In 1902, Murphy married widow Margaret J. Graham; also that year, the Tammany Hall boss, Richard Croker, was forced out of office because of public accusations of corruption.

He furthered that end by promoting a new crop of Tammany politicians, such as Senator James J. Walker, Rockland County Chairman James Farley, and Alderman Alfred E. Smith, who would move the political machine away from the methods of Boss Tweed and toward a Progressive Era-a style that rewarded the loyalty of the poor with reforms like factory safety and child labor laws.

Although initially opposed to progressive legislation, Murphy realized that he could support reforms that pleased his constituency but which did not undermine Tammany's power.

Hearst's newspapers also attacked McClellan's defense of privately owned subways and Murphy's ties to the New York Contracting and Trucking company.

[3] For the 1909 city mayoral election, Murphy backed New York State Supreme Court Justice William Jay Gaynor.

As for uniting with the city's other boroughs, the Bronx was under the control of Murphy's friend Louis Haffen, and Queens and Staten Island did not have large populations.

Nine months into his term, a disgruntled Docks Department employee attempted to assassinate Gaynor, who was traveling on an oceanic steamship.

Sulzer would become the subject of a different investigation and, after failing to testify, gained the distinction of becoming the only governor in New York State to be successfully impeached.

[3] Murphy would make his boldest move yet in 1912 in striking a secret deal to swing the Democratic Party convention in Baltimore to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson.

"Five long days of deadlock, and forty-two ballots, had failed to give either of the two leading candidates, Wilson and Champ Clark, the two-thirds majority each needed to win the nomination.

Charles F. Murphy stood to announce that his state, the largest in the Union, had changed sides: 'New York casts 90 votes for Woodrow Wilson,' he said and got the biggest cheer of the roll call.

With the assistance of his protégés Robert F. Wagner and Alfred E. Smith, 1913 became a significant year for Tammany Hall in the promotion of progressive reforms.

In the city, workplace health regulations were improved, fire alarms were mandated, working hours were reduced for women, a pension system for widowers was introduced, and requirements for insurance were made stricter.

At the state level, a referendum on women's suffrage was scheduled and the Public Utility Commission was provided broader powers.

In Democratic Party circles, 1914 was a big year since Murphy supported a direct primary system for nomination to all state offices.

[8] That angered both Tammany Hall and its boss, Murphy; with his help, the State Assembly voted to impeach Sulzer on counts of perjury and fraud.

[10] In the 1941 film Citizen Kane, screenwriters Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles based the character of political boss Jim Gettys on Charles F.

Hearst was denied the election by a slim margin due to electoral fraud perpetrated by Murphy's organization, and his newspapers retaliated.