Charles F. Hurley
| Charles Francis Hurley | |
|---|---|
Hurley in 1937
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| 54th Governor of Massachusetts | |
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In office January 7, 1937 – January 5, 1939 |
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| Lieutenant | Francis E. Kelly |
| Preceded by | James M. Curley |
| Succeeded by | Leverett A. Saltonstall |
| Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts | |
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In office January, 1931 – January, 1937 |
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| Preceded by | John W. Haigis |
| Succeeded by | William E. Hurley |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 24, 1893 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | March 24, 1946 (aged 52) Boston, Massachusetts |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Charles Francis Hurley (November 24, 1893 – March 24, 1946) was the 54th Governor of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and one of its first Irish-American governors.
Charles Francis Hurley was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to John and Elizabeth (Maker) Hurley. He attended public schools in Cambridge, then Boston College High School, and the studied for two years at Boston College. He became a salesmen for athletic goods, and entered the United States Navy in the First World War, serving in a radio intelligence unit stationed at Harvard University. After the war Hurley entered the real estate business, in partnership with James M. Conley. In 1924 he married Conley's daughter Marion; the couple had five children.
Hurley's entry into politics was in 1919, when he won election to the Cambridge school committee, on which he served until 1931. Governor Hurley's administration was a brief departure from the increasing ethnic conflict between Yankee Protestants and Irish-American Catholics in political machines, party control, and business influence which had marked the state's early 20th century history. In 1930 he ran as a Democrat for the position of Massachusetts State Treasurer, winning three consecutive two-year terms. In 1936 he won the nomination for Governor (James Michael Curley, the Democratic incumbent, was seeking a Senate seat), and then won the general election, defeating Republican John W. Haigis.
As a result of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th century, the predominant power of the native American classes had first eroded in Boston and then the state with brief checks and restoration of Yankee power in the interim. While Irish immigration had been reduced to a trickle with the Immigration Act of 1924 further immigration was negligible and the state turned to a process of assimilation and competition between the two groups for remaining power. Hurley represented the more legitimate side to Irish American politics and he attempted to prove the Americanization of his ethnic community by turning away from ethnic spoils which had marked his previous predecessors. Included amongst his program of cleaning up the civil service were the regulation of labor practices and emphasis on individual rights.
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