Frank Murphy
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William Francis (Frank) Murphy (April 13, 1890–July 19, 1949) was an American politician and jurist. 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 majored in Law at the University of Michigan, where he graduated 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. He 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.
In 1930 he was elected mayor of Detroit, running as a Democrat. He served here from 1930 to 1933. During the deepest part of the Great Depression, he fought to help the unemployed. 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 was elected 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 an eloquent voice for protection of individual rights. He dissented in the infamous case of Korematsu v. United States (1944), charging that by upholding the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans 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.
| 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: 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 |