Allen Joseph Ellender was an American politician and lawyer who was a U.S. senator from Louisiana from 1937 until his death. He was a Democrat who was originally allied with Huey Long. As Senator he had a generally conservative record, voting 77% of the time with the Conservative Coalition on domestic issues. A staunch segregationist, he signed the Southern Manifesto in 1956, voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and opposed anti-lynching legislation in 1938. Unlike many Democrats he was not a "hawk" in foreign policy and opposed the Vietnam War.
Allen J. Ellender
Ellender late in his career
Richard Brevard Russell Jr. was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Georgia from 1931 to 1933 before serving in the United States Senate for almost 40 years, from 1933 to 1971. Russell was a founder and leader of the conservative coalition that dominated Congress from 1937 to 1963, and at his death was the most senior member of the Senate. He was for decades a leader of Southern opposition to the civil rights movement.
Richard Russell Jr.
Russell and President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963
A statue of Russell by Frederick Hart is in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building.
Letter from Russell about Civil Rights Act