Orrice Abram Murdock Jr. (July 18, 1893September 15, 1979) was an American attorney and politician who served as a member of both chambers of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

for

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. From 1947 to 1957, he served as a member of the

National Labor Relations Board The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States that enforces United States labor law, U.S. labor law in relation to collect ...

Early life and education

Born in

Austin, Nevada Austin is an unincorporated small town in, and former county seat of, Lander County, Nevada, United States. In 2020, the census-designated place of Austin had a population of 167. It is located on the western slopes of the Toiyabe Range at an ...

, he moved with his parents to

Beaver, Utah Beaver is a city in, and county seat of, Beaver County in southwestern Utah, United States. The population was 3,592 at the 2020 census, up from the 2010 figure of 3,112. History Indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years, ...

, in 1898. Murdock attended the public schools and Murdock Academy in Beaver, and the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Career

Murdock studied law and was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 1922.

Early political career

He was a member of the Beaver

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in 1920 and 1921 and was county attorney in 1923–1924, 1927–1928, and 1931–1932. He served as city attorney of Beaver from 1926 to 1933, and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for the fifth Utah district in 1928.

Congress

In 1932, Murdock ran for and was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third Congress and was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1941.

Senate

Instead of running for reelection in 1940, he challenged incumbent Senator William H. King for the Democratic nomination. King had opposed President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

's proposal to expand the Supreme Court and Roosevelt's candidacy for an unprecedented third term, while Murdock was a "100%

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

er" who strongly supported Roosevelt. Murdock defeated King for the nomination and was elected as a Democrat to the Senate, serving from January 3, 1941, to January 3, 1947. Murdock was defeated by Republican

Arthur Vivian Watkins Arthur Vivian Watkins (December 18, 1886September 1, 1973) was a Republican U.S. Senator from Utah, serving two terms from 1947 to 1959. He was influential as a proponent of terminating federal recognition of American Indian tribes, in the b ...

in his bid for reelection in 1946.

Later career

After his defeat, he resumed the practice of law and engaged in agricultural pursuits and livestock raising. From 1947 to 1957, he was a member of the

and in 1960 was a member of the Atomic Energy Labor-Management Relations Panel.

Death and burial

Murdock died of natural causes in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

, in 1979, and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Beaver, Utah.

Electoral history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murdock, Abe 1893 births 1979 deaths People from Lander County, Nevada American people of Scottish descent Latter Day Saints from Utah Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Utah Democratic Party United States senators from Utah National Labor Relations Board officials Utah city council members People from Beaver, Utah Utah lawyers University of Utah alumni Truman administration personnel Eisenhower administration personnel 20th-century United States senators 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives