Donald S. Russell

Donald Stuart Russell (February 22, 1906 – February 22, 1998) was an American politician, attorney, judge, and academic administrator from South Carolina. A Democrat, Russell served as the 107th governor of South Carolina served from 1963 to 1965, which was followed by a stint as U.S. Senator from South Carolina from 1965 to 1966.

Russell went on to become district judge of the District Court for the District of South Carolina and a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Prior to his political career, Russell served as an Assistant Secretary of State in the 1940s, and was president of the University of South Carolina in the 1950s. Russell was a close ally and political protege of James F. Byrnes.

Early life and education

Russell was born on February 22, 1906, in the unincorporated community of Lafayette Springs in Lafayette County, Mississippi, his father dying the year of his birth. In 1914, he moved with his family to Chester, South Carolina. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the University of South Carolina in 1925.

Russell received a Bachelor of Laws from University of South Carolina School of Law and passed the South Carolina bar in 1928. He studied graduate level law at the University of Michigan Law School in 1929.

Early career Russell was in private practice of law in Union, South Carolina, from 1929 to 1930. He was in private practice of law with the law firm of Nichols, Wyche and Byrnes in Spartanburg, South Carolina, from 1930 to 1942. He was in private practice of law in Spartanburg from 1947 to 1951 and from 1957 to 1963. Additionally, Russell served as president of the University of South Carolina from 1951 to 1957.

Russell served on the Price Adjustment Board of the War Department and as assistant director of economic stabilization in 1942, and in 1943 became an assistant to the director of war mobilization. Russell was in the United States Army as a major in 1944 and became deputy director of the Office of War Mobilization Reconversion in 1945.

Service as Assistant Secretary of State In 1947, Russell began service as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration. He was a protégé of former Secretary of State James F. Byrnes. During that time, he became involved in the case of "Mr. Blank" and nine other State Department officials, dismissed for unspecified charges related to loyalty. The case became a sensation when journalist Bert Andrews obtained a secret transcript of Mr. Blank's case and published a series of articles in the New York Herald-Tribune starting on November 2, 1947.

Governor of South Carolina In 1958, he ran unsuccessfully for Governor of South Carolina, Russell ran in the special election to complete the Senate term, but once again lost the Democratic primary to Hollings.

Notable events during his tenure On January 28, 1963, Clemson University enrolled its first-ever African-American student, Harvey Gantt, who would later become Mayor of Charlotte. On October 29, 1964, Greenville native Charles Townes won the Nobel Prize in Physics. On November 3, 1964, a majority of South Carolina voters supported Barry Goldwater, the first Republican presidential candidate since Reconstruction to carry the state. When he died, he left an estate of over $30 million ($50 million in 2018), which he gained through sound investments in banks, insurance and utility companies.