Frank Murphy

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Frank Murphy

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Term in office
February 5, 1940 – July 19, 1949
Preceded by	Pierce Butler
Succeeded by	Tom C. Clark
Nominated by	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Born	April 13, 1890 Harbor Beach, Michigan
Died	July 19, 1949 Detroit, Michigan

William Francis (Frank) Murphy (April 13, 1890 - July 19, 1949) was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as Mayor of Detroit, Governor of Michigan, the last Governor-General of the Philippines and the first High Commissioner of the Philippines, United States Attorney General, and United States Supreme Court Justice.

He was born in Harbor Beach, Michigan. He had two brothers and a sister. His father was a lawyer, and Frank followed in his footsteps. He attended the University of Michigan, graduating with a BA in 1912, and LLB in 1914. He did graduate work in law at Lincoln's Inn in London and Trinity College, Dublin.

He served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War I. He obtained the rank of Captain with the Occupation Army in Germany and left the service in 1919.

After leaving the Army, he opened a private law office in Detroit. He soon became the chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. He served as a Judge in the Detroit Recorder's Court from 1923 to 1930. He was presiding judge in the Dr. Ossian Sweet murder trial in 1925 - 1926.

In 1930 he was elected mayor of Detroit, running as a Democrat, and served from 1930 to 1933. He was a supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Roosevelt repaid him by appointing him as the Governor-General of the Philippines in 1933. When this position was abolished in 1935, he stayed on as the United States High Commissioner until 1936.

He became Governor of Michigan in 1937. President Roosevelt appointed Murphy as his Attorney General in 1939. In 1940, Roosevelt nominated him to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. On the Court, Murphy was a voice for protection of individual rights. John P. Frank, in "The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions" (Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors), called him the Supreme Court's "most consistent voice for kindness, tolerance and humanity." Among Murphy's most famous dissents is that in the case of Korematsu v. United States (1944), in which he charged that by upholding the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II the Court was sinking into "the ugly abyss of racism."

He died of a heart attack in his sleep at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He is buried at Our Lady of Lake Huron Cemetery in Harbor Beach, Michigan. He never married. Edward G. Kemp, also a life-long bachelor, was his close friend, aide, law partner, and companion. The Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, named for him, was formerly home to Detroit's Recorder's Court and now houses part of Michigan's Third Judicial Circuit Court.

Murphy's personal and official files are archived at the Bentley Historical Library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and are open for research.

Preceded by: Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.	Governor-General of the Philippines 1933-1935	Succeeded by: (none)
Preceded by: (none)	High Commissioner of the Philippines 1935-1936	Succeeded by: Paul V. McNutt
Preceded by: Frank Fitzgerald	Governor of Michigan 1937-1939	Succeeded by: Frank Fitzgerald
Preceded by: Homer S. Cummings	Attorney General of the United States 1939 – 1940	Succeeded by: Robert H. Jackson
Preceded by: Pierce Butler	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States February 5, 1940 – July 19, 1949	Succeeded by: Tom C. Clark

Governors of Michigan

Territorial: Hull • Cass • Porter • Mason • Horner Mason • Woodbridge • Gordon • Barry • Felch • Greenly • Ransom • Barry • McClelland • Parsons • Bingham • Wisner • Blair • Crapo • Baldwin • Bagley • Croswell • Jerome • Begole • Alger • Luce • Winans • Rich • Pingree • Bliss • Warner • Osborn • Ferris • Sleeper • Groesbeck • Green • Brucker • Comstock • Fitzgerald • Murphy • Fitzgerald • Dickinson • Van Wagoner • Kelly • Sigler • Williams • Swainson • Romney • Milliken • Blanchard • Engler • Granholm

United States Attorneys General

Randolph • Bradford • Lee • Lincoln • R Smith • Breckinridge • Rodney • Pinkney • Rush • Wirt • Berrien • Taney • Butler • Grundy • Gilpin • Crittenden • Legaré • Nelson • Mason • Clifford • Toucey • Johnson • Crittenden • Cushing • Black • Stanton • Bates • Speed • Stanberry • Evarts • Hoar • Akerman • Williams • Pierrepont • Taft • Devens • MacVeagh • Brewster • Garland • Miller • Olney • Harmon • McKenna • Griggs • Knox • Moody • Bonaparte • Wickersham • McReynolds • Gregory • Palmer • Daugherty • Stone • Sargent • W Mitchell • Cummings • Murphy • Jackson • Biddle • T Clark • McGrath • McGranery • Brownell • Rogers • Kennedy • Katzenbach • R Clark • J Mitchell • Kleindienst • Richardson • Saxbe • Levi • Bell • Civiletti • W Smith • Meese • Thornburgh • Barr • Reno • Ashcroft • Gonzales

The Hughes Court
1940–1941:	J.C. McReynolds | H.F. Stone | O.J. Roberts | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy
February-July 1941:	H.F. Stone | O.J. Roberts | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | (vacancy)
The Stone Court
1941–1942:	O.J. Roberts | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | J.F. Byrnes | R.H. Jackson
1943–1945:	O.J. Roberts | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | R.H. Jackson | W.B. Rutledge
1945–1946:	H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | R.H. Jackson | W.B. Rutledge | H.H. Burton
The Vinson Court
1946–1949:	H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | F. Murphy | R.H. Jackson | W.B. Rutledge | H.H. Burton