Francis Parnell Murphy (August 16, 1877 – December 19, 1958) was an American manufacturer and politician from

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester. Along with Manc ...

. He served in the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

and on the Governor's Council before serving as the 64th governor of New Hampshire from 1937 to 1941. Murphy supported Roosevelt's

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policies and switched to the

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in an attempt to unseat

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Styles Bridges Henry Styles Bridges (September 9, 1898November 26, 1961) was an American teacher, editor, and Republican Party politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served one term as the 63rd governor of New Hampshire before a twenty-four-year career ...

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. A large flood control project in northern New Hampshire at the headwaters of the

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is named for him, with Murphy Dam impounding Lake Francis. 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

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, Manchester, and

. 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

(1931), and to Governor Winant's

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(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

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

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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

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

Melville Corporation-J.F. McElwain Company papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Francis P. 1877 births 1958 deaths People from Winchester, New Hampshire American manufacturing businesspeople New Hampshire Republicans Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Governors of New Hampshire American people of Irish descent Members of the Executive Council of New Hampshire New Hampshire Democrats Republican Party governors of New Hampshire People from Nashua, New Hampshire Catholics from New Hampshire