Republican Senators George Murphy and Winston Prouty attended a subcommittee hearing, and a rumor began to spread among the other 99 senators: “If you’re hungry, stop by Murphy’s desk. There’s lots of candy there.”
Bettman/Bettman Archives
The Journal-Courier
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Americans are in a bad mood these days. Democrats, Republicans and independents often disagree on one thing, but there’s one place on Capitol Hill where we can all share in a moment of bipartisan bliss.
Here’s the story of how it came about.
In the early 1960s, a man named George Murphy was looking for a new career. He had been a movie star in the 1930s and 1940s, appearing in over 40 films. With his acting career over, Murphy was looking for a new line of work. He decided to use his celebrity status to run for public office (as fellow actors Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger would later do).
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Murphy was elected to the Senate in 1964, moving from Hollywood to Capitol Hill.
Then, as now, desks in the Senate chamber are assigned by seniority: The front row — where TV cameras can see them — is reserved for veterans and rarely replaced, while Murphy and the other freshmen sit in the back.
He also had a sweet tooth. In his Hollywood days, Murphy had to stay slim. Now in his 60s, his dancing days are long gone, and he can indulge in candy to his heart’s content. Since eating and drinking are prohibited on the Senate floor, he would discreetly hide hard candy in his desk and enjoy it furtively during long, tedious debates.
In 1968, Murphy was assigned a new desk, still at the back of the room but in a well-traveled hallway. Whenever colleagues stopped to chat, the California Republican would reach inside his wooden desk (a hand-made replica of the 48 original desks installed in 1819, the year the British burned the Capitol) and sneak a piece from his stash of candy.
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A rumor began to quietly spread among the other 99 senators: “If you’re hungry, stop by Murphy’s desk. There’s a stash of candy there.” Murphy was a personable man, so he didn’t need to sweet talk his way out of the candy. Party affiliation didn’t matter; Democrats and Republicans got some, everyone.
Murphy enjoyed the newfound attention so much that he made sure to keep some snacks on his desk at all times and told his coworkers they were welcome to stop by and get some when he was not around.
A nickname was soon developed and it became known as the Candy Desk (only three other senators in the chamber are named after it: the Mississippi senator is the Jefferson Davis Desk, the Kentucky senator is the Henry Clay Desk, and the New Hampshire senator is the Daniel Webster Desk).
Murphy’s political career didn’t last long (he lost reelection in 1970), but the candy desk continued. Senators had a knack for spotting a good one, and they weren’t going to let it go. Paul Fannin of Arizona continued the tradition, and others followed suit.
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In the early 1980s, Idaho’s Steve Sims expanded his secret offerings to include a variety of confections supplied by the National Candy and Chocolate Manufacturers Association.
Some senators consider the golden age of the Candy Desk to be when Rick Santorum was there from 1997 to 2007. As a senator from the Keystone State, you can bet he had a constant supply of sweets shipped directly from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The current seat is held by Indiana’s Todd Young, whose half-dozen or so Indiana treats include craft caramel made in the town of Kendallville.
The exact location of the Candy Desk has changed slightly over the years, but for the most part, it’s located on the right (Republican) side of the chamber and is usually manned by a Republican senator. But this is the height of partisanship: no matter how heated the issues or how heated the rhetoric, no Republican or Democrat is going to reach over to the Candy Desk to grab a treat. It’s just filled with hungry men and women dying to pop something sweet into their mouths.
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The Candy Desk may be the only place in Washington these days where you’ll find consistently satisfied smiles.
J. Mark Powell is a novelist, former TV journalist and die-hard history buff. Have a historical mystery to solve? A forgotten moment worth remembering? Send it to us at HolyCow@insidesources.com.
