Murray was the first Native American to be elected as governor in the United States but he was not an enrolled member of any nation.

[3] His father, William H. Murray, by virtue of his marriage to Hearrell in 1899, also became a citizen of the nation under Chickasaw law.

The elder Murray was an advisor to Governor Douglas H. Johnston of the Chickasaw Nation, and later served in numerous political offices after Oklahoma was admitted as a state.

[4] After returning to Oklahoma City, Murray formed a law partnership with Whit Pate in February 1960.

Murray was born July 21, 1902, in the mansion of the Chickasaw Nation's Governor at Emet, Johnston County, Indian Territory.

His mother, Mary Alice Hearrell Murray, was one-eighth Chickasaw and enrolled as a citizen in the nation.

She was the niece of Douglas H. Johnston, the noted Chickasaw Governor for whom her husband William H. Murray was then working as a legal advisor.

[8] Growing up in a doubly prominent political family, the younger Murray was educated in the public schools of Tishomingo, Oklahoma, the former capital of the Chickasaw Nation.

[4] When Murray returned to Oklahoma, he worked in oil and gas fields, rising to the role of plant manager.

His program included continuing to consolidate schools to improve education (begun under his predecessor, Governor Roy J. Turner), changing the ad valorem tax to return more of the property taxes to local school districts, and expanding highway and toll road systems.

[11] Murray received an honorary degree of Doctor of Law on 7 July 1952 from Sequoia University, which had established legal headquarters in Oklahoma at the time.

In 1954 Murray toured Central and South American countries on behalf of the United States Information Service.

According to a 2015 account, he reportedly said during his tenure, “Damn it, I got elected, not her.”[15] The state constitution prohibited successive terms in the governor's office, so Murray could not run again in 1954.

Willie fought back, asking for separate maintenance and alleging grounds of adultery and public drunkenness by him.

His settlement included making a $75,000 payment to Willie, deeding her the family's home in Oklahoma City and a Ford automobile, and giving her a copy of the movie of her gubernatorial campaign.

[5] Murray later served as a consulting attorney with the Oklahoma Department of Public Welfare until his death on April 16, 1974, 8 days after a surgery for a ruptured abdominal blood vessel.