Difference between revisions of "Richard Russell, Jr."
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==Senate career== | ==Senate career== | ||
===Conservative Coalition=== | ===Conservative Coalition=== | ||
| − | While initially a strong supporter of FDR's policies, Russell later began to split with Roosevelt and became a leader in the [[Conservative Coalition]] in 1937. | + | While initially a strong supporter of FDR's policies and an advocate of the [[New Deal]], Russell later began to split with Roosevelt and became a leader in the [[Conservative Coalition]] in 1937. |
===Warren Commission=== | ===Warren Commission=== | ||
Revision as of 20:19, January 4, 2021
| Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Former President pro tempore of the United States Senate From: January 3, 1969 – January 21, 1971 | |||
| Predecessor | Carl Hayden | ||
| Successor | Allen J. Ellender | ||
| Former U.S. Senator from Georgia From: January 12, 1933 – January 21, 1971 | |||
| Predecessor | John S. Cohen | ||
| Successor | David H. Gambrell | ||
| Former Governor of Georgia From: June 27, 1931 – January 10, 1933 | |||
| Predecessor | Lamartine Griffin Hardman | ||
| Successor | Eugene Talmadge | ||
| Former Member of the Georgia House of Representatives From: 1921 – 1931 | |||
| Predecessor | ? | ||
| Successor | ? | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Democrat | ||
| Spouse(s) | None (lifelong bachelor) | ||
Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. (November 2, 1897 – January 21, 1971) was a U.S. Senator from Georgia who served for thirty years in the position until his death.
Contents
State legislature
Elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1920 at age 23, Russell was a strong advocate of public schooling and the improvisation of highways.
Governor of Georgia
A fiscal conservative, Russell's tenure as the governor of Georgia was marked with the re-organization of the state governments, the reduction of state expenditures, and a balanced budget. Accomplishing all of it in less than two years, he cut no salaries aside from his own, and would move on to be elected into the U.S. Senate.
Senate career
Conservative Coalition
While initially a strong supporter of FDR's policies and an advocate of the New Deal, Russell later began to split with Roosevelt and became a leader in the Conservative Coalition in 1937.
Warren Commission
After John F. Kennedy was assassinated, succeeding president Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Russell to the Warren Commission, a body established to investigate he president's death. While most members concluded on the "single bullet theory," Russell, along with John Sherman Cooper, a Moderate Republican from Kentucky, were dissenters of the view, believing the theory was absurd.[1]
Civil rights opposition
Russell, a lifelong opponent of civil rights, had led racist Southern Democrats in opposition to civil rights legislation ever since the 1930s. Democrat filibusters led by Russell included blocking Republican anti-lynching bills during the presidency of FDR, where he once managed to block a 1935 anti-lynching bill for six days to kill it.[2] Three decades during the 1960s, he tried to halt the 1964 Civil Rights Act before the Senate was able to enact cloture.
An advocate and signatory of the Southern Manifesto,[3] Sen. Russell in 1957 successfully helped water down the 1957 Civil Rights Act legislation along with then-Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, removing the stringent protections from the original Herbert Brownell text in Title III and transforming it into a far weaker version of what it originally had been.[4] Johnson had previously hatched a deal with Russell (as well as Strom Thurmond, who broke it) that had the important sections of the bill be removed, he wouldn't filibuster it when it came up on the Senate for a roll call vote.
Despite having been a white supremacist and fierce opponent of equal rights for blacks, which he never repudiated, his niece Sally Russell insisted that the senator had maintained decent relationships with blacks who worked for him,[5] adding on that she thought he "had a very deep courteous attitude, which probably came from being raised in the South."
Legacy
Russell has the Russell Senate Office Building named after him.[6] Over forty years after it had been named for Russell, liberals such as Chuck Schumer demanded that the building be renamed for RINO John McCain.[7]
References
- ↑ Richard Russell and the Warren Report
- ↑ Little, Becky (January 31, 2019). Why FDR Didn’t Support Eleanor Roosevelt’s Anti-Lynching Campaign. History.com. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ↑ 1956 "Southern Manifesto". Clemson Strom Thurmond Institute. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ↑ DiEugenio, James (October 7, 2018). The Kennedys and Civil Rights: How the MSM Continues to Distort History, Part 2. Kennedys and King. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ↑ Hohmann, James (August 28, 2016). The Daily 202: ‘Dick Russell was a racist. But he was much more than that,’ says niece. Washington Post. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
- ↑ Russell Senate Office Building
- ↑ FLASHBACK: Who Was Richard Russell, And Why Does Chuck Schumer Want A Fellow Democrat’s Name Removed From A Building?
External links
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