Previous
Herbert Hoover
The racist governor of Oklahoma who ran a campaign on what he called the three C’s—"Corporations, Carpetbaggers, and Coons.” Nicknamed “Alfalfa Bill,” he resented Theodore Roosevelt for refusing to admit Oklahoma to the union until Murray removed a white supremacist plank from the state constitution. In 1932, he attempted to run against Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President of the United States. Egan describes Murray as “a mustachioed, haunt-eyed, big-eared man of sixty who could talk for hours without interruption, fueled by caffeine and nicotine.” He drank two pots of black coffee each day and frequently chewed on the butt of a cigar. As governor, he often ruled by martial law, sending the National Guard out “twenty-seven times in his first two years in office.”
Get the entire The Worst Hard Time LitChart as a printable PDF.
Governor William Henry David Murray Character Timeline in The Worst Hard Time
The timeline below shows where the character Governor William Henry David Murray appears in The Worst Hard Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7: A Darkening
The new governor of Oklahoma, William Henry David Murray , known as “Alfalfa Bill,” gave people both hope and hate. He was elected in...
(full context)
Alfalfa Bill was born in Toadsuck, Texas in 1869. He ran away at the age of twelve...
(full context)
President Theodore Roosevelt would only allow Oklahoma to become the forty-sixth state after Governor Murray removed the segregationist planks from the state constitution. Murray was furious with the demand, and...
(full context)
At the start of the Depression, Governor Murray “was a mustachioed, haunt-eyed, big-eared man of sixty” who talked for hours, fueled by caffeine...
(full context)
In 1932, there was no rain. Alfalfa Bill encouraged people to fight nature with force. He plowed up grass on the grounds of...
(full context)
In the spring of 1932, Alfalfa Bill decided to run for president. He would use the same campaign model that got him...
(full context)
Chapter 9: New Leader, New Deal
...the road from Dalhart, had cut off its streetlights. People’s desperation drew them closer to Alfalfa Bill Murray. He promised that, if he were president, no one would go without bread, butter,...
(full context)
...Maynard Keynes said that only the Dark Ages were worse. In regard to the election, Alfalfa Murray was certain that anyone “who could stand up straight and string four sentences together” could...
(full context)
At the Democratic convention in Chicago, Alfalfa Murray tried to stop Roosevelt, but the New York governor won the nomination on the third...
(full context)
Chapter 12: The Long Darkness
...they were responsible for maintaining an ecosystem. He used the CCC to demonstrate soil conservation. Governor Alfalfa Bill Murray was furious with all of the government intervention. He thought that it was making Oklahoma...
(full context)
One proposal Governor Murray did support was the plan to dam the Beaver River near Guymon, a sizable town...
(full context)
