Charles Francis Murphy

Charles Francis "Silent Charlie" Murphy (June 20, 1858 – April 25, 1924), also known as Boss Murphy, was an American political figure. He was also the longest-serving head of New York City's Tammany Hall, a position he served from 1902 to 1924. Murphy was responsible for transforming Tammany Hall's image from one of corruption to respectability as well as extending Tammany Hall's political influence to the national level.

Early life Murphy was the son of Irish immigrants Dennis Murphy and Mary Pendergrass, With the social club, Murphy formed a baseball team, and with all three groups, Murphy arose as a local political figure.

Political career Murphy (left) with William H. Fitzpatrick, the Erie County Democratic leader

Murphy's friend and benefactor, Edward Hagan, failed to achieve the Tammany Hall nomination for district assemblyman in 1883, which led Hagan to attempt an independent campaign. Murphy quickly replaced Croker as boss of Tammany Hall. Because of his stance, he is credited with transforming Tammany into a political organization capable of drawing the votes of the ever-growing numbers of new immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, which kept Tammany in power until the early 1930s.

New York Contracting and Trucking Croker made money through "honest graft." New York Contracting and Trucking was awarded a $6 million contract in 1904 to build rail lines in the Bronx for the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. An executive at the railroad said the contract was awarded to avoid friction with Tammany Hall. In response to the contract, the New York State Legislature amended the city's charter so that franchise-awarding power was removed from the city board of aldermen and given to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, which existed until 1989. By 1905, New York Contracting and Trucking had collected over $15 million in city contracts.

Following the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire on March 25, 1911, attention focused on the factories' working conditions. With the assistance of his protégés Robert F. Wagner and Alfred E. Smith, 1913 became a significant year for Tammany Hall in the promotion of progressive reforms. In the city, workplace health regulations were improved, fire alarms were mandated, working hours were reduced for women, a pension system for widowers was introduced, and requirements for insurance were made stricter. At the state level, a referendum on women's suffrage was scheduled and the Public Utility Commission was provided broader powers. In Democratic Party circles, 1914 was a big year since Murphy supported a direct primary system for nomination to all state offices. That angered both Tammany Hall and its boss, Murphy; with his help, the State Assembly voted to impeach Sulzer on counts of perjury and fraud.

Death Murphy died suddenly of what the New York Times termed "acute indigestion," which affected his heart, on April 25, 1924, at his home in New York City. A Roman Catholic, he was given a funeral service at St. Patrick's Cathedral and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in New York.

In 1926, a committee raised funds for the erection of a flagpole in Union Square Park as a memorial to Charles F. Murphy. The flagpole was dedicated in 1930 as the Independence Flagstaff, but instead commemorated the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence as a result of public opposition to a memorial to Murphy. In 1985, John J. Murphy Park at Avenue C and the FDR Drive was renamed Murphy's Brother's Playground to honor Charles F. Murphy; the park had been previously named in honor of his brother.

In popular culture

In the 1941 film Citizen Kane, screenwriters Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles based the character of political boss Jim Gettys on Charles F. Murphy. William Randolph Hearst and Murphy were political allies in 1902 when Hearst was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, but the two fell out in 1905 when Hearst ran for mayor of New York City. Hearst was denied the election by a slim margin due to electoral fraud perpetrated by Murphy's organization, and his newspapers retaliated. A historic cartoon of Murphy in convict stripes appeared November 10, 1905, three days after the vote. The caption read, "Look out, Murphy! It's a Short Lockstep from Delmonico's to Sing Sing ... Every honest voter in New York wants to see you in this costume."

In Citizen Kane, Boss Jim Gettys admonishes Kane for printing a cartoon showing him in prison stripes:

If I owned a newspaper and if I didn't like the way somebody else was doing things—some politician, say—I'd fight them with everything I had. Only I wouldn't show him in a convict suit with stripes—so his children could see the picture in the paper. Or his mother.

As he pursues Gettys down the stairs, Kane threatens to send him to Sing Sing.