Richard B. Russell

Richard Brevard Russell Jr. (born November 2, 1897 in Winder , Barrow County , Georgia , † January 21, 1971 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ). He was both governor and US senator from Georgia.

resume

He was the son of lawyer Richard Russell , who later became Chief Justice on the Supreme Court of Georgia . Russell graduated from law school and ran a law firm with his father in the early 1920s. Between 1921 and 1931 he was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives , and since 1927 its speaker . From 1931 to 1933 he served as governor of his home state. In this capacity, he managed to reorganize the national budget in the middle of the global economic crisis . In doing so, he also resorted to a study by the so-called Allen Commission that had been drawn up under his predecessor Lamartine Griffin Hardman , which had made detailed proposals for effective administrative reform. In 1933 he moved to Congress as a Senator for Georgia. He held this mandate until his death. In 1952 he applied in vain for the presidential candidacy of the Democrats.

He was very close friends with President Lyndon B. Johnson ; however, he did not agree with him politically on all issues. So he was cautious about the Vietnam War . As a Senator for Georgia, he stood in opposition to White House politics on the civil rights issue because of his pronounced racism . In 1956 he was one of 19 Southern Senators who signed the Southern Manifesto , a document against racial integration in public institutions. Russell served on several committees during his long tenure in the Senate. At the express request of President Johnson, he was also a member of the Warren Commission , which investigated the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy between 1963 and 1964 .

Russel died on January 21, 1971 and was buried in the family cemetery in Winder. Shortly after his death, the United States Navy announced that the submarine would be named SSN-687 ( Sturgeon-class ) after Russell. The Russell Senate Office Building was named after him in 1972 .

Web links

Commons : Richard B. Russell - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Richard B. Russell in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Richard Russell in the database of Find a Grave (English)
The New Georgia Encyclopedia (English)
Richard B. Russell in the National Governors Association (English)

Individual evidence

^ Robert A. Caro : The Passage of Power ( The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Volume 4), The Bodley Head, London, 2012, p. 431, ISBN 978-0-679-40507-8 .
^ Robert A. Caro: The Passage of Power ( The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Volume 4), The Bodley Head, London, 2012, pp. 446-449, ISBN 978-0-679-40507-8 .

personal data
SURNAME	Russell, Richard B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Russell, Richard Brevard Jr .; The Georgia Giant
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 2, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH	Winder , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH	January 21, 1971
Place of death	Washington, DC

[1] Robert A. Caro : The Passage of Power ( The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Volume 4), The Bodley Head, London, 2012, p. 431, ISBN 978-0-679-40507-8 .

[2] Robert A. Caro: The Passage of Power ( The Years of Lyndon Johnson , Volume 4), The Bodley Head, London, 2012, pp. 446-449, ISBN 978-0-679-40507-8 .