Dennis Herron Murphree (January 6, 1886February 9, 1949) was an American politician. He served three separate terms as

Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi The lieutenant governor of Mississippi is the second-highest ranking executive officer in Mississippi, below the governor of Mississippi. The office of lieutenant governor was established when Mississippi became a state, abolished for a few decade ...

and two as

Governor of Mississippi A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Biography

He was born on January 6, 1886, the son of Thomas F. Murphree and Callie (Cooper) Murphree. He was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1911 to 1923. In March 1927, he became

after the death of incumbent Henry L. Whitfield. He served for about ten months until Theodore G. Bilbo, who defeated Murphree in the

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primary by 10,000 votes, was sworn into office in January 1928. Defeat has been attributed in part to his having prevented a lynching in Jackson (he mobilized the

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and threw up a barbed-wire barricade around the jail). With the death of Gov. Paul B. Johnson Sr. in December 1943, Murphree finished out the three weeks left in Johnson's term, serving until the swearing-in of Thomas L. Bailey in January 1944. Dennis Murphree conceived the idea of the Know Mississippi Better train in 1925 in response to Governor Whitfield's wish to create an exposition of Mississippi for the rest of the country. The train was successful and continued to tour annually until at least 1937. The train visited forty-seven other states,

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, and

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, and showcased the state's industry, entertainment, and commerce sectors.

References

External links

Dennis Murphree's grave
at

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Profile
at

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website
The Story of the "Know Mississippi Better" Train
1886 births 1949 deaths People from Calhoun County, Mississippi Democratic Party governors of Mississippi Lieutenant Governors of Mississippi Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives American male journalists Journalists from Mississippi 20th-century American politicians {{Mississippi-politician-stub