government official newspaper editor
Richard L. Murphy was born on November 6, 1875, in Pennsylvania, United States, and migrated west to Iowa with his parents. He was raised in Dubuque, where his father, John S. Murphy, was editor of the local newspaper, the Telegraph Herald.
Richard Murphy was educated in the Dubuque public schools.
At the age of 15, Richard Murphy began his career as a reporter for the Galena Gazette. In 1892 he returned to Dubuque and joined the Telegraph Herald as a reporter. Over the next 22 years, Richard Murphy rose through the hierarchy at the Telegraph Herald, successively working as a reporter, city editor, and editor.
In 1920 Richard Murphy left public employment and entered private practice as an income tax counselor, a job he held for the next 11 years. It was said at the time of his death that Murphy had made enough money by the age of 53 to essentially retire from daily work.
His passion for politics propelled Richard Murphy into a crowded field of five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator from Iowa in 1932. Never having held elective office, he was considered a long shot at best. But Richard Murphy prevailed in the primaries and was swept into office by the Roosevelt landslide. He also championed the repeal of the 18th Amendment. Richard Murphy believed that Prohibition was ineffective and encouraged criminal activity.
Richard Murphy also was widely consulted by his Senate colleagues on matters of tax reform. No doubt his reputation as a tax counselor for more than 20 years gave him substantial credibility on such issues.
Murphy’s sudden death on July 16, 1936, brought to an end a promising career in Iowa politics.
A lifelong Democrat, Richard Murphy worked for Woodrow Wilson in the election of 1912. He remained active in politics and served as a delegate to the 1920 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco.
In the Senate, Richard Murphy was a steady, dependable advocate for several causes. Foremost was his commitment to agriculture and increasing corn price supports from a low of 10 cents per bushel up to 45 cents per bushel and higher. In that effort, he was an ardent supporter of fellow Iowan Henry A. Wallace, the U.S. secretary of agriculture.
Richard Murphy was a quiet, almost shy man and was frequently described as being of "frail health." His quiet demeanor did not mean that he did not care deeply about the issues of the day. He was a temperate man.
Quotes from others about the person
In an editorial published in the Telegraph Herald after his death, the editors recalled Murphy’s "liberal views" and his instinctive tendency to side with the underprivileged. "His Irish blood boiled at injustice," noted the editors.
Richard Murphy married Ellen McGuire of Holy Cross, Iowa, on July 16, 1917.
