Johnny Isakson: “I rise for a moment--and I will be joined shortly by my colleague, the senior Senator from Georgia--to pay tribute to a…”

“I rise for a moment--and I will be joined shortly by my colleague, the senior Senator from Georgia--to pay tribute to a great American who passed this Earth 40 years ago on January 21, 1971. His name was Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. He was one of the handful of Senators everybody and every historian rates as the finest of the Senate. He was a great Georgian with an interesting past. He was elected to the State legislature in the 1920s and rose to be the speaker of the house of representatives in the State of Georgia. He then went on to be Governor of the State of Georgia from 1931 to 1932. During that time, he served as Governor at the same time another gentleman was serving as the Governor of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They became good friends. President Roosevelt even became a constituent of Senator Russell's because, with his affliction, the springs of Warm Springs, GA, were where then-Governor, soon-to-be-President Roosevelt would come to heal and get better and thank his good friend, Richard Russell, for his support. It was that relationship that brought Richard Russell to be one of the first Governors in the United States to come out and endorse Franklin Roosevelt to be President of the United States. In his career in the Senate, Richard Russell served with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He served with Harry Truman--8 years side by side with Harry Truman. He served under President Dwight Eisenhower. He served under President John F. Kennedy.…”