Charles F. Hurley
Charles Francis Hurley (November 24, 1893-March 24, 1946) was a governor of the state of Massachusetts.
Hurley was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A graduate of Boston College, he served in the United States Navy during World War I.
In 1930, Mr. Hurley was elected Massachusetts State Treasurer and Receiver General, a position he held from 1931 to 1937. In 1936, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and served one term from 1937 to 1939. He was defeated for re-election in the 1938 Democratic primary by James Curley.
During Governor Hurley's administration, the Fair Trades Laws were passed which regulated the use of private police in strikes, imposed a minimum wage for women and children, and further regulated industrial work. He vetoed a law to require teachers to take loyalty oaths and raised the ire of Georgia's Governor E.D. Rivers by refusing to extradite James Cunningham who had escaped from a Georgia chain gang thirteen years earlier. Hurley also approved a fifth form of municipal government in Massachusetts, called Plan E. This allowed for an appointed town manager and a town committee drawn from a proportional representation of the vote, rather than a collection of majority elected precinct candidates.
Governor Hurley died March 24, 1946, at the age of 52.
