William H. Murray

William H. Murray
Murray, c. 1930s
9th Governor of Oklahoma
In office January 12, 1931 – January 15, 1935
Lieutenant	Robert Burns
Preceded by	William J. Holloway
Succeeded by	Ernest W. Marland
Proprietor of the Aguairenda Colony, Bolivia
In office 1923 – August 6, 1928
President	Bautista Saavedra Felipe Segundo Guzmán Hernando Siles
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Colony charter revoked
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma
In office March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1917
Preceded by	District created
Succeeded by	Tom McKeown
Constituency	At-large (1913–1915) 4th district (1915–1917)
1st Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives
In office 1907–1909
Governor	Charles N. Haskell
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Ben Wilson
Member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the Johnston County district
In office 1907–1909
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	J. M. Ratliff
Personal details
Born	William Henry Davis Murray (1869-11-21)November 21, 1869 Collinsville, Texas, U.S.
Died	October 15, 1956(1956-10-15) (aged 86) Tishomingo, Oklahoma, U.S.
Resting place	Tishomingo City Cemetery 34°13′38.6″N 96°40′43.3″W / 34.227389°N 96.678694°W / 34.227389; -96.678694 (William H. Murray Burial Site)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Mary Alice Hearrell Murray
Children	5, including Johnston Murray
Parents	Uriah Dow Thomas Murray Bertha Elizabeth Jones
Profession	Teacher, lawyer

William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray (November 21, 1869 – October 15, 1956) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who served as the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, a U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, and as the 9th Governor of Oklahoma. He was a Southern Democratic member of the Democratic Party who opposed the New Deal and supported racial segregation.

Murray started his political career with several failed runs for political office in his home state of Texas before moving to Indian Territory where he married Mary Alice Hearrell Murray, the niece of Chickasaw Nation Governor Douglas H. Johnston. Although not American Indian, he was appointed by Johnston as the Chickasaw delegate to the 1905 Convention for the proposed State of Sequoyah and later he was elected as a delegate to the 1906 Oklahoma Constitutional Convention for the proposed state of Oklahoma. He served as the president of both constitutional conventions.

Murray was elected as a representative and the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood. He also was elected as U.S. Representative (D-Oklahoma), serving between 1913 and 1917.

In the 1920s, he traveled South America attempting to start a colony. He eventually negotiated a contract for a colony with the Bolivian government under President Bautista Saavedra in 1922, but the colony, Aguairenda, was largely unsuccessful. President Hernando Siles eventually cancelled the colony's lease in 1928 after it failed to become profitable and Murray returned to Oklahoma.

After returning to Oklahoma, he was elected the ninth governor of Oklahoma, serving from 1931 to 1935. During his tenure as governor in years of the Great Depression, he established a record for the number of times he used the National Guard to perform duties in the state and for declaring martial law at a time of unrest.

In his later life, Murray published a three-volume memoir and several books which contained racist and antisemitic claims. Historian Reinhard H. Luthin described his populist campaign tactics and rhetoric as demagoguery. His son, Johnston Murray, was later elected Governor of Oklahoma.