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Charles Francis Murphy
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Charles Francis "Silent Charlie" Murphy (June 20, 1858 – April 25, 1924) was a United States political figure, Head of New York City's Tammany Hall from 1902–1924. 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 national level (Allbray).

Early Life
Murphy was the son of Irish immigrants, Dennis Murphy and Mary Prendergrass. He quit school at age 14 and found a job at Roaches Shipyard, and eventually as a driver for the Crosstown Blue Lines Horsecar Co. After saving 500 dollars from the jobs that he had worked, Murphy purchased a saloon in 1878, which he named Charlie’s Place (Allbray). Charlie’s Place became a local gathering place for local workers, but did not serve women (Allbray). The second floor of the Saloon served as the Sylvan Social Club, comprised of men, aged 15 to 20(Allbray). With this Social Club, Murphy formed a baseball team and with all three groups, Murphy arose as a local Political Figure (Allbray).

Political Career
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. Hagan’s independent campaign was led by Murphy and propelled Hagan to victory (Allbray). Murphy was again prominent in the campaign for Francis Spinola, who became elected to Congress in 1885. Also that same year, one of Murphy’s saloons became the headquarters for the Anawanda Club, which was the local Tammany Hall club, which eventually propelled Murphy to become a member of the Executive Committee of Tammany Hall(Allbray). Murphy was appointed to be the Commissioner of Docks in 1897(Allbray). During this period, he organized the New York Contracting and Trucking Company, which leased dock space (Allbray). This became a successful business and Murphy gained prominence in Tammany Hall. In 1902, Murphy married Margaret J. Graham and the current Tammany Hall boss, Richard Croker, was forced out of office due to public accusations of corruption. The accusations of corruption included stealing from the municipal treasury, which never occurred (Teaford). Croker was able to obtain contracts from the city for businesses that he benefited from, due to his extensive political power (Teaford). Murphy quickly rose to gain the position that Croker had held, Boss of Tammany Hall (Allbray). He kept this position until his death in 1924.[1] In contrast to longtime boss Richard Croker, the taciturn and teetotaling Murphy – his nickname was "silent Charlie" – brought an air of respectability to Tammany Hall, from the previous era of corruption. He furthered this end by promoting a new crop of Tammany politicians—chief among them Senator James J. Walker, Rockland County Chairman James Farley and Alderman Alfred E. Smith—who would move the machine away from the methods of Boss Tweed and toward a Progressive Era-style that rewarded the loyalty of the poor with reforms like factory safety and child labor laws. Although initially opposed to progressive legislation, Murphy realized that he could throw his support behind reforms which pleased his constituency but which did not undermine Tammany's power.[2] Because of this 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.

Death and Influence
During his reign, Murphy brought Tammany Hall’s political influence to the national level, specifically in 1924 when he was expected to nominate Alfred E. Smith for President. Murphy also influenced the elections of three New York City Mayors, three New York State Governors, and the impeachment of Governor William Sulzer (Allbray). Governor Sulzer was propelled in to office by Tammany Hall and during his tenure, Governor Sulzer distanced himself from Tammany politics, refused to follow orders given by Tammany, and supported general primaries (Lifflander). This angered both Tammany Hall and its’ boss, Murphy, and with his help, the State Assembly voted to impeach Sulzer on counts of perjury and fraud(Lifflander). Murphy’s involvement in the impeachment of a former member of Tammany demonstrates his tenacity and fierceness as a political figure. Murphy once said, “It is the fate of political leaders to be reviled. If one is too thin skinned to stand it he should never take the job. History shows the better and more successful the organization and the leader the more bitter the attacks” (Allbray). 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.[3]

In Popular Culture
the 1941 film Citizen Kane, screenwriters Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles based the character of political boss Jim Gettys on Charles F. Murphy.[4] 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.[5] 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."[6] 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.[7]