In this masterful biography, Robert L. Dorman traces the career of
William H. ""Alfalfa Bill"" Murray from his hardscrabble childhood
in post-Civil War Texas to his remarkable ascendancy as a
nationally known political figure in the mid-twentieth century. The
first comprehensive portrait of Murray to be published in fifty
years, Alfalfa Bill is both the exploration of a larger-than-life
personality and an illuminating account of the birth of political
conservatism in Oklahoma. As Dorman reveals, no political label
readily fit Murray. The core conservatism of his Texas years was
caught up in the ferment of three major periods of American reform
- the Populist uprising, the Progressive Era, and the New Deal.
Over his long career, Murray strongly advocated for states' rights,
limited government, and strict constitutionalism, yet he was also a
consistent foe of corporations and concentrated wealth. The society
he sought was small-scale, decentralized, agrarian - and racially
segregated. Although he claimed to represent high principles,
Murray as a politician was an opportunist, loved a good fight, had
a flair for the theatrical, and hungered for power. Dorman depicts
Murray from his days as a political operative in the Chickasaw
Nation to his leadership of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention,
and from the Speaker's chair of the Oklahoma legislature to the
halls of Congress. The book follows Murray's quixotic attempt to
found an agricultural colony in Bolivia, and chronicles his amazing
Oklahoma comeback in the 1930 gubernatorial election. The final
chapters detail Murray's legendary term as state governor, his
failed candidacy for president, and his emergence as a fierce
critic of New Deal liberalism and racial desegregation. Unlike
earlier biographies of Murray, Alfalfa Bill brings issues of race,
class, and gender to the forefront, often in surprising ways. On
the surface, the Murray saga was an American success story, yet his
rise came at a price for Murray himself, his family, and the people
of the state he helped to create. An indelible portrait emerges of
an ambitious, domineering, relentless, and unapologetically racist
figure whose tarnished legacy seems painfully relevant in America's
current political climate.
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