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'''Russell Billiu Long''' (1918-2003), the older son of [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Sr.]], was a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] from [[Louisiana]] who served in the [[United States Senate]] from December 31, 1948 until his retirement on January 3, 1987. As the long-time chairman of the Senate Finance Committee (1965-1981), Long was a key player in the writing of the national tax code at a time when federal spending with the advent of the [[Great Society]] began to accelerate in a dramatic fashion.

'''Russell Billiu Long''' (1918-2003), the older son of [[Huey Long|Huey Pierce Long, Sr.]], was a [[Democrat]] from [[Louisiana]] who served in the [[United States Senate]] from December 31, 1948, until his retirement on January 3, 1987. As the long-time chairman of the Senate Finance Committee (1965-1981), Long was a key player in the writing of the national tax code at a time when federal spending with the advent of the [[Great Society]] and the costs of the [[Vietnam War]] began to accelerate in a dramatic fashion.

A native of [[Shreveport]] and a long-time resident of [[Baton Rouge]], Long first won his Senate seat in 1948, when he defeated future governor of Louisiana, [[Robert F. Kennon]] of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], in the Democratic primary special election to fill the two years remaining in the term of Senator John H. Overton, who died in office. (There was an interim senator, William C. Feazel, a Long supporter.) One day shy of his thirtieth birthday, Long then handily defeated the [[Republican Party (United States)|Repubican]] nominee, Clem S. Clarke, a Shreveport oilman and supporter of [[Thomas Dewey]] for president. Leander Perez, a Louisiana political boss from Plaquemines Parish and then the head of the state party central committee, attempted to assign the Democratic designation to Clarke, rather than Long, but he was forced to yield to the powerful Long forces. At the time [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], not [[U.S. President]] [[Harry Truman]], was the official Democratic presidential nominee in Louisiana and three other former [[Confederate]] states. Had Clarke been permitted to run under the Thurmond and the Dewey banners, it was speculated that he could have defeated Long and sidelined a long political career in the making.

A native of [[Shreveport]] and a long-time resident of [[Baton Rouge]], Long first won his Senate seat in 1948, when he defeated future governor of Louisiana, [[Robert F. Kennon]] of [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], in the Democratic primary special election to fill the two years remaining in the term of Senator John H. Overton, who died in office. (There was an interim senator, William C. Feazel, a Long supporter.) One day shy of his thirtieth birthday, Long then handily defeated the [[Republican Party (United States)|Repubican]] nominee, Clem S. Clarke, a Shreveport oilman and supporter of [[Thomas Dewey]] for president. Leander Perez, a Louisiana political boss from Plaquemines Parish and then the head of the state party central committee, attempted to assign the Democratic designation to Clarke, rather than Long, but he was forced to yield to the powerful Long forces. At the time [[Strom Thurmond]] of [[South Carolina]], not [[U.S. President]] [[Harry Truman]], was the official Democratic presidential nominee in Louisiana and three other former [[Confederate]] states. Had Clarke been permitted to run under the Thurmond and the Dewey banners, it was speculated that he could have defeated Long and sidelined a long political career in the making.