Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I pay tribute to Ms. Anne G. Murphy. Ms. Murphy, a Rhode Islander by birth and a strong advocate for the arts, passed away in April at the age of 74. Throughout her distinguished lifetime and career, Ms. Murphy worked to defend Federal investments in the arts. After graduating from Rhode Island College in 1959, she volunteered on the presidential campaign of Senator John F. Kennedy and taught elementary school in Rhode Island before relocating to Washington, DC to work on the staffs of two Representatives from Rhode Island, Congressmen John Fogarty and Robert Tiernan. While in Congressman Fogarty's office, she helped contribute to legislation that led to the creation of the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA. After leaving Capitol Hill, Ms. Murphy continued serving in the arts arena. She worked at both the NEA and the Public Broadcasting Service, and then joined the American Arts Alliance, where she served as executive director in the 1980s and early 1990s. As the leader of this major arts advocacy group, now known as the Performing Arts Alliance, Ms. Murphy defended arts programs from budget cuts and other attacks. Ms. Murphy also served on the board of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and was a co-chair of the annual Washington Project for the Arts Gala. During the 2000s, she served as the director and co-chair of the nonprofit digital technologies research organization, Digital Promise.…”