Existing comment:
Senator Richard Russell (D-GA)
Richard Russell (1897–1971) was born in Winder, Georgia. After earning a law degree from the University of Georgia in 1918 and serving in the state General Assembly, he was elected governor of Georgia in 1930. In 1932, he won a special election to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat and was reelected from 1942 to 1966. In 1935 and 1937 he led filibusters against antilynching bills, and in 1944 and 1945 he helped defund the FEPC. By the late 1940s, he had become the acknowledged leader of the Southern Caucus of the Democratic Party, or Southern bloc. Russell planned strategies for the filibusters against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964. Despite this dissent, he was highly respected by Senate colleagues for his integrity, wisdom, command of parliamentary rules and precedents, and ability to work out compromises. |