William Patrick Murphy

{{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. | death_date = 29 September 2007 | death_place = | death_cause = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater =Yale University | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Constitutional law | sub_discipline =  | workplaces = University of Mississippi | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''William Patrick Murphy''' (1920–2007) was a professor and author on the subject of Constitutional law from Memphis, Tennessee, who taught at the University of Mississippi for a term of eight years. He was an outspoken proponent of the Supreme Court's decision in ''Brown v. Board of Education'', outlawing racial segregation in public schools.

==Background== Murphy was born on September 30, 1919, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was raised.<ref name=murphy1967>Murphy, 1967</ref> He earned his B.A. at Southwestern College. In 1941 Murphy was drafted into the U.S. Army, but he applied for and was accepted as an officer candidate in the U.S. Navy, where he served on several naval vessels during World War II.<ref name=profile>Carolina Law Oral History Project, Murphy profile</ref> After his military service he attended the University of Virginia and received a Bachelor of Laws degree, after which he earned a Doctorate of Judicial Science from Yale University.<ref name=murphy1967>Murphy, 1967</ref> In 1953 he joined the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) faculty and began teaching constitutional law. Later in his career he also taught at University of Kentucky College of Law, and eventually University of North Carolina School of Law.<ref name=profile/><ref name=black>Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2008, p. 12</ref>

Murphy's political view held that the national government had superiority over state governments.<ref>American Historical Review</ref> Often at the center of partisan controversy, Murphy regarded those who held that the states had a right to secede from the Union as those who harbored Communist sympathies. He supported the Supreme Court's decision against racial segregation in public schools. For his strong stance over this view he was fired by Governor Ross Barnett, and others of his political persuasion, all of whom supported racial segregation.<ref>Journal of American History</ref>

Murphy was a member of the ACLU. In 1960 when the state college board refused to renew his teaching contract, Murphy claimed that it was over his membership in the ACLU. Rather than fight with the Mississippi college board, he resigned from the law school.<ref name=black/>

During his teaching sessions Murphy argued against the belief that the doctrine of State's rights allowed Mississippi to disregard the Supreme Court's decision in ''Brown v. Board of Education'' which is said to have been based on Constitutional principles.<ref name=black/>

Murphy died on September 29, 2007, at the age of 87.

==Works== * {{cite book |last=Murphy |first=William Patrick |title=The Triumph of Nationalism: State Sovereignty, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of the Constitution |authorlink=William Patrick Murphy (constitutional law professor) |publisher=Quadrangle Books |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RhkWAAAAIAAJ |ref=murphy}}

==Citations== {{reflist}}

==Sources== {{further|Bibliography of the United States Constitution}} * {{cite book |last=Murphy |first=William Patrick |title=The Triumph of Nationalism: State Sovereignty, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of the Constitution |authorlink=William Patrick Murphy (constitutional law professor) |publisher=Quadrangle Books |year=1967 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RhkWAAAAIAAJ |ref=murphy1967}}  * {{cite journal |last= |first= |title=William Patrick Murphy 1920-2007 |journal=The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education |pages= |publisher=The JBHE Foundation, Inc |volume= |issue=58 |date=Winter 2007–2008 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25073806 |jstor=25073806 |doi= |ref=murphy2008}}

* {{cite web |title=The Triumph of Nationalism: State Sovereignty, The Founding Fathers, and the Making of the Constitution |publisher=Oxford University Press; American Historical review |year=2023 |accessdate=April 28, 2023 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article-abstract/74/3/1082/90067?login=false |ref=ahr2023}}  * {{cite book |title=The Triumph of Nationalism: State Sovereignty, the Founding Fathers |publisher=Oxford University Press: The Journal of American History |url=https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/55/4/858/754341?login=false |accessdate=April 28, 2023 |ref=joah2023}}  *{{cite web |first= |last= |title=Murphy, William P. (William Patrick), 1919-2007 |publisher=The University of Georgia Libraries |year=2023 |accessdate=April 28, 2023 |url=https://crdl.usg.edu/people/murphy_william_p_william_patrick_1919_2007 |ref=georgia2023}}  *{{cite web |first= |last= |title=William P. Murphy |publisher= Kathrine R. Everett Law Library: Carolina Law Oral History Project |year=2023 |accessdate=April 28, 2023 |url=https://oralhistoriesproject.law.unc.edu/william-p-murphy/ |ref=carolina2023}}

==External links== * [https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au=%22Murphy%2C%20William%20P.%22 Murphy's works at World Cat]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, William Patrick}} Category:1920 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Yale University alumni Category:University of Mississippi faculty Category:Scholars of constitutional law Category:University of Virginia alumni Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:American scholars of constitutional law

William Patrick Murphy

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