Richard Russell Jr. | |
---|---|
President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate | |
In office January 3, 1969 – January 21, 1971 |
|
Preceded by | Carl Hayden |
Succeeded by | Allen J. Ellender |
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations | |
In office January 3, 1969 – January 21, 1971 |
|
Leader | Mike Mansfield |
Preceded by | John S. Cohen |
Succeeded by | Allen Ellender |
Chairman 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. November 2, 1897 Winder, Georgia, U.S. |
Died | January 21, 1971 Washington D.C., U.S. |
(aged 73)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Never married |
Alma mater |
Gordon State College University of Georgia School of Law |
Profession | Attorney |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Navy |
Unit | Reserves |
Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (November 3, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was an American politician from Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, he briefly served as speaker of the Georgia house, and as Governor of Georgia (1931–33) before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 until his death from emphysema in Washington, D.C. in 1971. As a Senator, he was a candidate for President of the United States in the 1948 Democratic National Convention, and the 1952 Democratic National Convention.
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.
Russell was born in Winder, Georgia, the fourth child (and first son) of 15 children of Ina (Dillard) and Richard Brevard Russell, a prominent lawyer and later chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. The younger Russell graduated in 1914 from the Seventh District Agricultural and Mechanical School in Powder Springs, Georgia, and from Gordon Institute in Barnesville, Georgia, the following year. Russell then 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.