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RUSSELL, Richard Brevard, Jr. (1897-1971)
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Senate Years of Service: 1933-1971

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.

Atlanta History Center
Atlanta, GA
Papers: Correspondence in United Church Women records, 1946-1976; and Jesse Draper papers, 1917-1946.
Broadcast Pioneers Library
University of Maryland Hornbake Library
College Park, MD
Papers: 5 audiotapes (1960-1969) in Westinghouse Broadcasting Company collection, 1945-1981.
Emory University
Robert W. Woodruff Library
Atlanta, GA
Papers: Ca. 100 items (1927-1969) in various collections including Robert Jesse Travis papers, 1818-1966; Comer McDonald Woodward papers, 1892-1942; Costen Jordan Harrell papers, 1828-1970; Mildred Hicks papers, 1917-1945; Mildred Seydell papers, 1842-1978; Josephine Mathewson Wilkins papers, 1920-1977; Richard H. Rich papers, 1902-1981; Charles F. Palmer papers, 1903-1973; Harvey Warren Cox papers, 1865-1961; Glenn Weddington Rainey papers, 1917-1974; and William Berry Hartsfield papers, 1892-1980.
Georgia Department of Archives and History
Atlanta, GA
Papers: Gubernatorial papers.
Georgia Historical Society
Savannah, GA
Papers: Correspondence in Meldrim family papers, 1809-1973; Lowry Axley papers, 1926-1949; Jones family papers, 1723-1936; Pleasant Alexander Stovall papers, 1846-1974; and David McCord Wright papers, 1812-1978. Finding aid.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
Austin, TX
Papers: In transcripts and audio recordings of telephone conversations held by Lyndon Johnson, 1 September - 31 October 1964. Finding aid.
Sioux City Public Museum
Sioux City, IA
Papers: Correspondence in Thomas Barnett Huff papers, 1907-1968.
University of Georgia
Hargrett Library for Rare Books and Manuscripts
Athens, GA
Papers: Correspondence in Margaret Davis Cate papers, 1890-1964; and Milton Luther Fleetwood papers, 1839-1966.
University of Georgia
Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies
Athens, GA
Papers: 1933-1971. 1,818 linear feet. Official and personal correspondence and papers organized into eighteen series: dictated letters (1944-1970); intra-office communications (1943-1971) between the senator and his staff; speech/media files (1933-1971); office files (1931-1938); personal files (1928-1971) comprised of correspondence and materials relating to his travel; political files (1932-1971) relating to each senatorial campaign, his presidential bid, political correspondence on various topics, and an extensive newspaper file; political patronage files (1933-1970); official constituent correspondence files (1943-1971); legislative files (1934-1971) relating to committee assignments; Civil Rights files (1943-1971); rivers and harbors files (1937-1970); MacArthur hearings (1951-1953); Warren Commission files (1963-1970); military installation files (1945-1970); general files (1943-1971) comprised mainly of material relating to federal agencies and departments; international files (1940-1971); case files; and cross-reference files. Finding aid. Case files are closed for 75 years after their creation and portions of other series are restricted.
Papers: 1897-1970. 59 linear feet. Personal papers formerly maintained at his home, organized into five series: early years; school years; pre-gubernatorial and Georgia legislature; gubernatorial; and senatorial years. Includes personal and family correspondence (1897-1918); legislative, political, and personal correspondence, and subject files (1921-1931); campaign material, correspondence, subject files, newsclippings, and speeches (1931-1933); and senatorial materials (1933-1971) including intra-office materials, speeches and newsclippings, political campaign files, patronage files, committee related files, and files relating to civil rights issues and international affairs. Finding aid. Portions of the collection are restricted.
Oral History: 1971-ongoing. 157 transcripts. Includes interviews with family members, staff, other senators and public figures, and friends. Cover entire life. Finding aid.
University of Michigan
Bentley Historical Library
Ann Arbor, MI
Papers: Correspondence in Stella Brunt Osborn papers, 1916-1983; Blair Moody papers, 1928-1954; and Owen J. Cleary papers, 1944-1959. Finding aid.
Yale University Libraries
Manuscripts and Archives
New Haven, CT
Papers: In Hanson Weightman Baldwin papers, 1929-1988.

  • Boney, F.N. " `The Senator's Senator': Richard Brevard Russell, Jr., of Georgia.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 71 (Fall 1987): 477-90.
  • Bradford, Gary Paul. "A Rhetorical Analysis of Richard B. Russell's 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Speech.'' Master's thesis, University of Georgia, 1966.
  • Day, John Kyle. The Southern Manifesto: Massive Resistance and the Fight to Preserve Segregation. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2014.
  • Fite, Gilbert C. "The Education of a Senator: Richard B. Russell, Jr., in School.'' Atlanta Historical Journal 30 (Summer 1986): 19-31.
  • ___. Richard B. Russell, Jr., Senator From Georgia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
  • ___. "The Richard B. Russell Library: From Idea to Working Collection.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 64 (Spring 1980): 22-34.
  • ___. "Richard B. Russell and Lyndon B. Johnson: The Story of a Strange Friendship.'' Missouri Historical Review 83 (January 1989): 125-38.
  • Gay, James Thomas. "Richard B. Russell and the National School Lunch Program." Georgia Historical Quarterly 80 (Winter 1996): 859-72.
  • Goldsmith, John A. Colleagues: Richard B. Russell and His Apprentice, Lyndon B. Johnson. Washington: Seven Locks Press, 1993.
  • Grant, Philip A. "Editorial Reaction to the 1952 Candidacy of Richard B. Russell.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 57 (Summer 1973): 167-78.
  • Hale, F. Sheffield. "Richard B. Russell's Election to the Senate: The Watershed of Two Political Careers.'' Atlanta Historical Journal 28 (Spring 1984): 5-21.
  • Kelly, Karen Kalmar. "Richard B. Russell: Democrat from Georgia.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1979.
  • Klimas, Joshua E. "Balancing Consensus, Consent, and Competence: Richard Russell, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Oversight of America's Defense, 1955-1968." Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2007.
  • Mann, Robert. The Walls of Jericho: Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell and the Struggle for Civil Rights. New York: Harcourt Brace Co., 1996.
  • Mead, Howard N. "Russell vs. Talmadge: Southern Politics and the New Deal.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 65 (Spring 1981): 28-45.
  • Mellichamp, Josephine. "Richard B. Russell, Jr.'' In Senators from Georgia, pp. 245-60. Huntsville, AL: Strode Publishers, 1976.
  • Potenziani, David Daniel. "Look to the Past: Richard B. Russell and the Defense of Southern White Supremacy.'' Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, 1981.
  • ___. "Striking Back: Richard B. Russell and Racial Relocation.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 65 (Fall 1981): 263-77.
  • Russell, Sally. A Heart for Any Fate: The Biography of Richard Brevard Russell, Sr. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2004.
  • Stern, Mark. "Lyndon Johnson and Richard Russell: Institutions, Ambitions and Civil Rights.'' Presidential Studies Quarterly 21 (Fall 1991): 687-704.
  • U.S. Congress. Memorial Services in the Congress of the United States and Tributes in Eulogy of Richard Brevard Russell, Late a Senator from the State of Georgia. 92d Cong., 1st sess., 1971. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1971.
  • U.S. Congress. Senate. Dedication and Unveiling of the Statue of Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. Proceedings in the Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC, January 24, 1996. 105th Cong., 1st sess., 1997. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1997.
  • Vogt, Sheryl B. A Guide to the Richard B. Russell, Jr. Collection. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press, 1997.
  • Woods, Jeff. Richard B. Russell: Southern Nationalism and American Foreign Policy. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.
  • Ziemke, Caroline F. "Senator Richard B. Russell and the `Lost Cause' in Vietnam, 1954-1968.'' Georgia Historical Quarterly 72 (Spring 1988): 30-71.