Born in 1897 in Winder, Georgia, Richard Brevard Russell Jr. was the son of Judge Richard B. Russell and Ina Dillard Russell. Educated at Gordon Institute and at the University of Georgia Law School, Russell was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1920. This was the beginning of a fifty-year career in politics and public service, which included stints as a state legislator (1921–31), governor (1931–33), and United States senator (1933–71). He died in office on January 21, 1971.

By the late 1940s Russell had become one of the most influential senators in Washington. He supported most of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, but in later years opposed the growing powers of the federal government. He was a strict constructionist of the United States Constitution. Russell was a strong nationalist and believed in maintaining a powerful national defense. Except for defense, he was a fiscal conservative, as illustrated by his opposition to foreign aid.

His reputation as a conservative was also based in large measure on his unfailing support of racial segregation. From the 1940s onward he fought the growing demand for civil rights legislation and was probably the most influential opponent of any civil rights laws in Congress. Russell strongly believed in the superiority of the nation’s Anglo-Saxon heritage and principles and thus opposed increasing immigration, especially from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Russell never married but was part of a large extended family and believed strongly in traditional family values. His mark on American history during his thirty-eight years in the Senate is symbolized by the Richard B. Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.

• Fite, Gilbert C. Richard B. Russell, Jr., Senator from Georgia. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
• Goldsmith, John A. Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson. Washington, D.C.: Seven Locks Press, 1993.