Richard Russell

Richard Brevard Russell (2 November 1897 - 21 January 1971), was born in Winder, Georgia. He graduated from Gordon Institute in Barnesville, Georgia, in 1915 and received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Georgia in 1918. He served in the enlisted ranks of the United States Naval Reserve Forces in 1918 and, in 1919, set up law practice in Winder. Prior to entering the United States Senate in 1933, Russell served as county attorney for Barrow County, Georgia, as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, its Speaker, and finally, he was Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933.

Richard B. Russell served in the United States Senate from 1933 to his death in 1971. He received an LL.D. from Mercer University in 1957. During the 91st Congress, he was president pro tempore of the Senate, a member and former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, a member of the Space and Aeronautics Sciences Committee and of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. He was also a member of the commission which investigated the assassination of President of the United States John F. Kennedy. While still in office, Senator Russell died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.