Richard Brevard RUSSELL, Jr., Congress, GA (1897-1971)

RUSSELL, Richard Brevard, Jr., a Senator from Georgia; born in Winder, Barrow County, Ga., November 2, 1897; attended the public schools; graduated from the Seventh District Agricultural and Mechanical School, Powder Springs, Ga., in 1914, from Gordon Institute, Barnesville, Ga., in 1915, and from the law department of the University of Georgia at Athens in 1918; admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Winder, Ga., in 1919; served with the United States Naval Reserve in 1918; member, State house of representatives 1921-1931, serving as speaker 1927-1931; Governor of Georgia 1931-1933; elected on November 8, 1932, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William J. Harris; reelected in 1936, 1942, 1948, 1954, 1960 and 1966 and served from January 12, 1933, until his death; served as President pro tempore of the Senate during the Ninety-first and Ninety-second Congresses; chairman, Committee on Immigration (Seventy-fifth through Seventy-ninth Congresses), Committee on Manufactures (Seventy-ninth Congress), Committee on Armed Services (Eighty-second and Eighty-fourth through Ninetieth Congresses), Committee on Appropriations (Ninety-first Congress); died on January 21, 1971, in Washington, D.C.; interment in Russell Memorial Park, Winder, Ga.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Fite, Gilbert C. Richard B. Russell, Jr., Senator From Georgia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991; Goldsmith, John A. Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson. Washington: Seven Locks Press, 1993.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present