William Henry Davis "Alfalfa Bill" Murray (November 21, 1869 – October 15, 1956) was an American educator, lawyer, and politician who served as the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, a U.S.

President Hernando Siles eventually cancelled the colony's lease in 1928 after it failed to become profitable and Murray returned to Oklahoma.

[note 1] He was born to Uriah Dow Thomas Murray, a grist mill worker, and Bertha Elizabeth (Jones).

[6] Murray attended College Hill Institute in Springtown, Texas, and started selling books to pay for school.

[12] In 1892, he ran the Texas Senate against Oscar Branch Colquitt and George Taylor Jester, coming in third in the Democratic primary.

[18] He acquired his nickname "Alfalfa" around 1902 while working as a political operative for Palmer S. Moseley, gubernatorial candidate for the Oklahoma Territory.

[citation needed] In 1905, tribal governments in Indian Territory organized a convention to create a constitution for the proposed State of Sequoyah.

[citation needed] In response to Congress's passage of the Enabling Act in 1906, the people of the two territories held a joint convention.

As a speaker, Murray often opposed the progressive work of Kate Barnard, Commissioner of Charities and Corrections,[23] supported anti-corporate legislation,[24] and pushed for Jim Crow laws similar to those in southern states to limit the rights of African Americans.

[25] "We should adopt a provision prohibiting the mixed marriages of negroes with other races in this State, and provide for separate schools and give the Legislature power to separate them in waiting rooms and on passenger coaches, and all other institutions in the State … As a rule they are failures as lawyers, doctors and in other professions…I appreciate the old-time ex-slave, the old darky – and they are the salt of their race – who comes to me talking softly in that humble spirit which should characterize their actions and dealings with the white man".

[34] In July 1921, he met with President Augusto Leguia of Peru and negotiated a 240,000 acre colony where he planned to settle 160 families.

[35] In 1922, he negotiated with Bautista Saavedra's government for a colony in Bolivia, this time in the Tarija Department twelve miles north of Yacuiba.

[44] Conflict in the Bolivian Legislature led President Hernando Siles to demand he create a profitable cotton colony or relinquish his concession.

His lease was cancelled on August 6, 1928, and Murray transitioned to raising cattle before finally leaving Aguairenda on July 24, 1929.

[46] After attending a "Constitutional Convention Reunion" in 1929, Murray announced another campaign for governor on his wife's birthday: January 9, 1930.

"[51] Murray won the Democratic nomination, defeating Buttram, the son of a tenant farmer and oil millionaire.

[56] During his campaign for governor, he promised to crack down on corruption and favoritism for the rich, to abolish half the clerk jobs at the State House, to appoint no family members, to reduce the number of state-owned cars from 800 to 200, never to use convict labor to compete with commercial labor, and not to abuse the power of pardon.

[57] During his tenure, he clashed with Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction John Vaughn over his proposed education reforms.

[58] He ordered an investigation into William Bizzell alleging the University of Oklahoma suffered from "flagrant immorality and corruption.

[61] During his tenure as governor, Murray called out the Guard and charged them with duties ranging from policing ticket sales at University of Oklahoma football games to patrolling the oil fields.

Because of the vast quantity of newly opened wells in Texas and Oklahoma, oil prices had sunk below the costs of production.

When the Oklahoma producers did not comply, on August 4, 1931, Murray called out the Guard, declared martial law, and ordered that some 3,000 oil wells be shut down.

[citation needed] By the end of his administration in 1935, Murray had used the National Guard on 47 occasions and declared martial law more than 30 times.

Under the previous Governor, William J. Holloway, the state government had accumulated a deficit of over $5,000,000 in its effort to encourage jobs and provide welfare.

Through money collected from state employees, businessmen, and his own salary, Murray financed programs to feed Oklahoma's poor.

[70] Huey Pierce Long, Jr., the former governor of Louisiana and U.S. senator, recalled visiting Murray in his hotel room at the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago: "Alfalfa Bill" was very gracious … While we talked at length, he dwelt upon the virtue in the possible candidacies of everybody except Franklin Roosevelt and himself, even suggesting me as a candidate.

In 1940, he ran again for the United States House of Representatives against William C. Rogers on isolationism and a new old age pension without tax increases.

[10][70] Murray supported Strom Thurmond's insurgent Dixiecrat bid for the presidency against Harry S. Truman and Thomas E. Dewey in 1948.

[81][82] In the 21st century, Murray's legacy has drawn criticism from historians, such as William Savage Jr, because he supported racist and antisemitic policies, and because he published segregationist books.

[70] He supported the passage of the first Jim Crow laws in Oklahoma and he advocated the deportation of Jewish people to Madagascar.