Richard Russell Jr.

For other people named Richard Russell, see Richard Russell (disambiguation).

Richard Russell Jr.
President pro tempore of the United States Senate
In office January 3, 1969 – January 21, 1971
Preceded by	Carl Hayden
Succeeded by	Allen J. Ellender
Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations
In office January 3, 1969 – January 21, 1971
Leader	Mike Mansfield
Preceded by	Carl Hayden
Succeeded by	Allen Ellender
Chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services
In office January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1969
Leader	Lyndon B. Johnson Mike Mansfield
Preceded by	Leverett Saltonstall
Succeeded by	John C. Stennis
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953
Leader	Ernest McFarland
Preceded by	Millard Tydings
Succeeded by	Leverett Saltonstall
United States Senator from Georgia
In office January 12, 1933 – January 21, 1971
Preceded by	John S. Cohen
Succeeded by	David H. Gambrell
66th Governor of Georgia
In office June 27, 1931 – January 10, 1933
Preceded by	Lamartine Griffin Hardman
Succeeded by	Eugene Talmadge
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
In office 1921–1931
Personal details
Born	Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (1897-11-02)November 2, 1897 Winder, Georgia, U.S.
Died	January 21, 1971(1971-01-21) (aged 73) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Parents	Richard Russell Sr. Ina Dillard
Relatives	Robert Lee Russell (brother)
Alma mater	Gordon State College University of Georgia School of Law
Profession	Attorney
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Unit	Reserves
Battles/wars	World War I

Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate. He was for decades a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement.

Born in Winder, Georgia, Russell established a legal practice in Winder after graduating from the University of Georgia School of Law. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1921 to 1931 before becoming Governor of Georgia. Russell won a special election to succeed Senator William J. Harris and joined the Senate in 1933. He supported the New Deal early in his Senate career but helped establish the conservative coalition of Southern Democrats. He was the chief sponsor of the National School Lunch Act, which provided free or low-cost school lunches to impoverished students.

During his long tenure in the Senate, Russell served as chairman of several committees, and was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services for most of the period between 1951 and 1969. He was a candidate for President of the United States at the 1948 Democratic National Convention and the 1952 Democratic National Convention. He was also a member of the Warren Commission.

Russell supported racial segregation and co-authored the Southern Manifesto with Strom Thurmond. Russell and 17 fellow Democratic Senators, along with one Republican, blocked the passage of civil rights legislation via the filibuster. After Russell's protégé, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, Russell led a Southern boycott of the 1964 Democratic National Convention. Russell served in the Senate until his death from emphysema in 1971.

Early life

Russell enrolled in the University of Georgia School of Law in 1915 and earned a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree in 1918. While at UGA, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society.

Dominated by white conservatives, Democrats controlled state government and the Congressional delegation. The Republican Party was no longer competitive, hollowed out in the state following the effective disenfranchisement of most blacks by Georgia's approval of a constitutional amendment, effective in 1908, requiring a literacy test, but providing a "grandfather clause" to create exceptions for whites.

Political career - Governor of Georgia, 1931–1933

Russell as governor

As governor, Russell reorganized the bureaucracy, promoted economic development in the midst of the Great Depression, and balanced the state budget.

Senate career, 1933–1971

Russell at first supported the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. In 1936, he defeated the demagogic former Governor Eugene Talmadge for the US Senate seat by defending the New Deal as good for Georgia.

Russell and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963

During World War II, Russell was known for his uncompromising position toward Japan and its civilian casualties. In the late months of the war, he held that the US should not treat Japan with more lenience than Germany, and that the United States should not encourage Japan to sue for peace.

Russell's support for first-term senator Lyndon B. Johnson paved the way for Johnson to become Senate Majority Leader. Russell often dined at Johnson's house during their Senate days. But, their 20-year friendship came to an end during Johnson's presidency, in a fight over the 1968 nomination as Chief Justice of Abe Fortas, Johnson's friend and Supreme Court justice.

In early 1956, Russell's office was continually used as a meeting place by Southern fellow senators Strom Thurmond, James Eastland, Allen Ellender, and John Stennis, the four having a commonality of being dispirited with Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 ruling by the US Supreme Court that said that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy requested Russell place the Presidential wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns during an appearance at Arlington National Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony.

Russell scheduled a closed door meeting for the Senate Armed Services Committee for August 31, 1961, at the time of Senator Strom Thurmond requesting the committee vote on whether to vote to investigate "a conspiracy to muzzle military anti-Communist drives."

In late February 1963, the Senate Armed Services Committee was briefed by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara on policy in the Caribbean. Russell said afterward that he believed that American airmen would strike down foreign jets in international waters and only inquire on the aircraft’s purpose there afterward.

In January 1964, President Johnson delivered the 1964 State of the Union Address, calling for Congress to "lift by legislation the bars of discrimination against those who seek entry into our country, particularly those who have much needed skills and those joining their families." Russell issued a statement afterward stating the commitment by Southern senators to oppose such a measure, which he called "shortsighted and disastrous," while admitting the high probability of it passing. He added that the civil rights bill's true intended effect was to intermingle races, eliminate states' rights, and abolish the checks and balances system.

Letter from Russell about Civil Rights Act

Although he had served as a prime mentor of Johnson, Russell and Johnson disagreed over civil rights. Johnson supported this as President. Russell, a segregationist, had repeatedly blocked and defeated federal civil rights legislation via use of the filibuster.

Unlike Theodore Bilbo, "Cotton Ed" Smith, and James Eastland, who had reputations as ruthless, tough-talking, heavy-handed race baiters, Russell never justified hatred or acts of violence to defend segregation. But he strongly defended white supremacy and apparently did not question it or ever apologize for his segregationist views, votes and speeches. Russell was key, for decades, in blocking meaningful civil rights legislation intended to protect African Americans from lynching, disenfranchisement, and disparate treatment under the law. After Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Russell (along with more than a dozen other southern Senators, including Herman Talmadge and Russell Long) boycotted the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.

From 1963 to 1964, Russell was one of the members of the Warren Commission, which was charged to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. Russell's personal papers indicated that he was troubled by the Commission's single-bullet theory, the Soviet Union's failure to provide greater detail regarding Lee Harvey Oswald's period in Russia, and the lack of information regarding Oswald's Cuba-related activities.

In June 1968, Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his decision to retire. President Johnson afterward announced the nomination of Associate Justice Abe Fortas for the position. David Greenburg wrote that when Russell "decided in early July to oppose Fortas, he brought most of his fellow Dixiecrats with him."

Russell was a prominent supporter of a strong national defense. He used his powers as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1951 to 1969, and then as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee as an institutional base to gain defense installations and jobs for Georgia. He was dubious about the Vietnam War, privately warning President Johnson repeatedly against deeper involvement.

A statue of Russell by Frederick Hart is in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Legacy

Russell was seen as a hero by many of the pro Jim Crow South. While undoubtedly a skilled politician of immense influence, his legacy is marred by his lifelong support of white supremacy. Russell publicly said that America was “a white man’s country, yes, and we are going to keep it that way.” He also said he was vehemently opposed to “political and social equality with the Negro.” Russell also supported poll taxes across the South and called President Truman's support of civil rights for black Americans an “uncalled-for attack on our Southern civilization."

Russell has been honored by having the following named for him:

• The Russell Senate Office Building, oldest of the three U.S. Senate office buildings. In 2018, Senate minority leader Charles Schumer called for the renaming of the building with the name of recently deceased Senator John McCain.
• The Russell Auditorium at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia.
• Richard B. Russell Dam and Lake, part of the Richard B. Russell Multiple Resource Area, located on the upper Savannah River between Elberton, Georgia, and Calhoun Falls, South Carolina. A Georgia state park on the shores of that lake also bears Russell's name.
• The Richard B. Russell Airport in Rome, Georgia, the regional general aviation airport serving Floyd County, Georgia.
• Senator Russell's Sweet Potatoes are a favorite southern dish around the holidays.
• SSN 687 Richard B. Russell latest fast-attack-submarine of sturgeon class.

See also

• Conservative Democrat – US Democratic Party member with conservative political views

Further sources

Primary sources

• Logue, Calvin McLeod and Freshley, Dwight L., eds. (1997). Voice of Georgia: Speeches of Richard B. Russell, 1928–1969
• Nixon, Richard. "Remarks Honoring the Late Senator Richard Brevard Russell in Atlanta, Georgia. January 23, 1971". American Reference Library – Primary Source Documents. Retrieved June 21, 2016.

Scholarly secondary sources

External video
Booknotes interview with Gilbert Fite on Richard B. Russell, Jr., Senator From Georgia, August 2, 1992 C-SPAN

• Campbell, Charles E. (2013). Senator Richard B. Russell and my Career as a Trial Lawyer. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press)
• Caro, Robert A. (2002). The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol 3: Master of the Senate
• Fite, Gilbert (2002). Richard B. Russell Jr., Senator from Georgia
• Finley, Keith M. (2008). Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965 Baton Rouge: LSU Press ISBN 0807133450
• Franklin, Sekou (2014). "The elasticity of anti-civil rights discourse: Albert Gore, Sr., Richard Russell, and constituent relations in the 1950s and 1960s". Social Identities. 20 (1): 90. doi:10.1080/13504630.2013.840574. S2CID 144032586.
• Goldsmith, John A. (1993). Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Grant, Philip A. Jr. "Editorial Reaction to the 1952 Presidential Candidacy of Richard B. Russell." Georgia Historical Quarterly 1973 57(2): 167–178.
• Mann, Robert (1996). The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights.
• Mead, Howard N. "Russell vs. Talmadge: Southern Politics and the New Deal." Georgia Historical Quarterly 1981 65(1): 28–45.
• Shelley II, Mack C. (1983). The Permanent Majority: The Conservative Coalition in the United States Congress
• Ziemke, Caroline F. "Senator Richard B. Russell and the 'Lost Cause' in Vietnam, 1954–1968," Georgia Historical Quarterly 1988 72(1): 30–71.
•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• United States Congress. "Richard Russell Jr. (id: R000536)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

External links

• United States Congress. "Richard Russell Jr. (id: R000536)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Richard Brevard Russell Jr. biography
• Letter from Senator Russell to President Truman 7 August 1945 after Bombing of Hiroshima
• The New Georgia Encyclopedia entry for Richard B. Russell Jr.
• Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
• Russell Community and Hall at UGA
• Richard B. Russell State Park
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Richard B. Russell" is available at the Internet Archive
• Legends of the Dead-Ball Era, 1909–1913: Childhood baseball card collection of Richard B. Russell, Jr. from the Digital Library of Georgia
• Russell House historical marker
• Appearances on C-SPAN