I am so embarrassed for our state. Let's get the name changed, now. Compare the two men and what they have done for our country. McCain far and away the true leader.
1
This isn't about Russell or McCain. They're dead. Who do we want to be as a nation.
The standard you should strive for is the Golden Rule. Even old historical white southerners knew what they were doing was evil.
2
With or without McCain, it's long past the time to erase the name of that avowed racist from the pantheons of respect in DC
1
Like McCain, Russell was a great paradox whose political views were not often shared by the public at large.
Both nevertheless shared deep friendships with Senators with far different views, to-wit:
Russell was a virtual mentor to LBJ (whose administration gave us the great social legislation on which this country thrives, today), while McCain and Biden were best friends to the end.
There is something deeper about both Senators. They both go beyond the surface of the legacies we have, since their deaths, created for them.
In that context, renaming the building in honor of Senator McCain makes sense, suits tradition well, and elevates us all.
2
Democrat Senators like Richard Russell and Robert Byrd (once a member of the KKK!) were among the most powerful racists the South has ever produced. Little wonder the South is now solidly Republican.
1
Hyper-interventionist
Member of Keating Five
Proposed to second wife while married to first
Yup, a corrupt, cheating warmonger is the perfect symbol of the current DC culture. Why not just name the whole District for McCain?
2
From the short refresher on the “legacy” of Mr. Russell I am ashamed as an American to see him honored in such a way. He fought against bills outlawing murder (uh, lynching is murder)! Whether these buildings are renamed for John McCain or another worthy person, they need to have Mr. Russell’s name removed! Hs efforts in this area are despicable and cannot be dismissed as from a different era. Torture, murder, enslavement, and bigotry are crimes against humanity!
John McCain was a great patriot and senator. But to name a building after him now, in the days immediately following his death, would be premature. As we know, the naming of the Senate building for Richard Russell seems somewhat odd and out of place in 21st Century America. McCain's place in our history is settled and will not be enhanced by its placement on a government building. But it is the Senate's call and they have the prerogative to name their building anyway that they want, subject to public reaction.
2
“To be judged by a standard of perfection is just not fair,” the nephew says.
No, Mr. Russell, your uncle is being judged by a minimum standard decency that existed long before he and his seven southern ancestors or my ten southern ancestors were born. It could have been found in a book that was in even the poorest households. One of the main guiding principles was, since you and your uncle seem unfamiliar with it:
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2
Yesterday, RealClearPolitics posted an editorial by Richard Kimball of the Spectator under the title “Liberals Slathering Praise for John McCain Rings False.” While the op-ed was a critique of the New York Times’ obituary on McCain, which left out remarks by the paper about McCain being a tired old man during the 2008 presidential campaign, the op-ed’s thesis applies to the Democrat’s praise of the man as well.
Yes, McCain would cross the aisle to reach compromise but he was still a Republican, a party whose very existence is anathema to the Democrats, even before it became the party of Trump. McCain was elected first to the House and then to Senate in the age of Ronald Reagan whose politics were strikingly opposed to the Democrats then. OK, so McCain gave the thumbs down on the bill to dismantle Obamacare, but that had more to do opposing Trump than saving the Obama legacy
At any rate, rename the Russell Senate Office Building in his honor, what difference does it make in the long run? After all Americans who truly know their history will see it as an edifice to a man who not so much opposed Trump but as a man whose supported Ronald Reagan, who lifted America from a previous Democrat demise and brought an end to the Cold War. Thank you.
https://spectator.us/2018/08/the-new-york-timess-slathering-praise-for-j...
1
To leave the building with the Russell nomenclature attached is a travesty. Russell's beliefs and actions warrant no honors. They are in complete contradiction to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution. Whatever he might have done "for" (for who exactly?) The South is outweighed by what he did to perpetuate white supremacy.
Whatever we do with this issue, please do not leave it to the current president of the United States for resolution. Having one building in Washington with his name on it is one building too many.
2
I don't know why this is even a question. It is one thing for some southerners to defend those statues based upon the family history of great grandpa having been a Johnny Reb who fought bravely for his home. It is something else entirely to keep a building in the national's capital named after a man who freely stated white supremacist ideas in writing for all to see. Sen. Russell had 46 years of such honor despite his ideas. It is time for a change.
2
@Anne-Marie Hislop They are still fighting the Civil War, but they call it the Culture War now.
All of those Solid South Democrats left the party in after 1965, and now lurk in the Republican party like a cancer that flares up when it has the opportunity.
2
@Anne-Marie Hislop.
You have no appreciation of what it means to be a Southerner, especially in an era of such vitriol. Thank you.
1
So they are going to name the building after someone who voted in favor of the Iraq War; and who, after being a maverick for a few years in the late 90's, then did an about-face and 100% capitulated to and carried water for the Bush-Cheney neo-cons and all the damage of the years from 2000-2008? A war hawk who never saw an intervention he didn't like?
Senator Russell at least saw through the nonsense fabrications of the Warren Commission and, despite the maneuverings of J. Lee Rankin, challenged the magic bullet theory. Russell and the other Southerners on the Warren Commission such as Cokie Robert's dad, Hale Boggs, put aside politics (as noted here, they were not fans of JFK's civil rights push) to focus on the greater good of the country in wake of assassination and to at least privately express their strong concerns about the lies and rush to judgement with the Warren Commission.
If other Democrats had shown the same courage, and fought to hold the CIA and FBI more accountable for "lying their eyes out" (in Hale Boggs words), perhaps the nation would have better checks & balances vs the runaway national security state and military-industrial complex. The one generally so adored by Senator McCain.
Senator Russell was wrong about civil rights. Senator McCain was wrong about Iraq. If you are going to rename it, maybe rename it for Frank Church or Richard Schweiker, who showed real courage in standing up to the runaway national security state.
3
Name it the Obama Senate Building in honor of his vote against the Iraq war (crimes) resolution.
1
It's time to remove this man's name from a federal building. He may have been a legacy to some but his segregation beliefs were a nightmare to others and he doesn't deserve to be honored at the federal level. He fought the Civil Rights tooth and nail until the bitter end. Just like the taking down of confederate statues his name should be removed from the building as we have no reason to honor him unless we want to continue to honor white privilege.
1
Interesting how the Neo-Confederates resort to the sad excuse that Washington and Jefferson owned slaves too.
By 1861, Jefferson and Washington were long gone, and slavery had been outlawed in the Northern States, as well as Great Britain, in most places for decades, in the Vermont Republic since they declared independence in 1777.
But the Slave States persisted in the American South, arrogant, vain, and doomed.
There is a clear reason that the poorest and least educated people come from our Southern states.
Snowflakes of the South, indeed.
3
While Russel filibustered the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill, a large photo was put on display in the senators’ cloak room. The graphic white and black, press photo exuded pain: in the borders of that photo a young black man in Mississippi was stretched with chains between 2 trees and tortured to death with a blow torch.
There was no monstrous image focused enough, no Black pain so aggravated, and no account of public torture sufficiently depraved that would restore any moral dignity or common humanity to this man and his constituency.
While this man was being tortured, Russell was exclaiming on the Senate floor that the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill would result in the election of Negro Governors, Negro Senators, and Negro Representatives. He warned that the bill was the Communists highest priority.
He roared that the federal government would not force the intermingling and amalgamation of the races.
And, that American civilization would fall if Congress did not stand up to organized minorities’ clamorous voice. The nation would be destroyed by miscegenation and amalgamation of the blood of two races.
A direct quote from Russell, “I believe the Ku Klux Klan is more or less out of business, but if they are still around, I would not hesitate to take their vote.”
12
Romans had a practice (so did the Egyptians) of damnatio memoriae, which was the most severe denunciation possible against public figures who disgraced the empire. Their names were erased from all public places and memorials - but not official histories - as a way to showcase progressive and moral public behaviors. How is it possible that this racist White Supremacist bigot continues to be lauded as a great man? Done at the suggestion of Robert Byrd, a "great" senator (and occasional klansman who denied his black out of wedlock child - perhaps more of a standard tradition of "great" southerners?) The GOP fails to even acknowledge that bigots who wanted legal protections for lynching might not be suitable namesakes for the temple of legislation for this nation. Yeah, we are certainly on a path to being great again.
2
It should be a no-brainer that a segregationist's name is removed. The only question should be whether McCain is the right person to honor.
1
I'd vote to remove a gratuitous statue from the spectacular rotunda. It doesn't fit ... in many ways!
A proper name change would be a justified bonus!
3
At a time when public schools and even Minnesota lakes, for heavens sake, are being renamed because of slight reference to slavery or other forms of, at the time, modern transgressions, to allow such a recent and strident supporter of such a basic freedom as equal in all respects, it is indeed high time for the removal of Russell's name from this building.
In a town where equality for all is paramount, how can the weasels who try to continue to maintain very obvious heroism of the idea of white supremacy sleep at night by diverting from the discussion and suggesting that it still is OK to honor such a visible bigot?
2
I think it is Germain that Russell's literally white supremist statement was in the context of the great national debate over civil rights legislation in the 60s. While it is true that segregation was an accepted (by whites) southern position, yet the fact that there was a debate called southerners like Russell to an examination of their consciences, and he failed that test. He didn't fail it because he was a seventh generation southerner. He failed it because he was a 1964 racist. Perhaps he may merit some homage in other settings and for other deeds, but it is a civil sacrilege to have his name attached to a legislative edifice, which one would think should be a call to emulate the honoree.
5
Start a museum for all of the segregationists and Confederate heroes.
That way they can be as isolated and remain as “pure” as they wanted to be - and their place in history is forever remembered.
4
Name it after Jimmy Carter, the finest president in my lifetime.
3
Renaming bldgs, removing statues is a troubling trend. So far most of this in the South involving ironically, Democrat icons ..now deemed irredeemable racist segregationist,nothing else matters as to what else they did.
Perhaps when all the 'bad' statues are down Democrats consider erasing names of the 3 Kennedy bros too. In todays #me too movement standards/terms, the Kennedys behavior makes Harvey Weinsteins minor in comparison.
1
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. building would be a fitting name change that Senator McCain would surely endorse.
5
I like the way NYC named its public schools and think public buildings should just be given a number. No controversy with that and then maybe we could focus on the real problems of the present, of which we have so many that just keep getting kicked down the road.
3
That there is even a question for republicans to choose between an avowed racist and a genuine war hero tells you everything you need to know about the GOP, circa 2018.
7
No strong feeling either way on this. Born in 1990 I am unaware of Russell’s historical significance. Just because you are honored with a building/statue doesn’t mean it needs to bear your likeness in perpetuity. Senator McCain has been a public figure longer than I have been and is as well respected as any person to hold public office. Would be nice to see him honored in this way.
Other hand, I’m not a huge proponent of wiping away any reference to individuals whose opinions aren’t commonly accepted today. Slavery/segregation is a sad period in our history or sure. It lasted hundreds of years and is deeply ingrained in our nations past. It shouldn’t be actively ignored, it should be a subject that is actively discussed so that new generations can learn from the mistakes that were made.
My two cents from someone you’ll never meet
Despite all the positive actions Senator Russell may have supported, his position on race / white supremacy is abhorrent. It's like saying Hitler was a good guy, despite his policy of genocide, because he built the autobahn system, and reduced inflation.
This building requires a name change, and Senator McCain's would be a worthy candidate.
6
Didn’t McCain vote against the MLK holiday bill and opposed it until 1994 when Arizona relented after losing a Superbowl over it?
Didn’t he the vote against the imposition of sanctions on the Apartheid regime in South Africa? Didn’t he blast Mandela and Desmond Tutu as “communist agents” as the Reagan administration did?
What about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?”
Sorry, but going from Russell to McCain isn’t much of an upgrade on Civil Rights.
6
Wikipedia - "Russell, a segregationist, had repeatedly blocked and defeated civil rights legislation via use of the filibuster,[22] and had co-authored the Southern Manifesto in opposition to civil rights. "
Sure rename it to John McCain. Irrespective shouldn't Russell's name be taken off it anyhow ?
7
I would submit that all public buildings being renamed not after people, but after the ideas that the united States stands for today.
We could call these buildings ''the freedom building'', ''the liberty building'', or ''the pursuit of happiness building''. At the very least we could call, ''we are getting there building''.
Perhaps even, ''a work in progress'' building.
5
A Senate building named for a segregationist? Terrible!
A national monument named for a slave-holding President, the first President of the US? No problem, the Washington Monument gets a pass.
I guess it's time to re-name the Washington Monument since George Washington was a slave-holder. Oops! So were most of the founding fathers. And do something about that one-dollar bill, too.
1
Just move Russell's name to Stone Mountain next to the Confederate leaders.
1
It is one thing to honor the monsters and demimonsters of the past. It's another thing to erase all traces of them.
Germany turned some concentration camps into museums, lest we forget. Unlike Germany, Russia has vanished the entire gulag. There are no more statues of Stalin. 40 million people didn't die. It never happened.
What are we aiming for?
3
There is no way that Putin, I mean potus, would allow a building in dc to be named after McCain.
3
“He was among a group of senators who successfully filibustered an anti-lynching bill shortly thereafter and, as the civil rights movement emerged in the 1960s, tried to defeat the Civil Rights Act with the same procedure.”
This is what’s wrong with most Republicans. They insist on staying mired in the country’s racist past. This is why they viciously blocked Obama every step of the way.
Wake up Americans. Silence = acquiescence.
4
There is no way that potus would allow a building to be named after McCain.
1
It’s not up to him.
1
Good gosh, how low can they go? Now an ardent white supremacist and segregationist is merely "not perfect" to the modern-day Republicans? White supremacy is simply "one issue" of many? No Senator Shelby, we're not discussing George Washington here, but one of hundreds of Senators that have served for decades and had a major impact. We can't find three that weren't overt racists?
The Dems should push hard on this - it not only is the right thing to do to honor the great John McCain, but apparently and unbelievably, will actually be opposed by some Republicans, once again revealing the simmering cultural ugliness that buoys their party.
1
Is leaving Russell's name on a Federal government building any different than allowing confederate statues to remain in the South?
2
I support this. But I would add an item: name the main Washington sewer treatment plant for Donald J. Trump. I can’t think of a more fitting tribute.
3
Let’s stop naming government buildings after politicians. They’re elected and paid to govern. The notion that they deserve accolades for doing their jobs is ridiculous.
5
Why does the building need to be named after any person? In a future generation John McCain will be viewed with derision for some not yet revealed deficiency, and this same discussion will be repeated. Call it the Senators Office Building, or name it for an animal or bird and be done with it.
2
This is what evolution is all about - change. I disagreed with Senator John McCain on most issues, but I still recognize his important contribution to our democracy. Let history wipe away the legacy of Richard B. Russell. Sorry, dude, that's evolution.
2
Sorry, John McCain did nothing to warrant naming a building after him. He learned nothing about the error of prosecuting senseless wars from his imprisonment in Vietnam after being shot down while dropping bombs on innocent civilians. His advocacy of the equally criminal Iraq war was inexcusable.
If the Russell building should be renamed, it should not bear the name of a man who only looks better than the current President.
3
@Kayemte
I strongly disagree.
It's sad that in 2018 we cannot agree that racism is wrong, that a federal building should not bear the name of a man best known for his defense of racism and so closely associated with the horrors of the Jim Crow South.
Naming it for John McCain would be a fitting tribute – as fine a senator as the modern Republican Party has produced. I disagreed with him more often that not but always respected him.
While we’re at it, rename the Woodrow Wilson bridge. He single handedly de-integrated the civil service.
2
And threw us into WWI after using the campaign slogan “He kept us out of war”.
2
And while they are at it, replace the Confederates that adorn the National Statuary Hall Collection in the United States Capitol!
The collection contains several statues of leaders of the Confederate States of America. These include CSA President Jefferson Davis and Vice President Alexander Stephens and Confederate soldiers, most in Confederate Army uniforms: Generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Wheeler, James Z. George, Wade Hampton III, and Edmund Kirby Smith, as well as Colonel Zebulon Baird Vance and former enlisted soldier John E. Kenna.
In the Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection there are three times as many statues of Confederate soldiers and politicians as there are statues of black people in the ENTIRE Capitol complex.
Perhaps the Russell Senate office building should be named after Edward Brooke (R-MA) the first African American elected to the Senate by popular vote. He served two full terms, from 1967 to 1979.
5
How about removing the name, without renaming it? As an atheist, one of the salient features I like about the Bible is its condemnation of "false gods." Think about it. Our Constitution is the only object/character/idea, we all are obliged to defend, protect, and live that truth. All the rest is hogwash, cooked up governments to self-aggrandize, remind their powers over the citizenry, and create a similar system to the "Old World." Queen Elizabeth has to go around her kingdom, patronizing institutions, naming them after her. We do not. Instead of a politician, name building after our ideas, ideals, and values.
For the building at hand, I propose calling it the "Equality Senate Building." It will challenge its fore-namesake Senator and honor the very value our late Sen. McCain fought for. That way, however our interventionist policies, championed by the Senator, turn out in the future, the next generations wont have to debate, disagree, and deface any building names. As proposed, we will secure the success of successions of everything this country strives(not stands) for to the future generations.
5
Naming things after admired people should take patience, not a knee-jerk reaction. Whether a building should be named after Russell is a different matter from who the building should be named after. Give it some time, let the dust settle, then have an unemotional discussion. Maybe there are better options than McCain that will present themselves in the light of day.
1
Read "Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III" and then decide. Yes, Russell was probably one of if not the most skilled and committed parliamentarians in the history of the US Senate. Russell was also Lyndon Johnson most significant patron and mentor as Johnson steadily and ruthlessly accumulated his poker chips of Senate power of the course of a decade which he used to pass the weak 1957 civil rights bill…the first since Reconstruction. Working from that small toe-hold, Johnson then more or less bet the farm on the civil rights bills of 64 and 65. The rest is history.
What really really sticks in my craw regarding Russell and the rest of his white supremacist southern democrats is that even in the two decades following the defeat of uber-white supremacist Adolf Hitler by a unified Federal government led armed forces, they could not muster the common decency to even consider passing federal anti-lynching laws that would have protected their fellow southern citizens from home grown terrorists. Forget for a moment voting rights. These guys continuously filibustered or would not allow to be brought to the floor effective FEDERAL laws to COMBAT LYNCHING!!!
In my opinion…inexcusable. Please…change the buildings name ASAP.
4
It doesn't surprise me a bit that a statue of a racist and segregationist is in the Senate rotunda. Our country has been based on racism since long before the Revolution. It has now just reared its ugly head again.
2
The sooner the bigots are all thrown on the trash heap of history, the better. The South needs to finally admit that they lost, they were defeated. Their sickness was not acceptable or appreciated by normal human and caring people. Get over it, move on or go away.
2
A product of his times? We're talking 1963! Black players were in all the major sports; black singers and musicians dominated the pop airwaves; we had black writers, poets, painters, teachers, doctors, soldiers and cops. Russell wasn't a product of his times. He was a neanderthal.
9
old white men have enough places named after them already. how about recognizing a women or person color for once.
12
“He benefited our nation, and especially the south, a great deal.” Which part of our nation, and especially which part of the South, did he benefit?
Sure, people should be judged by the standards of their times, after a fling with the New Deal Russell turned reactionary by the standards of the post-WWI period, and led a conservative coalition of Republicans and Dixiecrats through my childhood and youth. His power came from seniority as much as ability.
“He benefited our nation, and especially the South, a great deal.” Senator Russell's nephew may have offered the textbook example of what it means to be tone deaf.
If we read between the lines: "He benefited [the white] nation, and [almost exclusively] the [lily white segregationist] South, a great deal," we can hear what John Russell fails to.
3
Progress is grindingly slow. Swap the name of the building from an avowed and nasty white supremicist to a swampy, compromised man who fought tooth and nail to keep Martin Luther King's birthday from becoming a national holiday. This is America!
3
Neither Russell nor McCain should have their names honored on a building. Russell's history of racism is readily apparent, McCain's not so much. The motto of American generals in the Vietnam War was to treat the Vietnamese as subhuman target practice (read "Kill Anything That Moves" by Nick Turse). He was a mere soldier, a cog in the system, sure, but he indeed bombed innocent people and later built his political career around the glorification of killing (masked under the guise of "fighting for our freedoms"), which he punctuated with his open use of the word "gook" in his 2000 presidential campaign.
7
This is a no brainer. Confederate flags and statues are coming down because of their racist symbolism and ignoble past. It's right and just that the name of the Senate Office Building be changed as well.
3
This building should have never been named after the racist Russell to begin with. Name it after McCain, whatever. But to defend keeping this named after Russell means you, too, are a white supremicist unmasked.
2
Interesting how the NYT seems to "forget" about all of the racist Democrats in recent history.
4
@Mark
They were called Dixie-crats back in the post-war years; today we call them Republicans (or Libertarians).
1
@Mark
Yes, they switched parties when Kennedy was on the ballot.
What a waste of our time. I guess this beats taking the battle to the budget draining opportunists of Big Pharma, or to the religious right over their support of assault rifles, or to the GOP over their unpatriotic debt and their ongoing contempt for our public estate.
I guess I'm just not PC.
5
Prior to the white supremacist Trump administration, I suspect that the Senate Office Building would be renamed. But in this day and age of the Executive Branch in the hands of the darlings of the KKK and neo-Nazis, and a Senate of Republicans who nearly all support racial segregation, why would anybody expect them to remove the name of one of the nation's most virulent white supremacist Senators of the 20th century? Segregationists like Richard Russell are the darlings of the Trump administration and today's GOP.
2
Sure, of course - rename it for McCain. Some may say that we shouldn't be politically correct about history, but yes, we should. People who fight for hate should know that it will catch up with them someday, if posthumously. This is a republic where citizens are equal in the eyes of the law, and while people who feel otherwise may speak their minds, they should not be celebrated through our national monuments. Rather than ask whether it should be renamed, we should be asking how it ever got named after someone like Russell to begin with.
28
@Joe And how did Washington, DC and the Washington Monument get named for a slave-holder?
1
Not much of a debate. Besides, there’s nothing sacred about naming something – ask the owners of sports stadiums around the country.
We’ve moved on from the generally accepted racism of the 1930s to 1960s, when Richard Russell made his bones in the Senate by stymieing or helping to block all attempts at racial justice generally and voting rights specifically … until he came up against the formidable will of Lyndon Johnson.
When people want to study the free-lunch program, they’ll see Russell’s name. But to find oneself after a lifetime of racist efforts SO invested in the wrong side of history, is to find one’s name chiseled-off office buildings; and McCain’s would be a fitting replacement -- at least until, like those sports franchise owners, government starts selling sponsorship naming rights to Citigroup, Reliant Energy or MetLife.
As a general matter, I’m very suspicious of attempts to impose the standards of today on historical figures, whose actions need to be evaluated in light of their times; but you just can’t afford to make mistakes of Russell’s magnitude – and those mistakes weren’t THAT long ago (I have living memories of them, while I’m RATHER divorced from the times of Christopher Columbus). If not for Vietnam, I believe that LBJ would have eclipsed FDR by now in our estimation of his greatness as an American president.
5
I try, on occasion, to be a deflating thorn in your balloon, Richard. Not this time. Well and nicely put my (I do hope) friend.
5
A better idea is to stop renaming streets, buildings, parks, airports, etc. for people. Times change and what was acceptable behavior now may not be in the future. It is a tremendous waste of resources to rename anything unless it is to change it to something generic that offends no one. Several years ago Washington National Airport was changed to Ronald Reagan National Airport. Absolutely no reason to do so other to spend a ton of money on new signs and the labor that goes with creating and installing them.
Generic names will never cause any problems and will never incur name change costs or result in political battles.
5
@JimH. Not exactly true. The airport was renamed as part of a republican initiative to name as many things as possible for Reagan. They had/have a goal of at least one major monument or feature in every state named for him. St Ronald indeed. Their next thing will be trump.
2
What a revolting consequence of Trump's reign, Stevenz. Unless we are naming sewage disposal plants, nuclear waste burial sites, diseases...
1
Pretty funny and not in a good way. What is to debate?
The man was a Segregationist and White Supremacist, both of which are unapologetically Racist ideologies. Had he been an unapologetic Anti-Semite, it never would have been named after him in the first place.
And what does that tell you about the USA as a country with a thick vein of hatred of people of color, in particular if the color is black?
And i guess it begs the question, why are they not debating Trump's White Supremacist ideology?
6
A fine and fitting name change. Something that will mean something in the here and now and for generations now alive.
Putting aside the issue of Senator Russell's segregationist stand, there's nothing especially sacred about Senator Russell that his name should be affixed to the building forever. Few Americans now living, excepting Senators and some historians, remember or ever knew who he was.
McCain's name might as well mark the building until another Senator of comparable stature, integrity, and length of service comes along. There are few things more arrogant and pretentious than pretending one's own generation can name buildings until the end of time.
Just don't put it on the auction block, like our sports arenas and, indeed, like many a Senator inside, and name it the "Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch Building." There's such a thing as too much truth in advertising.
3
Why not just start over anew? Tear down every statue. Rewrite every history text. Rename every monument, building, university, college and school. Not to be overlooked are bridges and stretches of memorial roadways.
To honor Senator McCain, build something new and grand. Something untainted by someone else's flawed remembrance.
3
I suggest re-naming the building to whatever would aggravate Trump and his supporters the most. The Hillary Rodham Clinton Building. Or the Barack Hussein Obama Building.
Those were two great Senators, that's for sure!
2
REally, the Senate needs real deep thought about renaming the Senate Office Building. So, many, I guess, want to keep a name that is associated with segregation and inequality, Hmmm?? Really. This takes thought, eh?
Yes, rename the building for a truly honorable man: John McCain. Let it shine and let the darkness continue to envelop the White House.
4
And while they're at it, rename the Justice building. Get Hoover's name off it.
5
@Anita, it was already renamed. It is now called the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building.
1
Richard Russell was wrong in 1964 and his words are orders of magnitude "wronger" today.
It was wrong for the Senate to name the previously nameless. office building after Mr. Russell in 1972, and will be grievously "wronger" if it does not have the decency (let's not even bring up the word "courage") to rename it for John McCain now.
12
Wow I had no idea. Russell should be erased.
2
There seems to be this strain of "he was a giant of the senate so don't change the name of the building" rationalization.
He was certainly a power broker, he got many things done, but at the core of Russell's belief system was an unalloyed, undeniable evil. It was an evil that he tried to impose on the country.
So just because he could frighten, coerce or cajole his colleagues to do some good things doesn't make Richard B. Russell Jr. worthy of commemoration.
Changing the name of the building to Honor John McCain should be a no-brainer, but apparently it does require some soul and courage, which appear to be profoundly lacking in quite a few members of the senate.
Sad indeed.
7
Why stop at buildings? George Washington owned slaves. Let's rename the capital, the state, and all the towns and counties named after him. Same for Jefferson. Only those who can pass our current qualifications for beatitude should be honored, and every generation should reevaluate the choices of the past.
1
@Fernando Yes! Yes! Let us nail the Democratic Party to the cross of political correctness. We obviously have nothing better to do with our time.
@Fernando This is an absolute scarecrow of an argument. Russell was a man of OUR time, one whose agenda of hate resides in the living memory of many of us. The moral and cultural blindness of the Founders gives him no exoneration in his depravity. Zero!
Sorry, but I do not see how Richard Russell could be a "well-respected senator." Okay, he was a Democrat and a force behind the New Deal, but the end does not justify the means. One discriminates against Blacks, one discriminates against equality. It defies logic that a white supremacist was so honored to begin with.
The majority leader who hails from Kentucky distracts and deflects quite artistically, I must say. However, in spite of McConnell's recommendations, which may be respectable, he has opened up a can of worms. DC belongs to the people...individuals of different skin color, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexual identity. It is un-American to have a prestigious place or site named after a segregationist. There's no pass here. Although some people believe the Civil War has ended, it is alive, albeit insidiously, under this new awful political paradigm.
19
It really ought to be named after the real Master of the Senate, Lyndon Johnson.
5
Next rename the J Edgar Hoover building.
6
@Yuri Pelham Agreed, only I would change "Next" to "First."
No doubt Richard Russell was a segregationist. Most southern politicians in his times were; otherwise they would never have been elected by their constituents. However, the senate office building was not named after him because of that. Rather, he was a remarkably bright and gifted statesman who defused a national crisis after President Truman had relieved General Douglas MacArthur of command for insubordination. Durimg Senate hearings, Russell slowly, methodically, respectfully, and skillfully questioned Douglas MacArthur and showed how shallow and vainglorious he was.
While I respect McCain, Russell's contribution to this country should not be diminished.
2
One should never tear down the past no matter how distasteful to current sensibilities. The remnants of the past are where we stand for good or for bad and educate us about our condition, the human condition.
So let the names and the monuments stand wherever they are, for whom ever they are, in fame or, now, in part, in imfamy.
Senator Russell's name should continue to adorn that Senate building, just add a plaque pointing out his warts and all. Not quite Ozymandias-like, but telling none the less.
1
@John P Walsh To NOT undo the error of honoring such an ignominious champion of racism is to perpetuate the lie that his legacy of hate was small potatoes compared to the alleged benefits of his career. In addition to millions of Americans of conscience generally, the forty million citizens directly targeted by his hate beg to differ.
2
@Davide. The suggested plaque and it's message will become 'bigger' than the building, in time. People will come to read the plaque. They will go away wiser and more vigilant for justice in their own times.
1
Take all the name pf politicians off of federal buildings and installations - until, and unless. they have been dead for 50 years. It's simple. And non-partisan. And non-ideological. And right.
4
John Russell" statement is telling: racists are alive and well.
He benefited...especially the South, a great deal".
Apparently the "South" did not then nor does it now include the millions of Black folks kept threatened, uneducated, disenfranchised, red-lined, unable to build wealth and sometimes murdered by white supremacy in all facets of that great "way of life".
14
As a low level employee at a Congressional office for more than 47 years since 1950s I witnessed and saw the changes of our Congress. To me all elected lawmakers were respected by their constituents and voters. Some of them were more vocal and popular than others. Senator McCain was one of the most vocal lawmakers with strong and dominating personality. But how many of these lawmakers remembered by our citizens after they are no longer with us? To me the three senators from the Kennedy family will always be remembered by all of us and many people in the world. Why our Congress did not name any of the senate buildings as Kennedy Senate Building? I am sure our black Americans will not object to this idea. Senator McCain was a very controversial leader and also because he was a strong opposition to President Trump. President Trump has his own Trump Tower and his Trump Hotel in DC so he may not need a US Government building named after him. If the Congress wishes to rename the Russell Senate Building, Kennedy Senate Building would be a better choice. I do not see why we should rename the Russell Building. No one is perfect in the world.
3
@Mclean4, being "not perfect" is not the same as being a staunch white supremacist who used all the power of his position to keep down his own fellow citizens. Your 'whataboutism is disgusting".
2
I don’t think a segregationist from the MODERN era should be honored with a building in our nation’s capital. This eliminates any discussion about Washington/Jefferson’s validity as they were certainly men of their time. However, we have seen several great Senators in the last century, including McCain, Humphrey and both Kennedys. To single one out because he is the most recent to pass, seems to minimize the import of others. Since integrity seems to be lacking in many of the current members of Congress, I propose they rename it “Honor and Integrity” as a reminder to all who serve that this is their most important virtue!
8
It would be a mistake to change the name. Erasing parts of the nation's history neither absolves us of our past nor eases contemporary problems. Better to confront and understand the complicated legacies of Jefferson, Calhoun, Russell, etc. I don't remember it being particularly controversial in 1972, which is interesting on its own, and thereafter it seems there was a naming spree on behalf of Russell at least into the 80s: a Federal building, a dam, a stamp, on and on. So, yes, times and attitudes change, but it is better to leave intact the enthusiasms of our forebears so we can understand our own history and adapt it to both present and future needs.
3
@Frunobulax, some history, like bankruptcy, is bad for one's reputation. We should celebrate that, after the passage of time, the angels of our lower nature receed back into the abyss.
1
The discussion of Russell's history really addresses the issue of whether a building ought to have been named after him at all. On that point, I am rather ambivalent. What I find fascinating is the newly-discovered "bipartisanship" in the opposition to the renaming coming from Republicans, and their absolute inability to articulate a basis which does not sound either racist or unduly approving of New Deal programs.
1
I believe it is and appropriate to rename buildings, remove statues etc. I would remove Russell's name and attach no name to the building.
And in the future, name buildings at least 100 years after a public official dies. That way they can be judged by history, a much fairer judge than peoples' emotions at the moment.
5
Well, of all of the Monuments of American History that have been recently torn down (for the right reasons, or the wrong ones) ... let this be one of them.
America should, and does, stand for: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, Equal Rights for Women, and the Ability to Gather Peacefully to Voice Protest, and thus effect a Positive Social/Governmental change.
Mr. Russell, apparently, stood for only one or two of those concepts.
While Mr. McCain served his Nation with Honor and Valor, I don't feel that his death merits re-naming the Building after him.
If the Senate's Building is to be re-named, let it NOT be for a Senator. Rather, let it be for an "ordinary" American Citizen, who Votes, works hard, pays their full taxes, plays by the rules, and ... for whom the Senate, in their duty, is sworn to "serve".
In this troubled time that We, the People, are having with our Nation and "our" Government, let a good man's name shine above that Senate Office Building.
Let the Senate Building be re-named after Woody Guthrie.
1
@Marcus Aurelius I am WAY serious. And your comment is truly ... "incognita".
Daffy Duck was/is a cartoon.
Woody Guthrie was a living American who's Political Activism brought much needed Labor and Social change. He was proud of his Country, and worked hard to make it better.
The decisions of whether the supplant monuments to older public figures based on their then popular decisions that are later view as immoral is sometimes a complex one as this case indicates. Shakespeare's Marc Antony says "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones." If that were truly the case, these decisions would be easy. But it is so often not the case with public men.
Take Sen. Russell. He was for much of the New Deal, supported other progressive causes like the school lunch program, noted herein. Yet his support of segregation was full throated and unreserved, and unlike Robert Byrd, never changed in later life.
As for Russell, I can see why a building was named after him in the 1970's. He was a giant of the Senate like few others. But I think, on balance, his time has come and gone. And his contributions, while substantial, are not enough to overwhelm his sentiments on segregation and race.
One final note. This is not a case ow judging against perfection or the standards of a different era as John Russell, his nephew suggests. There were plenty of folks who say in the 1930 through the 1960's just how wrong segregation was. Mr. Russell fault is not that he didn't live up to the standards of our time or those of perfections, but that he didn't live up to those of his day.
3
It's counterintuitive to remove Richard Russell's name from the building. He blocked Civil Rights legislation going back to the 1930's, measterfully using a relatively small minority, exaxctly as the revered Founding Father's had intended. It aslo diminishes the enormous effort it took to pass Civil Rights legislation. Regardless of historically attrocous beliefs, the man was one of the true legislative giants, and why, because he was too good at his job?
1
@Ken calvey, like Rommel was too good at _his_ job?
Why name government buildings after anyone? Unless the individual is a primary historical figure such as Washington, Lincoln, etc. no one will know who or what these political figures represented after a couple of generations. They will become meaningless building names and nothing more.
5
There should be a rule that no public monument, building, bridge, etc. can be named after a deceased person until at least five years after they passed away.
3
Why?
N.B. I am not in favor of naming buildings, I am just curious about the reason for the proposed “five-year rule”.
@RMA
Out here in Utah we have had several situations where an important or beloved person passed away, and, in the emotion of the moment, officials wanted to rename something for them. Obviously no one wanted to be seen as opposing such an action since it might seem disrespectful to the deceased while the family was still grieving. As a result, it wasn’t properly deliberated. In one case Salt Lake County added the name of former Governor Calvin Rampton to the Salt Palace and now we now have the “Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace” which everyone still calls “the Salt Palace”. A more thoughtful approach would have been to wait and honor the governor properly in a way that would honor his name by actually using it. Another example was when our first female speaker of the House, Rebecca Lockhart tragically passed away. She had been an influential lawmaker and immediately someone in the legislature suggested naming a stretch of I-15 for her, forgetting that it was already named the “Veterans Memorial Highway”. When that was pointed out by veterans groups and the plan was scrapped. Both Rampton and Lockhart were deserving but it wasn’t well-thought-out.
Waiting a few years allows people to decide whether the person’s accomplishments truly deserve the designation without emotional interference. It also allows for naming something appropriate and avoids putting families of the deceased in an awkward position.
Why do bridges, public buildings, etc. have to be named for politicians? Self aggrandizement of the highest order and with public money to boot. Name after those who sacrificed, who exemplified ideals, those who strove, who sought, who found, and did not yield.
1
Senator Russell ( D-Georgia) and his fellow Democrats were response for the oppression of African Americans in the South for over 100 years. The Democratic Party should repent their racist roots, provide financial restitution to Africa Americans now, abolish ICE and impeach President Trump
2
This debate regarding Russell's history making him tainted for honorifics should be applied to McCain as well.
We are living a moment when the rhetoric of American virtue in armed conflict, and abroad in general, is still sufficiently accepted in the broader public debate. Academics, world opinion, and time will not be kind to our policies. McCain is an unabashed supporter of that legacy, despite being in a position to know full well the butcher's bill. His opposition to torture doesn't excuse the fact he's fine with war without end.
McCain's reputation, like America's at large, will not age well.
1
I would hope that Schumer, et al. have their ducks in order re: Kavanaugh before pursuing such a quixotic quest.
4
Another no-win situation for Republicans. If they resist renaming the building they demonstrate that they still embrace Senator Russell's white supremacist views. If they go along Trump supporters will vote them out in primaries.
1
Thanks for the history behind this bland hunk of brutalist rock on Capitol Hill, NYT. I always thought the place was named for "Nipsey" Russell, the quick-witted black comedian and a favored regular on some of those hugely entertaining, iconic t.v. game shows of yesteryear, like Hollywood Squares, Match Game, Password, etc. Did this guy Richard Russell have any sense of humor himself? Would not appear so from this depressing article.
6
John McCain was a good guy but what did he accomplish for good or bad in the Senate other than the McCain Feingold campaign finance law which was subsequently determined to be illegal by the supreme court.
Was he an effective senator. The answer is in his nickname "the maverick". He was not a leader in the senate but a voice from the side never able to corral the needed members to agree with his positions. Chuck Schumer, the leader of the group to rename the building, can probably count on one hand the number of times he agreed to vote with McCain when the Democrat caucus was against him and on one finger, if at all, the number of times he tried to get the Democratic caucus to agree with McCain's position.
Better to name an aircraft carrier after him for his service as a navy pilot especially for his example to all americans for his behavior as a prisoner of war in which we can only hope to stand in his reflected glory and very few of us could ever hope to measure up to.
7
A groundswell of support has risen among Democrats to rename it in honor of the late Senator Robert Byrd. And to paint it white.
2
@TWWREN Hardly!! The Dixiecrats have been extinct for a couple of generations now. Their political progeny have long since fled to the redoubt of the GOP, in which they are quite at home, now more than ever. Thanks for thinking of us, though.
Erase Russell's name from history. I teach a unit on the civil rights movement in my courses and always mention Russell's opposition to the movement. I also quote his racist remarks - almost too many from which to choose. The sooner he is consigned to the scrap heap of history in Washington and Georgia, the better. I have hope Washington will do the right thing. I hold no such hope for Georgia.
6
Since this is no longer ‘White man’s country’ but for all of us, he seems obsolete.
8
It certainly is obsolete and time to change it. No matter what other good he did for our country, his blatant racism counts everything else out.
1
@Sheeba, Yep! "This land if your land, this land is my land" is a song that should ride the winds of Glory.
The congress is within your grasp and you fool around with renaming buildings. Schumer and Pelosi need to retire NOW.
10
There's a beautiful scenic drive from the northeast corner of White County Georgia over the mountain into Union County Georgia. I use this 7 or 8 mile road often, in fact, the Appalachian Trail intersects with it at Hogpen and Tesnatee Gaps. This beautiful scenic road is Highway 348, The Richard B. Russell Scenic Highway. And I would proudly support changing the name of this little road to The John McCain Scenic Highway, or the Jimmy and Roslyn Carter Scenic Highway, or anything other than Richard Russell. It would make my drive much more enjoyable.
5
@Joy, Jimmy and Roslyn Carter seems like a perfect idea!
1
Call it the "No one is Perfect, but some are less perfect than others' building.
1
I can't believe it was ever named after this white supremacist.
1
Russell was a new deal Democrat, which of course Republicans hate. They have an opportunity to change the building's name to that of a Republican, and Democrats are on board!! This is a no-brainer, unless they feel so compelled to keep an old-south racist's name on it
4
I do believe Democratic Senator Russell would be more than happy to have his name wiped off the building, particularly for the heroic John McCain.
The dude opposed an anti-lynching bill?!? Well then I'm sure Trump will sign on to changing the name to honor the late war hero McCain.
I believe that people should mostly be judged by the standards of the time in which they lived, rather than by the standards of today. However, murder was never acceptable, and if Russell filibustered an anti-lynching bill, I find it shocking that he got this honor to begin with. I would have no problem removing his name from the building in favor of McCain, Homer Simpson, or anyone else with a respect for human life.
6
After reading “this is a white man’s country, yes, and we are going to keep it that way,” I don't think there's much question. Senator McCain representatived our (current) national values much more truly.
4
Yes, I agree with Chuck Schumer to change the name of the Senate Office Building to honor Senator McCain. I'm a Democrat, and I hear the Old Guard (Dems and GOP) screaming in anger that a modern era has caught up with the renegade racists.
To hell with the memory of those who want to preserve the good old days (racism and segregation) of the white-only, KKK "Old South." They are dinosaurs - political, social, cultural and intellectual -and they should now be sucked deep down into the tar pit of history. Along with their flag and Confederate statues.
2
Why are Democrats in such a hurry to rename a building in honor of a staunch Republican? Mr McCain was not all that special- just a favorite of the media. He supported the GOP Tax Scam and voted for Gorsuch in the stolen Supreme Court seat. Not a lot of honor in either action.
If they wish to replace Senator Russell, why not LBJ, who served a long time as a Senator (including as Majority Leader) and later Vice-President - the presiding officer of the Senate? He worked for Civil Rights and signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights bills as President.
19
@David Gregory, agree fully with your first paragraph.
But unfortunately the stain and dark shadow of Vietnam and the killing of tens of thousands of Americans should permanently disqualify any such honor for LBJ. This is not even to mention at least over a million Vietnamese killed, closer to 2 million when innocent civilians included. Talk about racism. LBJ's incredibly casual treatment of Vietnamese life, when there had been zero attack by Vietnam on US soil or even threat of such attack.
McCain was similar to LBJ and the other intervention-first war hawks from Texas such as G.W. Bush. Voted in favor of Iraq.
1
Here’s how I see this, if you looked at America as a cake made up of ingredients, racism is the flour in the cake, it’s baked in. I can guarantee that people of color have gone into that building to work every day not knowing that the person for whom the building was named had those views. I did not know who Sen Russel was, never mind his views! It wasn’t something I was ever taught in school, saw in the paper or read or heard somewhere. One of the few good things that is happening in our present moment is that as a country we are now beginning to examine things previously taken for granted, even if we have to live with comparatives like, he believed black people were inferior, but he did good things for the south, he was a staunch segregationist, but he got the free lunch program going! When you know better, you do better, or at least you try.
P.S. don’t come back at me ab
7
@Sharon M You never knew nor heard of Sen Russell?!
Where did you attend high school? He did good things for the South?! No wonder this country is a mess!
1
I was born and raised in Georgia until I ran away to New York City. During my life in the State there were only three Senators,George,Russell and Talmadge.They also had the County Unit System that until it was found un constitutional by the Supreme Court kept racist men like Lester Maddox Governor .If you want to honor a man from Georgia,name a building after
President Carter. He is the only President that after serving
as President proved that a man can retire and be and wonderful human being helping others all over the world and proving that being a good person and holding true Christian values is what is important in life
44
@James Slaughter--you seem to be forgetting John Quincy Adams.
1
Perhaps naming all public building after ideals might remind the public and those working in the buildings what the ends of a high-ethic government are.
Why build another false idol for the stupid to celebrate?
15
I don't care much but why change names on buildings, it is not like he got a lot done as a senator and there is that pesky scandal in his past.
4
In general, Senators and Representatives are pretty good at looking after themselves, and many of them retire worth many times more than when they started, often for not representing the majority of people. There is no need to name buildings after them as well.
If naming is important, then do so at some governmental building in the state they presumably represented. Or a
major thoroughfare in that state. Let it become so after a statewide proposition is approved by the state populace.
Or maybe a library at one of the state universities in that state. But if an elected official never represented a state, we might have a problem. Where, for instance, will the Donald Trump Presidential Library be located?
2
In theory, there’s precedence...Eisenhower’s library, for example.
As a practical matter, though, I’m not sure New York would welcome it.
3
Where should The Donald Trump Presidential Library be located? Great question! Because of his dedication to the oil and gas industry, I’m thinking The Donald Trump Remedial Reading Room on an offshore drilling platform.
Its core holdings could be every book he’s ever read, so it wouldn’t take up a lot of room.
4
I think Mar A Lago would be a great location for Trump's presidential library. It will likely be the best library- of all Presidential libraries ever - and a lot of people agree - they say "a library like this, its never been done before" but it can be done (and very cheaply too I might add) and it will be beautiful - and the books, there will be more books than you can read in your whole lifetime, including - of course - the bestselling, record-breaking book Art of the Deal, which still sells pretty well by the way - still sells many, many copies every month.
1
I encourage folks to read Robert Caro's monumental biographies to understand Russell.
In the Master of the Senate, Mr Caro deovtes a great deal to explaining Mr Russell.
And he also shows that LBJ - who was a favorite of Mr Russell - finally agreed to his "son's" pleadings to let the Civil Rights bill pass.
And Mr Russell was present at the sigining.
So, let's not throw him overboard yet.
And let us also remember that we are not the Soviets or Chinese of today to erase history and build some new fiction about our history.
America lived through many bitter years of history including Civil War - and we are better off for it.
History is to be cherished because our forefathers and mother's shaped it for better or worse.
We do injustice to folks who named these buildings in honor of their fellow senators.
And these senators responsible for naming - were also good and patriotic Americans. And they meant well.
4
@Neil Read the Southern Manifesto. Written by Russell. He did not mean well.
Every effort should be made to insure that great men and women with foibles and flaws are recalled and in a light of respect and a merciful honesty. Senator Russell grew up in the shadows of the Civil War. In 1900 more than half the families in Georgia still had an empty chair at the table for members lost in the war or afterwards when desperate poverty and hunger was common. In 2018 it is almost impossible to see and understand what Russell saw and experienced. As Georgia Governor 1931-33 he saw a state lost in terrible financial ruin. Blacks suffered terribly and were a long ways from today. Illiterate often abused as tenant farmers and prevented from accessing loans credit or higher education. Richard Russell reflected white rage and blind bigotry. To ignore any of this to erase it from memory cheats the future. Senator John McCain would be flattered but would likely ask for healthcare for all, improved military pensions or perhaps get a new president. Relics such as statues might offend us, that is good it means we are growing up, coming to terms with who we once were. Keep these things to haunt the future and the lessons are not forgotten. John McCain would like that.
6
YES, IT'S TIME to take Richard Russell's name off Senate Office Building. He represents a bygone era of Southern hostility, Jim Crow and slave mentality. It's time to put the name of Senator John McCain on this building. I'm a DEMOCRAT, and I agree with most of the Senate that clinging onto Confederate ideas and ideologues is long past. Let's move into the future, despite what many are trying to do - move us back to the 1950s or worse the 1900s. That's never going to work, despite the coal mining, steel producing, MAGA knee jerk people who are just lost in the past! It ain't comin' back, folks - so MOVE ON - the future is all we have now!
8
It is no doubt Richard Russell was a racist (J. William Fulbright once said he was the only southern senator in the 1960s who opposed civil rights legislation because he actually believed that integration would destroy the country.)
However, he also strongly advised LBJ against stepping up the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war.
McCain may not not have been a racist but he was a vociferous supporter of our getting into the quagmire of Iraq.
As Russell's nephew states, it's hard to find perfection especially in those in politics.
9
@Steve, Well, I think McCain is a lot more closer to that perfection than Richard Russell. It appears that being a racist (in addition to other separatist ideals he stood for) doesn't disqualify one from having a building in DC named after them. I think this speaks to the mindset of individuals back then, and obviously to some now.
In all these tributes, I see nothing about the fact that McCain chose Sarah Palin to be Vice President--an appalling, irresponsible, and just awful choice. I'm in no hurry to celebrate him.
19
Rather than step on another person's legacy, why not name the building after both? Their ideologies may have been different in some ways, but that shows the diversity of our leaders and of our society.
1
In the name of true bipartisanship, I propose the name be changed to the McCAIN/KENNEDY office building. After all, JOHN McCAIN and TED KENNEDY are truly the last lions of the senate. A republican and a democrat willing to cross the isle and compromise on issues for the good of the country. WHAT A CONCEPT! Perhaps our current sitting senators could learn from these TWO LIONS by talking TO EACH OTHER instead of AT EACH OTHER. Let's return to the good old days of bipartisanship, where the true lions of the senate represented their country first and party second. We can acknowledge this by renaming the Russell building...the McCAIN/KENNEDY office building.
13
I totally agree. I am from MA. When Ted Kennedy died, and I needed a voice, I wrote to John McCain.
@Dennis Scialli Great idea!
McCain was one of the Keating Five (remember the savings and loan scandal?) and chose Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential candidate partner in 2008. Ted Kennedy cheated at Harvard.
Wonderful specimens, exemplars for us all, and for our children, too.
1
Russell boycotted the 1964 Democratic Convention because of the Civil RIghts Act of 1964.
I think it would be more appropriate to start naming Confederate monuments (those still standing) after him. I nominate Stone Mountain, Georgia.
2
I see no reason to remove the name of the man who brought electricity to rural America and lunch to school kids during the Great Depression. Yes - of course he was a segregationist.
With respect to segregation, Confederate statues and tombstones, the American people must learn to forgive people their faults so that their own might be forgiven.
How about the Russell/McCain Building?
Except Russell, and all those who raised up public monuments in the name of boo-hooing the loss of the legal right to own human beings, have never ever *asked* for forgiveness. It's not just that Russell opposed civil rights, it's that he never acknowledged blacks as having human rights. His compromise position was 'separate but equal.' Those who now tout the sanctity of flags and monuments raised in memory of the violent betrayal of this country for the primary purpose of sustaining slavery are not historical preservationists-they are the defenders of racism, period.
Whatever Russell's contributions to the national defense, his virulent racism alone should have prevented any lasting memorial to him. He was America at its worst and was almost single-handedly responsible for keeping Jim Crow in place for decades, even going so far as to orchestrate a filibuster that prevented lynching from becoming a crime. His name should reserved for a Hall of Shame, not for buildings and statues.
3
It is an abomination that a federal building is named after someone who opposed "the social equality" of the races. Chuck Bullock notes he was powerful, but he was certainly not wise or fair, and shouldn't have a chair or a building named after him.
3
Only a moral coward would hesitate to change the name from Russell to McCain. Russell was a true segregationist who clearly was accomplished in other things. Nonetheless, he was a segregationist - not just your average racist. Segregation goes much deeper than politics; it's about a hatred that denies a group their human rights because they are believed to be inferior. I'm surprised that the Russell Building has been the Russell Building for so long. A Senate office building is a much bigger thing than a Confederate statue.
Build a museum for Confederate statues, and for segregationists like Russell who did accomplish other things for our country. Keep their history alive in a certain place. Those who admire them can see them, and students of history can see them as well. But let's not have them honored in our public squares.
9
Mr. Russell spent considerable energy attempting to prevent landmark legislation (i.e., The Civil Right Act) from being passed. He was thwarted in this by his fellow Congressmen. The system worked and narrow-mindedness was defeated.
Mr. Russel also spent energy supporting Roosevelt's New Deal which included programs such as free lunches, SSA, CCC and Farm Security Administration amoung others. The New Deal bought our way out of the Great Depression and put a heck of lot of low- and middle-class citizens back on their feet again with dignity.
Apparently no good deed is significant enough to out weight one's singular failing.
Stones, glass houses......
2
@B Dawson Apparently your history is weak, a world war worked us out of the great depression, not those policies. Not they did create many good things.
4
Sen. Hubert Humphrey spent his roughly two decades in the U.S. Senate championing and fighting for civil rights. Might the building be named for Humphrey instead?
11
Yes, great idea!
Very disingenuous move on Schumer's part. Makes Democrats look like pandering idiots, which, I'm sure, a lot of them are.
3
@Douglas Lowenthal Certainly not pandering to the Neo Confederates amongst us.
@Douglas Lowenthal Unless they meant to reach across the aisle and pay tribute to a colleague that they frequently disagreed with, but always respected.
1
While we are enforcing the standard of perfection that our day seems to demand, let's also remove the names of any past politicians whose words and actions led to the deaths of Americans in wars overseas or helped increase the nation's dependency on fossil fuels. I'm looking at you, Eisenhower!
1
Our nation is long overdue in acting to remove all segregation symbols from our capitol. The current Russell Office Building is the largest symbol and should go now. Senator McCain has well and truly earned the right to have a Senate Office Building named in his honor. The Senate should make it so...and quickly.
6
@MonopolyMan71 How about we remove say Jefferson, after all he had children with a slave. And what did McCain do to justify having a building named after him? Please be very specific if you can.
3
Go ahead and change the name; it will only be temporary.
In another forty or fifty years, another beloved senator will pass, and our sympathetic public servants will press to rename the building yet again for the Dead Senator Du Jour.
If this seems repugnant, then either name a senator from the unimpeachable past, such as Clay or Vandenberg, or go clean and go without naming the building at all.
Memorial plaques and trees will do just fine.
3
@LarryAt27N: Clay? Really?
To get a sense of Russell, see the movie LBJ with Woody Harrelson, which features LBJ's struggle with Russell's views amidst his struggle to keep the South on board while moving forward to equal rights; a climactic scene is LBJ as president finally just saying (heroically) to Russell "you are a racist." Whether fiction or not, the flick makes those times more real and the imperative to move on from Russell's name being honored in 2018 stronger. Yes, remove Russell from the office building.
However, given that McCain voted 87% with the GOP as a Senator in recent years (Politico analysis on PBS last night), and the GOP has been consistently wrong about what the US should be doing in the 21st century, including the war in Iraq - probably the worst foreign policy decision in US history - 'm not convinced McCain should be honored with his name on the building. I tend to believe that like the Southern senators quoted who switched parties, McCain should have shown his principles by switching parties or at least not voting with the GOP 9 times out of 10 out of party, instead of USA, patriotism.
2
This is a no-brainer: E Pluribus Unum. Change the name. There is no room for segregationism nor those who advocated for it.
22
YES YES YES.
I'm not sure if anyone else has posted this suggestion yet but how about naming the building the Richard Russell/John McCain Building? we should include and not erase the accomplishments of the past. By the way, I am also in favor of calling the new bridge on NYS Thruway the Tappan Zee/Mario Cuomo Bridge. Cheers
In fairness, Mr. John Russell, your quote at the end of this article requires an edit:
“To be judged by a standard of perfection is just not fair,” he told a Georgia-based media outlet. “He benefited our nation, and especially the [white*] south, a great deal.”
14
@Hepcat13: You're right. A good starting point would be never to name anything after a politician whose jurisdiction prevented half its citizens from participating in government.
1
Rename it for Hubert Humphrey.
2
How about the United States of America Senate Building - inclusive of all.
10
Buildings in Washington should only be numbered so as to spare us from ourselves.
6
Does anyone really expect today's GOP to vote to rename a building whose namesake said “this is a white man’s country, yes, and we are going to keep it that way”?
But this is an issue that the Democrats must run with … both because those who would like to keep the name "Russell" won't vote for them anyway and because it is the right thing to do.
6
I have an idea for a compromise --
The Ed Koch "How'm I Doin'" Senate Office Building -
There -- that has a really great ring to it - wouldn't you agree...?
4
And yes -- I'm fully aware that Ed Koch was the Mayor of New York City - and never served in the senate - okay...
1
Using guidance from Eran Morad, it should be called The Neither the Senator Richard Russell Nor the Senator John McCain Building. Further names could be added in the fullness of time.
13
Fellow-Southerner Mitch McConnell, never a friend to black Americans, will never—ever (paraphrasing the “forever” promise of his hero and fellow Alabamian, George Wallace) allow the re-naming of the Senate Russell Office Building to be re-named.
Georgia sent Richard Russell to Washington to defend the Southern “way of life.” He succeeded admirably. The sentiment to replace Russell’s name on the capital of the Capitol’s august legislative chamber with the recently-deceased John McCain is admirable and might even get up a head of steam the closer we move to his Saturday funeral.
But Senator Chuck Schumer is making a major miscalculation: he’s forgetting the animus that Donald Trump bears the former POW and Arizona Senator. Does anyone seriously think that changing the name of the Senate’s office building wouldn’t unleash a tweet storm?
There are many ways in which the old war horse could be honored but switching McCain for Russell won’t be one of them.
Think of it this way: if the old Confederate statues that dot the South (and some places in the North and West) and have further ripped the weakened threads that divide us still—after 150 years, and with a Confederate sympathizer as president, this gesture is dead on arrival.
The South won’t have it and neither will the president nor the Alabamian who is the Senate Majority Leader.
4
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
I think the tweets are exactly what Mr. Schumer is counting on.
1
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
That is precisely Schumer's point.
Do it.
Guy dedicated his life to the service of his country.
Whether we appreciated at the time or not.
Didn't make a difference to him.
Do it.
I'm no fan of Sen. Russell, but this case illustrates the problem with applying modern-day sensibilities and values to people of another era. Relatively few leaders from long ago will measure up, including the slave-holder for whom the nation's capital is named.
4
Your article quotes Sen Russell as having written that “I am willing to go as far and make as great a sacrifice to preserve and insure white supremacy in the social, economic, and political life of our state as any man who lives within her borders.” It bears emphasis that there is no pretense in that passage about some abstract states' rights philosophy; instead, the quotation lays bare what was at the root of his opposition to desegregation. Sen Russell says plainly that his cause was to preserve "white supremacy." The Civil War ended more than two generations before Russell's birth. I leave to others whether the building should be renamed for Sen McCain, but in any event Sen Russell's name should come down.
8
Leave the building named for Mr. Russell. His philosophy fits perfectly with our present government and leadership. He is a perfect example of how food, clothes and opinions once derided can become fashionable again. After all, Crocs are making a comeback, meatloaf and mac and cheese are served in fine restaurants and, white supremacy is back in a big way all over the country. We've got Steve King of Iowa, Corey Stewart of Virginia, Arthur Jones of Illinois, Jason Spencer of Georgia, to name but a few -- all Republicans, as if I needed to add. Everybody's jumping on the White is Great bandwagon, so Richard Russell is as fresh as a just picked peach. Leave the name on the building. His defense of the White man is as current in 2018 as it was in 1935.
2
With all the real and pressing issues the Senate SHOULD be dealing with, is renaming buildings really what they should be spending their time on?
Seems like pointless posturing by Schumer.
7
Any time the Gop-dominated Senate acts, the people suffer. At least renaming a building is relatively harmless.
I would suggest that in his own way McCain is just as unsuitable as is Russell.
Actually, I can not think of any US senator who embodies all, not just some or regional, qualities who is deserving of having a national government building bearing his/her name...
2
Mausoleums are for the dead. Government buildings are for the living.
The demographics of this country are changing, so that in not too many years, those of white European descent will merely be the largest minority. Obviously, the other races, combined, would be more numerous.
White Europeans can't hand down their genetic background, but there is a hard-won, dearly paid intellectual legacy to be handed down to future generations of Americans. How can that legacy be accepted and survive if it is packaged in hagiographies of slave-owners, and of those who countenanced slavery to achieve and maintain Union?
American history is a history of ideas. Ideas like that of inalienable rights belonging to all men, put in words by a man who raped his black slaves, and the ideas codified in the Bill of Rights. Those ideas, and the post-Civil-War amendments, stand as a reproach to Americans in our history, and a challenge and roadmap to Americans of the future.
Let's teach a US history of great ideas, not exaggeratedly great men. That is a history that can be shared by all.
1
I can't think of a better move in today's America than to rename the building after McCain. We could all use a small conceptual shift from honoring a racist to honoring a man who consistently shone with integrity across party line, generation or ideology. I for one am a liberal who was nevertheless happy to have someone like McCain in government. Rest in peace.
2
40 years as a Senator. We needed term limits then and we need term limits now.
Let the history books tell the story of Mr. Russell instead of continuing to honor this racist with his name on a government building.
Yes, the Russell legacy is too racist to prolong.
Here's yet another proposal to rename it. Call it the Dole-Mitchell building after two leaders who genuinely tried to work together and recognized that the business of the Senate was more important than partisanship. Having the two names on the building might remind Senators and the rest of us that compromise and working together is part of politics being the art of the possible.
Both Bob Dole and George Mitchell can still tell the story of how they forged an effective working relationship that should be the envy of the leadership we have endured this century.
3
No surprise the majority of responses from the South are unsupportive to negative on renaming the Russell Senate Office building in honor of McCain. By unwaveringly supporting Trump, Republicans tacitly endorse white supremacy in America, racial purity in Russia, and anti-immigration policies everywhere, all things McCain was vocally against. As Republicans continue their slow-moving coup of American democracy, they secretly think "Why rename the Russell building now? — we're only going to need it restored later." Be sure to vote in November to at least put a speed-bump in their path on both the state and national levels until sanity can return.
22
John McCain was a great American hero, someone for all young people to emulate.
Russell, apart from his other flaws, appears never to have served in the military. Best forgotten.
A contrarian's view:
Although an ardent supporter of -- and, to a modest degree, participant in -- the 60's civil rights movement, I wonder if erasing every symbol of our past is wise?
We all know Santayana's quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Perhaps these symbols serve a positive end: Keeping the memories alive.
4
The ongoing Bolshevikization of American history: those who are not in the graces of contemporary morality are to be effaced, "their names stricken from every column, every pylon in the land." Well, when do we get to rename the District of Columbia, named after a slaveholder named George (who also happened to be the Father of His Country)? Or in this quest for a "pure American history," the quest for an imaginary country without the warts of the real people who made it?
3
His son said that Sen. Russell's work benefited the South. By that he meant the white south. He probably would have disagreed, but the two are not synonymous.
3
Senator Russell was indeed a Democrat, which means that if he was alive today he would be a Republican, a Trump Republican.
16
I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Richard Russell and race relations. Yes, he was a segregationist and not above using racist language from the stump. He led every filibuster against civil rights legislation. I spent years in the Russell archives, often in silent rage as I learned the depth of his bigotry and how energetically he worked to keep a subject people down. Despite my midwestern attitudes, however, I did come to have a paradoxical respect for his consistency. He knew what he believed and was honest enough to express it in public.
I also understand the regard people have for John McCain, especially in these debased days of politics as mean teenage-tinged tweets. Senator McCain was from the courtly school of seeing the Senate as a place where passions are meant to cool. His service and sacrifice were unique and worthy of honor.
Yet if we begin renaming buildings because our thinking on justice has evolved, we should be consistent. Washington’s name adorns the capital and an entire state, but he was a slaveholder. Jefferson is revered for his writings on the inalienable rights of man, but was one too. Woodrow Wilson was an avowed racist supporter of Jim Crow. It’s a long list.
If we are going to rename a building because of a racist past, we need to think about names of other buildings, monuments, cities, and even states.
8
@David Potenzian
My mother's family was from Winder and knew the Russell family. My mother worked as a nurse for his brother and my grandmother babysat for their large family.
He was a paradox as you say. But if you set aside the race question, he really was a social progressive.
Programs he supported lifted the lives of millions of marginalized citizens. But to paraphrase LBJ, if you aren't elected to power, you aren't in a position to affect change. Although my evidence is anecdotal (having spent my youthful summers in Georgia), He wouldn't have got elected dog catcher with a pro racial equality platform (although he did evolve to a "separate but equal" position late in life).
I say this not to excuse his racism, but to point out he was not a one dimensional man. People are complex social beings and we all live with our own cognitive dissonances.
So how do we take the measure of a man's life? With a public figure like Russell, maybe add-up all the good legislation he passed versus all the bad legislation he passed and see which column is longer? I really don't know, so I'll leave that to you historians.
9
@PJH
Listen to yourself. IF you set aside the race issue....
You cannot set aside the race issue with a segregationist. My family lived in Alabama in the fifties and sixties.
@David Potenzian @PJH
PJH, your reply is the perfect example of a serious, sober, and humble attitude towards the figures of our past.
People who have no comprehension of paradox--who are simple ideologues--and no comprehension of history are driving the bus these days.
John McCain is deserving of a great number of honors and perhaps this is one of them. Personally, I think he deserves something far grander than an officer building.
I live in Georgia and I fully support the proposal to change the building's name to honor Senator McCain. Senator Russell's ideology no longer represents or honors today's South or its people -- ALL of its people, including those whom he chose not to represent and whom he tried to keep disenfranchised. In fact, Russell's embrace of white supremacy is a stain on this state's history and that of our nation's capital, as well as the United States Senate. I want to see the end of an era in which that ideology was embraced and its proponents celebrated. There can be a plaque in the building to explain the name change and its rejection of white supremacy.
10
Modern day interpretations of the past are fraught with problems. Yesterday's hero could easily become today's villain. Last year Trump did not think McCain was a hero. Today we think Russel isn't one. We should name buildings like "employee of the week". Name the building based on who did the best work for the term or week or month.
How in the world did this Senator’s name end up on the building in the first place? Because he advocated free lunches? This is an absolutely sterling example of how tone deaf our leaders in Washington are. And it really isn’t equivalent to Confederate monuments of which most were erected long before Senator Russell. General Lee was actually opposed to slavery and is not why he fought on the Confederate side. Most Confederate soldiers did not own slaves. On the other hand, Senator Russell was an unabashed white supremacist who advocated segregation many decades after the Civil War. The discussion in the Senate should last all of about 5 minutes for them to decide to rename the building. But of course it will take more like 5 months - just another example of the inefficiency of our Congress. Something that should be a no-brainer and should take 5 minutes to decide, may never even be done. That’s our Congress for you.
6
Enough, already, of these politicians back patting each other. Name bridges and airports and roads for where they are located not after some long-dead politician. It certainly would be helpful to travelers if airports were named for location instead of a politicians' name who is unknown to most travelers.
2
"...shall not be judged by the color of his skin, but the content of his character".
Let's call it the Martin Luther King Senate office building. He contributed far more to the country than Russell did. Russell called us to the lowest, ie, Confederate, standard. King called us to the highest, Declaration of Independence, standard.
I may be persusded to agree perfection is an unfair standard but am more inclined to accept "fair" as an acceptable standard in this case. Any fair review of his works appears it will reveal the man's racist attitudes.
2
I generally opposed to judging the people of history by the standards of modern society. It is never fair to the people who worked hard to push the world to a better state in some regards. I wouldn't want my problems to completely overshadow my accomplishments, so I try to give our predecessors the same courtesy.
That said, I think renaming the building is a wonderful idea. Not because I condemn Russell for being a Racist at a time where racism was the social norm. Rather because in a time of such political turmoil and unwillingness to compromise we need to hold people like McCain up even higher as our ideal in many respects. I didn't agree with McCain's politics, but his willingness to work with the other side is something our nation desperately needs at present.
McCain is just a better fit as a person to held up by our current culture than Mr Russel is. Open racism is no longer tolerated in our society, and we've got too many people unwilling to compromise on the name of ideological purity within both parties. Let McCain serve as the example for the Senate and the American people moving forward.
24
Of course the N.Y. Times would feature a comment that said that supporting lynching was “the norm” in the 1960’s. It wasn’t. The N.Y. Times loves to feature these kinds of white washing comments. The FIRST Roosevelt president was against lynching. People absolutely knew it was wrong. Some people were immoral enough to still support it.
5
By the 1960s, there was enough political support to pass the Civil Rights Act, so clearly his attitudes were not the "norm."
@Devon I'm not sure I agree that racism was the social norm, at least in the early 70s. I was graduated from high school in 1973, and while I lived in a mostly white suburb in upstate NY, I never heard anyone express racist sentiments. I certainly never heard anything like opposing anti-lynching legislation, or new anyone who worked to advance racist interests.
I would take the marble statue of Russell and turn it into as many toilets as possible.
26
Why waste time on this now? There are far bigger fish to fry, like getting Trump under some sort of control before he completely ruins the country and can name anything he wants after any other racist he wants. Priorities, folks!
3
The current Senate won't control Trump, so let them work on something that might actually happen.
When Trump is gone for good, Washington DC wastewater treatment site should be renamed to Trump Wastewater Treatment Center. Besides renaming the Russel building to John McCain building Trump deserves a namesake site comparable to his pungent behavior. A good memorabilia for the two men for future generations.
McCain? Hmm, perhaps.
I would prefer that a building of such importance be named for Thaddeus Stevens.
3
@P Morgan
A little problem with your suggestion: Stevens was never a senator.
Russell might not object. After all, McCain voted against the creation of MLK JR Day.
3
An American war hero vs an avowed bigot who literally worked to maintain institutional racism...tough choice.
5
Senators, what good will it do if you name a building after this man and then go about doing your business as usual, protecting those who have no respect for the laws and constitution, in spite of everything he standed for?
1
This really has to be debated? I guess considering the current state of the GOP - yes
6
Apparently judging people on not being against segregation, not being for white supremacy, and not being generally racist is judging people on "a standard of perfection."
7
Slave State Neo-Confederates from the Old South bolted from the Democratic party in 1965 after LBJ led the way through the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts.
They now carry on the rear guard action of the Civil War as the Culture War, thanks to Pat Buchanan, proud member of the Sons of the Confederacy.
The man who dedicated the statue erected at UNC in 1913, and recently torn down, proudly proclaimed that he had whipped a negro to death the week before the unveiling.
The Lost Cause mythology has obscured the moral bankruptcy of the Slave States,
where Confederates piously proclaimed that because Slavery was legal, and it was in the Bible, it was also moral, right and good.
Abolitionists knew better, and they frightened the South enough that they started a war against their own country in the name of protecting and expanding Slavery to the new Western States.
There is nothing good about Slave State Conservatives.
Change the names, tear down the statues, and end the Civil/Culture War.
13
Make it the Will Rogers Senate Building.
3
@Steve
Except that old Will had no trouble expressing racist sentiments at times.
Couple of things....
As a Democrat, I now hate Chuck Schumer. He is the epitome of ‘roll over and show yellow belly’. Let Mcconnell be the one to suggest renaming the building from a Democrat to Republican Senator.
Richard Russell, as upsetting his personal beliefs in today’s world, was an effective senate leader. Mccain didn’t do anything much during his decades in congress.
Leave the name on the building. No current politician has earned the honor to have buildings named after them.
8
Senator McCain certainly deserves to be honored. Whether renaming the Russell building is the appropriate thing to do is debatable. I would love to see the memory of the racist Russell erased but cringe at the thought of dragging Senator McCain’s family into a dog fight with the bigots who will come out of the woodwork to champion Russell’s legacy as soon as Fox News tells them who he was.
2
Removing Russell’s name from the Senate Office Building may be well and good. But cleansing our past of moral sin is slippery slope. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners. Abraham Lincoln spoke more than once about his firm belief in the inferiority of blacks. If we wipe these men from our history, who will be left? Maybe better to remember history than obliterate it.
11
@Jim Dunlap
Their are no building named after hitler and people remember him.
1
“He was among a group of senators who successfully filibustered an anti-lynching bill...”
Any politician who tried to prevent attempts to put a stop to one of the foulest of crimes that was perpetrated wholesale on African American citizens in the South and other parts of the US, certainly should not have a government building named after him. Period.
31
So let's leave the US Senate building named after a bigoted figure who advanced the cause of Jim Crow and all the ugly human behavior that came under its vile purview, including the lynching of innocent citizens based on nothing more than their skin color.
While we're at it, why not re-name the White House "The Trump Colonnade?"
4
Ok This is a thing people need to get: Being racist was WRONG then and THEY KNEW IT. If Hamilton and others in the 1770's knew that racism was wrong, there is NO EXCUSE for someone in the 1960's. We need to stop making excuses for the inexcusable. He was wrong in his racism and the 1960s by the standards OF HIS OWN TIME, there is no logical reason to make excuses for him now.
We do this too much with regard to race in America. No one said Washington was perfect, but even he said: "If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Mohammedans/Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists."1 So don't lie to me to my face and say that this was "ok back then". SHAME on you NY Times for continuing the spread of this myth that the entire world accepted racism as fact until the 1970's. This is false and articles like this that obscure the reality only make addressing issues honestly harder. Shame on Catie Edmondson for this white washing.
11
After reading exactly what the late Senator had to say about the racial situation in the US of A, I say tear Russell's name off the building, and throw his statue in the Potomac!
This is NOT judging the late Senator by some ahistorical "standard of perfection," despite what his nephew claims. This is judging him by the white supremacist vitriol he publicly spewed in his owns statements, at least as quoted by the NYT. (Did he ever show any remorse of change of heart a la George Wallace, one wonders.)
Otherwise not the slightest fig leaf here, no softening language about "state's rights" or "federal overreach," just pure naked white supremacy. The guy deserves some credit for honesty regarding his views, I guess--unlike most of the other Southern Dixiecrats who turned Republican--but otherwise I'd be the first to shove his statue right in the river...
3
It sounds like an easy choice. Senator Russell was not even a rehabilitated racist. It is a national building. If Georgia wants to honor him, do it in Georgia. Mitch McConnel is spineless. He stands up for nothing.
5
Lets not forget that Sen Russell was considerably more than a ardent segregationist. For years he chaired the Armed Services Committee and was respected on both sides of the aisle - by liberals and conservatives.
And after Truman fired Gen MacArthur, RR performed a tremendous service to his country. Passions - as one might expect - were running very high, and when MacArthur testified before Congress a real danger existed that so damning would be the consequences, that serious damage would be done to Truman, the country, and the presidency.
RR very skillfully managed the hearings and carefully released the documents so as to minimize the damage to the Truman administration.
HT recognized RR's abilities and was supposed to have said that if RR had not been from GA, Russell had the ability and integrity to be elected president.
Perhaps RR was a racist, but as one senator said, the man towered above all other senators. No one will say that about Chuck Schumer.
If one wants to rename a senate office building, then the McNamara Office Building is the place to start. Patrick McNamara may have been a reliable Democratic vote, but he wasn't even remotely in RR's league as a US Senator.
2
@octavian
"Lets not forget that Sen Russell was considerably more than a ardent segregationist."
" “I am willing to go as far and make as great a sacrifice to preserve and insure white supremacy in the social, economic, and political life of our state as any man who lives within her borders.”
No, he was that first and foremost a racist. How anyone can support someone who was for lynching people and did his best to defeat any anti lynching bill is just another indicator of the effect the racist in the wh has had.
32
@octavian
I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of renaming the McNamara Senate Office Building, as well as any other fictional office buildings with which you take issue.
Wait, I thought all that southern heritage stuff was about, you know, heritage, not race and slavery. Well, nobody is perfect.
Let’s name the next new carrier after him the destroyer is really named after his grandfather and father. We already had a JFKennedy.
1
@James mcCowan
Curiously enough the only two carriers named after members of Congress who didn't become president were both named for people every bit as racist as Russell: Carl Vinson and John Stennis.
Russell did have a nuclear submarine named for him.
“Mickey Mouse” would be better. Most Americans like Mickey.
2
@Tears For USA
Why not. We once had a U.S. naval vessel named the Rin Tin Tin.
And Mickey Mouse would be accurate. David Letterman used to joke that"Chock Full o' Nuts" restaurants was named for its clientele.
Or how about for Mark Twain who said there was no innate criminal class in the U.S. with the possible exception of Congress.
1
I'm all for McCain, but if they want to erase the symbols of segregation in Washington, they're going to have to a whole lot of rebuilding
9
@Mike Livingston. Then it's past time to get started.
How about renaming the godawful J.Edgar Hoover building , first. Even many agents are aware of the mnature of their original boss and dictator. Few people in Washington now recall even who Russell was other than a drinking buddy of LBJ when he was a Senator. But almost everyone in Law Enorcement knows who and what Mr Hoover with his alleged secret list, was and the many awful things he did in the name of his personal power. Hoover was so powerful he could not ever be fired. Every President from the Great War on when the FBI was the plan old BI, a minor group of boater wearing , suited federal colps who were adept at tying their shoelaces together.
Lets see the unhappily named Hoover building properly rechristened, as so many have called for-on both sides of the table-and maybe then the nation can take the time to recall the problems caused by Russell getting a buildine named for him.
Times do change and even government buildings get a makeover. The Pentagon was at one time thought to be a great building design for a military hospital.
11
@meloop Pending the results of the Special Counsel's investigation, they may eventually rename the Hoover building the Robert S. Mueller Building. One can only wait and see...
Apparently, when saying that his father benefited "our nation" and "the south," Russell's son doesn't include the African-Americans his dad thought inferior and whom he was happy to keep impoverished materially and emotionally.
116
@Brian I believe that comment came from Russell's nephew. To my knowledge, Russell never married and had no children. Though your comment is directly on point.
@Brian
Richard Russell never married and had no known children. The Russell relative quoted in the article is his nephew.
1
@Brian
Richard Russell never married and had no known children. The Russell relative quoted in the article is his nephew.
In the last year we have witness much reflection of those Statues which stridently supported racial segregation and white supremacy. We continue to stride to move forwards with their removal and correct previous poor decisions. To the same extent, we need to remove the name Russell and replace it with a true American Hero, McCain.
34
Really want to know what Sen. Russell's South was like in 1961? Go watch "The Intruder" on YouTube or DVD. Roger Corman movie about handsome stranger who comes to Georgia town to battle newly integrated high school. Corman used hundreds of southern locals and boy were they mad when they found out the "hero" of the movie was actually the villain. Bad history. Great movie.
16
Naming buildings, parks, etc. paid for and used in the name of the American people should not be named for politicians. It is NOT their country. We are not here to deify them. They are our representative servants pure and simple and it elevates them above us. Name it after anything but a politician.
46
Yes, like stadiums to the highest bidder; Citi-Senate Building or Facebook House of Representatives (not sarcasm).
Reading Robert Caro's wonderful "Master of the Senate" gave me a great education on Richard Russell, an arch segregationist who fought every piece of civil rights legislation tooth and nail. Part of me wants to see his name expunged and McCain's name put in his place, but part of me also understands that maybe it would be good to leave Russell's name where it is. That way it serves as a reminder of just how backward this country was for so long, and it just might prevent us from being that way again.
48
@Chris
All that Russell's name does up there is tell those who agree with him, who would also eliminate civil rights, that this country still honors them. There's no shame, no reminder he was wrong - it's a place of honor.
We change as a country, and history belongs in museums, for us to learn from.
@Chris How many people, do you think, remember Russell's name as an arch segregationist or even bother to look it up? And for those that do, why would they want to memorialize the man for it? It's like saying lets name the Supreme Court building after Taney to remember Dred Scott.
1
I too have come to know Russell from the Caro books, and agree with you.
Great books!!
I guess a "deeply rooted belief in segregation" is a euphemism for a 'deeply rooted belief in oppressing other people, particularly African Americans.' We should strive to be more honest in our speech.
This a reminder to us, if we needed one, as to how recently men like this wielded great power in this country. And, as anyone whose been in a corporate board room or Republican caucus can attest, they still do. They have only learned to be more subtle.
One step toward defeating white supremacy is to assure that our public displays don't celebrate it. That means getting rid of confederate battle flags, statues of southern traitors, and buildings named for racists.
67
@Justin
Merriam-Wester defines segregation as:
a : the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means
One word honestly expresses what you took 10 to do - and does so in a far less discriminatory manner than the one you proposed as a replacement. Merriam-Webster does not limit the groups that can experience segregation.
But I suppose such verbose explanations become necessary in a dumbed down society whose default lexicon depends heavily on abbreviating as many phrases as possible into capital letters easily typed with thumbs.
Of course the Senate is now back peddling, which will assure that no tribute to this American hero will ever get passed - the do nothing US Senate at it's finest!
28
@David Hopefully this November we'll stop the madness.
1
Less we forget Senator Russell was the tutor, mentor and sponsor of Lyndon Johnson to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts among other equality laws and who would never have been in a position to bring about such legislation without Russell's help. Russell was a product of his time, the South in the early 1900s. It's sad to see Senator McCain's death being used in this way. Oh, and how is it that Louis CK now should never be allowed to tell another joke on stage, yet Bill Clinton is venerated
4
@James You could say that Hitler was a product of his time as well, so I'd say your point is moot. Russell represents an ideology that deemed black people as inferior, second-class citizens. He upheld a system that was brutally violent and he fought to protect lynching. He is connected to an ugly time in our history and we are still dealing with the bitter legacy of white supremacy today. No, he should no longer be commemorated by a Senate building named after him. It is time we reckon with our history, own the horrors that have been brought in our name, and correct our mistakes. This would be one small symbolic step in the right direction.
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@James Sen. Russell refused to accept that all persons are created equal. He may have been born in the early 1900's, but he lived long enough to see the example of many other politicians of his age (e.g. President Truman), renounce the racism of their youth. Senator Russell does not deserve the honor of having a federal building named in his honor.
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@James Be that as it may, Lyndon Johnson did not hesitate to crush Russell's filibusters against civil rights legislation when he was President. LBJ knew what was just; Russell didn't.
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I would wager that nearly every prominent person born before 1900 who was not literally an abolitionist, suffragist, pacifist, vegan would fail this revisionist "did they hold views then that are deemed politically correct today" test.
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Including "Liberal" New York Times. One example: refusing to acknowledge for several years Muhammad Ali's name change instead spitefully referring to the "Greatest" as "Cassius Clay": a slave identity Ali had every right relinquishing.
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@Mmm you would be 100% WRONG. there were abolitionists, suffragist and so on in the 1700s. You know their names even if you dont know their history. Aaron burr believed that women should have the right to vote, Lafayette, Hamilton, Ben Franklin, were all abolitionist. at least 1/3 of those who signed the declaration of independence were abolitionists.
Yes people in Russell's day did know lynching was wrong because they knew it 200 years before. He was fighting to BLOCK anti-lynching laws. By *definition* that means other people who where born at the same time he was knew better.
This argument that just because all these horrible things were legal everyone must have supported them are 100% false. A falsehood fed by the likes of Russel. We need to stop rewarding those who supported lynching, segregation, and we need to stop punishing those who were on the right side of history.
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@Mmm And we should not name buildings or erect statues in the names of those people either - not unless it is in the context of exposing the horrors they supported.
There are major issues in this country. Wars in the Middle East and hunger problems in the USA. What a waste of time by Chucky Schumer. Who really cares except some hack of a politician about renaming an office building.
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If Congress was going to deal with those issues during this term, it would have already.
Never mind Russell. Never mind McCain. Name the building after Emmett Till. We owe it to the kid.
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@Liberty Apples - I also don not think the McCain name should be on the Senate Building, not because of racism but because of McCain's seemingly indiscriminate support of the military industrial complex (Eisenhower's wording). McCain stepped in to support the ACA, true, and was a little more bipartisan than other Republican Senators. But McCain's prisoner-of-war sacrifice notwithstanding, he was a supporter for the disastrous Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the many other military conflicts going on at this time. The destruction of the US Foreign Service department by the current President, Vice President and their advisors makes war a near inevitability - The Senate Republicans sat on their hands while that has been going on. We need no more gratuitous glorification of the endless wars which the Republicans, Blackwater, and US war industries love. I believe the majority of American people want to work through international competition over resources using peaceful means, not through armed or economic combat. It is unconscionable what is going on in places like Yemen, Gaza and Syria - genocide is unacceptable.
Emmett Till is a worthy candidate, but even better would be Shirley Chisholm - the first black woman, a teacher, elected to the United States Congress, in 1968 for seven terms.
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Liberty Apples, you might be on to something.
A certain vile and bizarre racist or group thereof likes to riddle the marker of where Till's body was found with bullet holes. Now that the plastic-gun blueprint cat has left the internet bag with the help of the plainly racist "covfefe" regime, Congress' offices will need new methods to detect gun-toters. Since the current and next generations of Nazis are freedom- and privacy-minded (read: cowardly Infowars consumers with zero sense of irony), some will try to sneak these poorly-detected guns into them.
A Till tribute—plaque, statue, whatever—would be both fitting for the young man, and troll the racists as a honeypot before they target an actual person. It'd reveal them and their hidden guns for what they really are, and may well save lives.
Yes, it sounds "out there". So did Heyer's murder once.
Replace segregationist with a war monger ? Amazing what is valued in this land of ours.
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Seems to be the trend these days to erase the past, white wash history. Keep in mind however the words on one statue standing at the doors of the National Archives in Washington, DC, "the past is prologue;" and who can not forget George Santanya's timeless remark, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Cheers!
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Your "heritage" supporting ilk constantly favoring sugercoating Southern Conferate worshipping white supremacy.
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@Southern Boy White washing is what we have been doing for all of America's history, what we are doing when we name buildings and erect monuments in honor of unapologetic racists. We are now demanding that this nation own it's ugly history and stop pretending that people who dehumanized others because of the color of their skin can be heroes. Owning, degrading, brutalizing, and murdering black people is not heroic and we should not be glorifying those who did. Sounds like you are more interested in defending whiteness than healing the wounds of our country. That reflects your need to your own internalized white superiority, also called racism. You might want to work on that.
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@Southern Boy Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. This is true. At the same time, seeing as you're sending this from the "CSA," one would assume that you're actively TRYING to repeat it. This "we're white washing history" argument gets thrown around by supremacists quite a bit whenever the statues debate comes up, and while it is important to study history, how much history have you ever learned from a statue or a building name? Very little. As well, I can promise you the black community doesn't need a statue to remember the "Old South." If you're worried about losing history, there are plenty of references for you to find.
Fact is, these southern boys aren't trying to appreciate history. They want to see the world as Mr. Russell saw it, "to preserve and insure white supremacy in the social, economic, and political life.." The tiki torch crew weren't marching to protect the library and it's archives. They weren't there to study history and understand the plague of racial animus. Nope. They were there to revel in it.
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He was very clearly a racist. He was not simply a product of his times but rather someone who powerfully shaped his era for the worse.
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Also the major hindrance to Kennedy Administration Civil Rights Policy. Russell viciously attacked President Kennedy's courageous 1963 11 June Civil Rights Speech.
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Seriously? Should we also rename the Lincoln Memorial because of the former president's well-documented use of racial epithets? Or the name of the city itself since George Washington was a slave owner? If you are looking for flawless individuals to name things after you will have a long and frustrating search in this town and beyond. New York in the NYT nameplate comes from a notorious slave trader. New York, both the city and the state, are named after the house of York and particularly for James Stuart, then Duke of York, one of the most successful slavers in colonial American history.
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Who exactly has suggested renaming the Lincoln memorial? Who has proposed this bill? Because this sounds like a fever dream and not anything that is actually happening in the real world.
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@John Jabo
Using racial epithets and proclaiming that the white man will always maintain his superiority over the black man are two completely different things. For you to compare the president who engineered not only freeing slaves, but enshrining the former slaves equal rights into the Constitution to a white supremacist senator who happened to support the New Deal and amass a lot of power is just insulting.
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@John Jabo. Slavery was completely legal and common among wealthy landowners in Washington's time. Any criticism of Lincoln's personal failings has to be tempered by such trivial accomplishments as winning the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Going back to the Duke of York is even more of a stretch.
None of them were alive and zealously, passionately, stubbornly abusing the influence of high office to perpetuate segregation in the 1960s. Russell was born 30 years after the Civil War ended and obviously embraced the deadly racism of his time, Jim Crow. Whatever else he may have done, that puts him on the wrong side of history.
I'm hardly John McCain's biggest fan, but his service in the Senate was certainly most admirable than that of a unrepentant latter-day racist.
Great idea. The sooner the better!
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Richard Russell is not being judged by a "standard of perfection." He was an ardent racist and segregationist who cloaked his hate in Southern manners. People have complicated legacies, and Russell was an undisputed master of Senate procedure who helped pass important legislation--but he co-wrote the Southern Manifesto and spent decades preventing civil rights legislation from ever passing Congress. His name does not belong on the Senate anymore. I'd prefer Margaret Chase Smith be honored, but I'll gladly accept John McCain.
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I vote for Strom Thurmond.
Here's an idea. Just pull the names off the buildings altogether, and just call it the United States Senate, buildings 1, 2, 3, etc.
That way there won't be any confusion that the institution is larger than any single man.
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@RP Smith
Yes! We should not glorify the people who serve; we should honor the principles that are the foundation of the nation.
But, inspirational names could be helpful reminders:
life, liberty, happiness?
democracy, equality, opportunity?
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@RP Smith NO!!! NO!!! No one is perfect. but that does not mean no one deserves honor. We need to embrace and acknowledge imperfection, but we also need to call out racists for being racist. Fighting in for of lynching should not get you any buildings named after you in the public sphere. It's really not that complicated. And yes people did know lynching was wrong, thats why they were trying to pass anti lynching laws.
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@chris
How about The Separation of Powers Building?
That would be a fitting tribute. I didn't always agree with McCain, but naming it after a senator willing to stand for compromise, who rejected extremes of partisanship would be a positive step.
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