John R. Murdock

For other people of the same name, see John Murdock (disambiguation).

John Robert Murdock (April 20, 1885 - February 14, 1972) was a U.S. Representative from Arizona.

Born in Homestead near Lewistown, Missouri, Murdock attended the public schools. He graduated from State Teachers' College, Kirksville, Missouri, in 1912 and received a bachelor's degree at the University of Iowa in 1925. He attended graduate school at the University of Arizona and at the University of California at Berkeley.

File:Tempe-Double Butte Cemetery-1888-Congressman John R. Murdock.JPG

The grave site of John Robert Murdock (1885 - 1972). He is buried in sec. 9 in the historic Double Butte Cemetery

He was an elementary school teacher and principal in Missouri before he went to the University of Iowa. He was an instructor in the Normal School at Tempe, Arizona, predecessor of Arizona State University. He was then Dean of this institution from 1933 to 1937. He wrote several textbooks on history and government.

Murdock was elected as a Democrat to the 75th Congress and to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1937 to January 3, 1953. He served as chairman of the Committee on Memorials (Seventy-eighth Congress), Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation (Seventy-ninth Congress), and Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (Eighty-second Congress). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1952 to the Eighty-third Congress.

He was married to Myrtle Cheney Murdock, who popularized the accomplishments of Constantino Brumidi.

He retired and resided in Scottsdale, Arizona and died in Phoenix, Arizona on February 14, 1972. He was interred in Double Butte Cemetery, Tempe, Arizona.

References

• John R. Murdock at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Isabella Greenway	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's at-large congressional district 1937–1949	Succeeded by Seat eliminated
Preceded by Seat created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 1st congressional district 1949–1953	Succeeded by John Jacob Rhodes

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.