Charles Edward Murphy

Charles Murphy, a pioneering television journalist who covered the Kennedy assassination for NBC News and spent 30 years as an ABC News correspondent, died on June 20, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. He was 94. In addition to the Kennedy assassination, Murphy covered the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement, and later became known as one of the best writers and feature reporters in the business.

Born Charles Edward Murphy on November 23, 1928, to John Murphy and Virgie Vola Bartlett, he spent most of his childhood in Idabel, Oklahoma. At 17 he joined the U.S. Army and later attended the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a journalism degree in 1953.

Murphy began his broadcasting career when TV news was in its infancy, first with KVOO in Tulsa and then WBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth (now NBC-5). On November 22, 1963, as reports of “shots fired” at President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade came into the newsroom, Murphy rushed to the main anchor desk, where, broadcasting live over several days, he confirmed to a national audience details about the president’s death, the shooting of police officer J.D. Tippet, and the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald. Long before cable news, that career-defining story propelled Murphy to the ranks of the nation’s elite TV news correspondents. NBC News hired him to anchor the news for its affiliate, WRC-TV, in Washington, D.C. and then assigned him to the White House during the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. In 1967, when American casualties were at their highest in Vietnam, he covered the war in Southeast Asia.

In 1968 after joining ABC News, he opened the network’s Miami bureau and covered, among other events, civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua; the Arab-Israeli conflict, where his car was blown up by an Israeli fighter jet ; unrest in Northern Ireland, including “Bloody Sunday,” where British troops fired on him; Apollo space launches; funerals for Anwar Sadat and Elvis Presley and the military coup of the Chilean President Salvador Allende. His ABC News documentary, “Chile: Experiment in Red,” won both the Overseas Press Club Award and the Dupont-Columbia Award.

In 1977 Charles opened the first Southwest Bureau for ABC News in Dallas. The many stories filed from the region include the Oklahoma City bombing, the Challenger explosion, the savings and loan collapse, H. Ross Perot’s third-party presidential run and the Branch Davidian siege in Waco.

Not every story was hard news, however. He loved telling quirky human-interest stories. With his natural wit and Southern drawl, these became regular features at the end of the nightly broadcast of ABC “World News Tonight,” memorable observations on Americana like hunting dog graveyard in East Texas, cowboy Christmas ball in West Texas, frog jumping competition in Arkansas, and Beverly Hills motorcycle clubs who rode only for Sunday brunches.

Charles was a loving father and papaw. Among his pastimes, he enjoyed fishing and hiking in Colorado with his family, raising orchids in his greenhouse, and reading great big volumes of history. On or off camera, he was a natural storyteller with a gift for entertaining people.

He is predeceased by his wife of 68 years, Jamie Edwards Murphy; his brother Wilburn Dale Murphy and sister Juanita Pollard; and survived by his brother John Murphy (wife Karin), sister Mary Lou Gilbreath (husband Glenn); and his four children: Jamie McLeroy (husband Fred), David Murphy (wife Lowella), Sarah Murphy, and Meredith Dickenson (husband Jerry); five grandchildren, Leah McLeroy (husband Markus), Tommy McLeroy (wife Jessica), Charlotte Murphy (fiancee Martin), Lloyd Murphy and Clark Murphy; and three great-grandchildren. The family would like to give special thanks to Charles’ friend and caregiver Dalia Morales and her husband Victor; and to the wonderful staff at Satori Senior Care, who lovingly cared for Charles during the last years of his life.

The family is planning a Celebration of Life to be announced later.