DONALD S. RUSSELL
(1906-1998)
Meet Donald
The Honorable Donald Stuart Russell was born in Lafayette Springs, Mississippi in 1906, where he lived before moving to Chester, SC in 1914. He obtained multiple degrees in law at the University of South Carolina and University of Michigan, passing the bar in 1928. He served as the Assistant Director of Economic Stabilization and Deputy Director for the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion during WWII, also serving as a major in the United States Army. He was the Assistant Secretary of State between 1945 and 1947, during which the notorious “Mr. Blank” dismissals occurred. After serving as the University of South Carolina’s president, he became governor of South Carolina before being appointed to the Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Olin D. Johnston. He served as a district judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit before his death in 1998.
Donald S. Russell's South Carolina
Russell’s South Carolina was first defined by a period of immense growth with the Charleston Expedition, the Progressive Movement, and an agricultural boom due to the bright-leaf tobacco plant. Textile mills were established in the upstate which drew people from farms to mills. WWI happened, followed by the Great Depression (causing agriculture to wane, along with an infestation of boll weevils) and the Great Migration. Jim Crow laws and the KKK were rampant. WWII happened, and South Carolinians contributed by keeping German POWs on farms and manufacturing uniforms from textiles and making produce, causing agriculture to surge. Strom Thurmond ran for president on the State’s Rights platform (opposed the New Deal’s federalization of government). The state enforced legal racial segregation until the Civil Rights Act was passed. Tourism became a large industry in the later years of 20th century SC until the 1980’s when the state's low levels of education have failed to attract high wage, high tech industries.
Above: Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Soldiers by Royden Dixon (1941), courtesy Library of Congress; obtained from Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, https://www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8b15122/?co=fsa
Bert Andrews
Bert Andrews was a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, who released a story about the “Mr. Blank” dismissals, which occurred during Russell’s tenure in the State Department. Andrews was born in 1901 and began his journalism career working as a copy boy for the Sacramento Star. He reported heavily on WWII in England and the Pacific, including the Yalta Conference and the first meeting of the United Nations. The “Mr. Blank” scandal, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize, involved the firing of seven officials from the State department without any specific citations or reasoning, with the only concern being suspicions pertaining to “loyalty”. Andrews obtained a transcript from “Mr. Blank” and published the story in the Herald Tribune. A personal friend of Richard Nixon, he was highly regarded by many important figures in Washington D.C. He died in Denver in 1953.
Above: Washington Witch Hunt by Bert Andrews (1948), courtesy Internet Archive; sponsored by Kahle/Austin Foundation, https://archive.org/details/washingtonwitchh0000unse
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act stipulates the illegality of discrimination based on race, sex, religion, color, national origin (and later sexual or gender identity). While Russell had nothing to do with the law being passed, he was the governor of South Carolina during its implementation. A notable conservative (despite having been involved with some scattered desegregation attempts), Russell largely worked to prevent desegregation and called the Civil Rights Act an “unfortunate” piece of legislation. When he became a senator the following year, he opposed the subsequent Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Above: Lyndon Baines Johnson signing Civil Rights Bill, April 11, 1968 by Warren K. Leffler (1968), courtesy Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/91796664/
In the Stacks
Donald ​Stuart Russell - In Memoriam by John C. Moylen III (South Carolina law review, 1998-03-22, Vol.49 (3), p. VIII-357)
References
Andrews, Bert. “Marshall Says ‘Security Risks’ Can Appeal; Won’t Tell Charges.” New York Herald Tribune. (Nov. 1947). 1-18. https://archive.org/details/nsia-FOIAPrivacyActRequestAppealDoSStateWeisbergFiles/nsia-FOIAPrivacyActRequestAppealDoSStateWeisbergFiles/FOIPA%20RA%20DoS%20HW%2004?view=theater
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Bert Andrews, journalist, https://prabook.com/web/bert.andrews/1088991
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Emerson, Thomas I. and David M. Helfield. “Loyalty Among Government Employees.” The Yale Law Review, 58:1 (Dec. 1948). 1-143. https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://en.wikipedia.org/&httpsredir=1&article=3775&context=fss_papers
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Justice Matthew Perry, https://scafricanamerican.com/honorees/justice-matthew-perry/
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Perry, Matthew J., Jr., https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/perry-matthew-j-jr/
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Russell, Donald Stuart, https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/russell-donald-stewart/
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Russell, Donald Stuart (1906-1998), https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=R000525
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SC Governors – Donald Stuart Russell, 1963-1965, https://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/russell.html