Murray, Philip, 1886-1952

Philip Murray was one of the most important American labor leaders of the twentieth century. As president of the Steelworkers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), he played a pivotal role in the creation of industrial unions as well as the utilization of federal government support in the growth of unions in the United States. Philip Murray (May 25, 1886-November 9, 1952) was born in Blantyre, Scotland, on May 25, 1886. His father, a devout Catholic, immigrated from Ireland to Scotland prior to Phil's birth. The eldest of thirteen children, Phil began working in the mines at age 10 and immigrated to the United States with his father, also a miner, in 1902. Murray's long career as a union official began soon after entering the mines in the United States. Murray enlisted the support of the federal government, through the Wage Stabilization Board and the personal involvement of President Truman, during the trying steel industry negotiations. Although the USWA gained a satisfactory contract, it came with significant costs. Soon after Democratic Party candidate Adlai Stevenson lost to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower. More than any other national CIO labor leader, Murray had encouraged and relied on government involvement in labor relations. But when Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, giving Republicans control of the presidency for the first time in twenty years, Murray knew that federal government support of collective bargaining had ended. Murray, however, did not live to see the Eisenhower presidency. On November 9, 1952, within a week of the presidential election, Philip Murray died. He was 66 years old.