Governor of the State of South Carolina




Donald Stuart Russell
77th Governor of the State of South Carolina 1963 to 1965

Date Born: February 22, 1906				Date Died: February 22, 1998
Place Born: Lafayette Springs, MS				Place Buried: Unknown
Residence: Union County, SC and Spartanburg County, SC				Occupation: Lawyer, Major in US Army, President of University of South Carolina 1951-57

University of South Carolina - A.B. 1925, LL.B. 1928 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI Deputy Director, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, 1945 Assistant US Secretary of State, 1945-1947 US Senate, 1965-1966 US District Judge, 1967-1971 US Circuit Judge, appointed 1971 1962 - Russell was elected governor without opposition, receiving 253,704 votes. January 16, 1963 – Governor Russell's inaugural barbecue was the first integrated state function since Reconstruction October 29,1964 – Greenville native Charles Townes won the Nobel Prize in Physics April 22, 1965 – Governor Russell resigned from office to fill the vacancy in the US Senate caused by the death of Olin D. Johnston At the time of his death, Judge Russell was presiding over a case between tobacco companies and the US Government - 1998 Russell, Donald Stuart, a Senator from South Carolina; born in Lafayette Springs, Lafayette County, Miss., February 22, 1906; moved with his family to Chester, S.C., in 1914; attended the public schools; graduated from the University of South Carolina at Columbia in 1925, and from the law school of the same university in 1928; admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Union, S.C., in 1928; took graduate work in law at the University of Michigan in 1929; moved to Spartanburg, S.C., in 1930 and continued law practice until 1942; went to Washington, D.C., and worked in the War Department and as assistant to the Director of Economic Stabilization 1942-1943; served in the United States Army as a major in 1944; Deputy Director, Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, in 1945; Assistant Secretary of State for Administration 1945-1947; resumed law practice in Spartanburg, S.C.; president of the University of South Carolina 1952-1957; Governor of South Carolina from November 1962, until his resignation on April 22, 1965; was immediately appointed as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Olin D. Johnston and served from April 22, 1965, until November 8, 1966; unsuccessful candidate for nomination in 1966 to complete the term; United States district judge for South Carolina, until appointed United States circuit judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit in 1971; resided in Spartanburg, S.C. until his death on February 22, 1998.

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