David Perdue tells reporters Richard Russell was “a giant of the Senate” and deserves to have a building named after him.
“This renaming thing because of one issue is somewhat troubling,” he said.
That “one issue” is Russell’s key role as a champion of racial segregation.
“This renaming thing because of one issue is somewhat troubling,” he said.
That “one issue” is Russell’s key role as a champion of racial segregation.
Perdue said Russell created the school lunch program, backed the Great Society war on poverty (which Perdue said failed) and cited his oversight of the Korean War. Etc.
Russell is the co-author of the Southern Manifesto crafted in opposition to the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v Board of Education decision. He filibustered civil rights. He boycotted the Democratic convention after LBJ backed civil rights.
Irony? One of the buildings closest to the Russell building is the Thurgood Marshall judicial building.
