at the university.[1] In 1981 Duke University's faculty council decided by one vote to reject the proposed Nixon presidential library.[3]
Personal life
editMurphy married Katherine Chestney Graham of Hillsborough, North Carolina in 1931 and they had three children, including C. Westbrook Murphy.[4] He died on August 28, 1983, in Annapolis, Maryland at age 74. He was survived by his son and two daughters. His wife Kate predeceased him by several months.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Smothers, Ronald (August 30, 1983). "CHARLES S. MURPHY IS DEAD AT 74 - SERVED AS ADVISER TO 3 PRESIDENTS". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ "Miami Daily News-Record from Miami, Oklahoma on December 23, 1949 · Page 10". Newspapers.com. 1949-12-23. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ "Duke Faculty, By 1 Vote, Disapproves of Nixon Library". The Washington Post. September 4, 1981. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ "Westbrook Murphy, Foundation Legal Counsel | the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation".
External links
edit
Media related to Charles S. Murphy at Wikimedia Commons
Works by or about Charles S. Murphy at Wikisource
