The second son of a close-knit Irish-American family, a charismatic politician who championed the underdog yet enjoyed the company of the rich, Frank Murphy was for thirty years an influential figure on the American scene. As Recorder’s Court judge, mayor of Detroit during the Great Depression, governor-general of and high commissioner to the Philippines, governor of Michigan, United States attorney general, and justice of the United States Supreme Court, he played a dramatic role in some of the most significant events of our era. This first volume of what will surely be the definitive account of the life and times of Frank Murphy focuses on the Detroit years, when Murphy brought his courtroom skills to bear on landmark legal battles of the period, forged a New Deal type of coalition that altered the structure of political power in Detroit, and led the city through the darkest days of the Depression. By stressing the interaction between the man and his times, the book presents not only a fully rounded portrait of a fascinating personality but also provides the first detailed coverage of the work of the Detroit Recorder’s Court and an unequaled account of the Depression years in Detroit and the state of Michigan.

Sidney Fine is Andrew Dickson White Professor of History, University of Michigan. He serves on the board of editors of Labor History and Reviews in American History and is the author of Sit-Down, a fully documented account of the momentous General Motors Strike of 1936-37, as well as Laissez Faire and the General-Welfare State, a classic study in American intellectual history, and The Automobile Under the Blue Eagle, which gained the Merit Award of the American Association for State and Local History.