Johnston Murray (July 21, 1902 – April 16, 1974) was an American lawyer, politician, and the 14th governor of Oklahoma from 1951 to 1955. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Murray was the first Native American to be elected as governor in the United States. He was an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation through his mother. His father, William H. Murray, was the ninth governor of Oklahoma (1931–1935). As governor, the younger Murray attempted to reduce state spending but was stymied by legislators.
The state constitution prohibited him from seeking a second term and, in 1954, his wife Willie ran for governor but lost. In 1956, the couple divorced and Murray switched sides and joined the Republican Party. Murray later remarried and moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he worked for an oil well servicing company and later a limousine service. Murray worked for the remainder of his career as a consulting attorney for the Oklahoma Department of Welfare. The senior Murray later served both with the 1905 convention that drafted a constitution for the State of Sequoyah, and as president of the 1906 convention that drafted Oklahoma's constitution prior to its admission. Following state and national offices, he was elected in 1930 as the ninth Governor of Oklahoma, serving 1931-1935. 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. He attended college at the Murray State School of Agriculture (now Murray State College), graduating in 1924. <!-- This needs more explanation and discussion -->
When Murray returned to Oklahoma, he worked in oil and gas fields, rising to the role of plant manager.
Murray divorced his wife Marion in 1929. He married again in 1933, to Willie Roberta Emerson. She was a concert pianist and known for her drive and ambition. He had returned to graduate school, and in 1947 received his law degree from Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Murray also served as Democratic chair of Oklahoma's 8th congressional district and as chair of local political groups in Kay and Oklahoma counties.
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.
Although working with a Democratic-majority legislature, Murray vetoed forty bills in four years, the highest number in forty years of Oklahoma politics. <!-- What did they want that he vetoed? --> He had some notable successes: he was the first Oklahoma governor to be elected as Chairman of the Southern Governors Conference. He funding of the Turner Turnpike, which had been authorized by the legislature in 1947 and was completed in 1953, during his administration. He was instrumental in the state purchase of fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. In 1954 Murray toured Central and South American countries on behalf of the United States Information Service. He also served as chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission.
The state constitution prohibited successive terms in the governor's office, so Murray could not run again in 1954. Before his term was up, his wife Willie Murray announced that she would run for the office in 1954. The campaign was considered a farce. When she was the first state-wide candidate to campaign for office by helicopter, one reporter wrote that the helicopter, "... was the only thing that got off the ground." He is buried in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, where both his parents were also buried.