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A Heart for Any Fate: The Biography of Richard B. Russell, Sr.
Born in 1861, eldest in a while, middle-class Southern family that lost everything material in the American civil war, Richard Russell grew up consumed with ambition to make a name for himself. His dream was to found an outstanding family and to hold the three highest offices in Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Governor, and United States senator. In striving for these ambitions, he married twice and ran for public office seventeen times. Although elected to lesser offices, he lost races for chief justice, governor, Congress, and the U.S. Senate. He was elected to the first Georgia Court of Appeals in 1906 and to the Supreme Court as chief justice in 1922. His first wife, Minnie Tyler, died in childbirth in 1886, leaving him bereft, but five years later he married again. With Ina Dillard he formed an exemplary marriage relationship that produced fifteen children, thirteen of whom survived to become responsible adults, credits to effective parenting. The eldest son, Richard Brevard Russell Jr., fulfilled the gubernatorial and senatorial dreams of his father, becoming governor of Georgia in 1931 and U.S. senator from Georgia in 1933, when he was thirty-five years old. He served thirty-seven years in the United States Senate and became Georgia's premier statesman of the twentieth century. Thanks to their father's emphasis on education and his willingness to pay for it, the Russell children studied law, medicine, the ministry and teaching and became respected professionals in their careers. The glory and difficulty of patriarchy come clear in this story of social and familial structures that both restricted and strengthened conscientious middle and upper-class white men of thepost-Civil War South.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published October 20, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
July 20, 2026
Richard Brevard Russell, Sr., was my great-great-grandfather. Sally Russell was his granddaughter, the Russell family historian, and a woman I had the privilege of knowing. I recognized numerous names in this book from real-life interactions, stories, and conversations among family over the years. There are no other biographies and, to my knowledge, little RBR Sr.-focused historiographical work to compare this biography to. My knowledge of the man comes solely from family-influenced sources: this book and other stories. Consequently, I will not pretend to be unbiased in this review.
Sally Russell shows the reader a man who was hard-working, ambitious, family-oriented, pious, and sacrificial. In the political arena, his hard work and ambition led him to a career through the Georgia state house and various levels of the judicial system until ultimately arriving in the Chief Justice seat of the Georgia Supreme court. He constantly ran for office, including two unsuccessful attempts at the governorship. At home, his hard work, family values, and sacrifices - and, most importantly, his wife Ina - made him the father of 13 children who survived to adulthood and more who died in childbirth or infancy. He always made sure they were provided for and educated. The number of living Russells is now north of 400. Over 100 of us gather every year for a four-day family reunion every June. It's incredible. RBR's legacy in both of these arenas is immense.
"The Judge" was not without his faults, however. Sally Russell shows us that his constant campaigning and judicial jobs in Atlanta and other towns kept him away from home often, leaving Ina and the help - her sisters, his brothers, hired servants, etc. - with a greater burden at home. His drive for making his own name and the Russell name, in general, great came with this cost. Thankfully, he and Ina's marriage remained strong through these challenges. Another fault of his - only mentioned in passing - was his racism. He was truly a man of his time and place in that respect. Regardless, it was wrong.
I think Sally Russell's depiction of her grandfather's life was strongest in its descriptions of Russell family life and RBR's ambition in his career. I came away knowing these family members of a bygone era much better and seeing just how hard he worked and how eager RBR was to climb the ladder and make a name for himself and his family. On the other hand, her depiction of RBR was weakest when it came to explaining the impact he had as a jurist. She mentions how hard he worked as a lawyer and judge, how large of a caseload he got through as a judge, and how respected he was in his field, but says little about the specific impacts he made on the law. More analysis of major cases he argued as a lawyer, decisions he made as a judge, precedents he set, and his judicial philosophy is warranted.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this book a lot for obvious reasons. Many people with an interest in Georgia history and the post-Civil War South - including social history and family life - will find it interesting as well. People not interested in those things will probably be bored, not from Sally Russell's writing style or research, but from subject matter. There's just a lot of family content in here that you either have to be a Russell family member or someone interested in the history of family life or family stories, in general, to appreciate.
Sally Russell shows the reader a man who was hard-working, ambitious, family-oriented, pious, and sacrificial. In the political arena, his hard work and ambition led him to a career through the Georgia state house and various levels of the judicial system until ultimately arriving in the Chief Justice seat of the Georgia Supreme court. He constantly ran for office, including two unsuccessful attempts at the governorship. At home, his hard work, family values, and sacrifices - and, most importantly, his wife Ina - made him the father of 13 children who survived to adulthood and more who died in childbirth or infancy. He always made sure they were provided for and educated. The number of living Russells is now north of 400. Over 100 of us gather every year for a four-day family reunion every June. It's incredible. RBR's legacy in both of these arenas is immense.
"The Judge" was not without his faults, however. Sally Russell shows us that his constant campaigning and judicial jobs in Atlanta and other towns kept him away from home often, leaving Ina and the help - her sisters, his brothers, hired servants, etc. - with a greater burden at home. His drive for making his own name and the Russell name, in general, great came with this cost. Thankfully, he and Ina's marriage remained strong through these challenges. Another fault of his - only mentioned in passing - was his racism. He was truly a man of his time and place in that respect. Regardless, it was wrong.
I think Sally Russell's depiction of her grandfather's life was strongest in its descriptions of Russell family life and RBR's ambition in his career. I came away knowing these family members of a bygone era much better and seeing just how hard he worked and how eager RBR was to climb the ladder and make a name for himself and his family. On the other hand, her depiction of RBR was weakest when it came to explaining the impact he had as a jurist. She mentions how hard he worked as a lawyer and judge, how large of a caseload he got through as a judge, and how respected he was in his field, but says little about the specific impacts he made on the law. More analysis of major cases he argued as a lawyer, decisions he made as a judge, precedents he set, and his judicial philosophy is warranted.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this book a lot for obvious reasons. Many people with an interest in Georgia history and the post-Civil War South - including social history and family life - will find it interesting as well. People not interested in those things will probably be bored, not from Sally Russell's writing style or research, but from subject matter. There's just a lot of family content in here that you either have to be a Russell family member or someone interested in the history of family life or family stories, in general, to appreciate.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review