William J. Murphy, SJ, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1895. He attended Boston College for two years, from 1912 to 1914, before entering the Society of Jesus. Murphy completed coursework at Woodstock College and then spent four years teaching the classics at Fordham University and Holy Cross College. He was ordained in 1927. Between 1927 and 1934, when he was named general director of studies of the Jesuit Schools of New England, Murphy spent a total of three years in theological and literary studies and three years lecturing in literature at Boston College and Boston College Graduate School.

Murphy was appointed as the nineteenth president on August 15, 1939, sixteen days before Hitler invaded Poland, and ceased his tenure six years later, five days after Japanese surrender ended the war. Although the war dominated Murphy’s presidency, other important events occurred at Boston College as well.

In 1941, Murphy oversaw two important events: the donation of the Liggett Estate by Cardinal William O'Connell to house the College of Business Administration in July, and the first celebration in Massachusetts of the Solemn Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, also known as the Red Mass, on October 4. The Red Mass denotes the beginning of the judicial year in a religious ceremony, and as such was sponsored by the Law School and Cardinal O'Connell. Attendees at the ceremony, held at Immaculate Conception Church, included such notable political figures as Governor Leverett Saltonstall, Mayor Maurice J. Tobin, the entire Massachusetts Supreme Court, the state attorney general, and the United States attorney general. The mass was said by Murphy, and the homily was delivered by William J. Kenealy, SJ, dean of the Law School.

Murphy coordinated a number of war-related changes at the College. As a result of the Selective Training and Service Act of September 1940, Boston College formed the Counseling Board and the Placement Bureau to aid students in their relations with both their local draft boards and recruiting services. On December 12, 1941, Boston College simultaneously celebrated Bill of Rights Day and announced the acceleration of the college’s curricula, its "war program." In March 1943, the War Department launched the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP); Boston College became a training center for 432 soldiers, although these numbers later decreased. In 1944, the College began a War Fund Drive to help it through the financially challenging period.

In the closing months of his presidency, Murphy announced the establishment of a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration with a major in marketing that was offered at the Intown College and required six years of evening attendance. An Institute of Adult Education, which was not degree-granting, also opened at the Intown College in fall 1945. After leaving Boston College in August 1945, Murphy served in a variety of roles including dean of Shadow Brook Novitiate in Lenox, Massachusetts; instructor of tertian priests at St. Robert's Hall in Pomfret, Connecticut; and director of retreats at Campion Retreat House. He died on April 28, 1973, in Methuen, Massachusetts.

Sources

Donovan, Charles F., David R. Dunigan, and Paul A. FitzGerald. History of Boston College: From the Beginnings to 1990. Chestnut Hill, MA: The University Press of Boston College, 1990.

Dunigan, David R. A History of Boston College. Milwaukee, WI: Bruce Publishing Co., 1947.

"Obituaries: Rev. W. J. Murphy, former BC president." Boston Globe, April 29, 1973.