During World War I he organized a yeomans school and was later placed in charge of recruiting for the 1st Naval District.
[1] During this time he met his future wife, Elizabeth Tiffany, who was working as a government clerk in Boston.
He eventually became assistant sales manager; however, the job required a lot of traveling and Murphy gave it up to focus on politics.
[1] He was reelected in 1931 and was preparing to run again in 1933 until he was offered the position of United States Marshal by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's patronage manager James Farley.
[5] In 1944, Murphy was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives seat in Massachusetts's 11th congressional district, but lost the Democratic nomination to incumbent James Michael Curley.