Russell Long (November 3, 1918 - May 9, 2003) was an American politician who served in the United States Senate as a Democrat from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987. Long was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and received baccalaureate and law degrees from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. He was a naval officer during World War II.
Long was the son of the flamboyant Louisiana Governor and Senator Huey P. Long. Huey Long was succeeded by his wife, Rose McConnell Long, who served about a year in the Senate. When Russell Long was elected in November 1948, he became the only person in U.S. history to have been preceded in the Senate by both his father and his mother. Before he ran for the Senate, Long had served as executive counsel to his uncle, Earl Kemp Long, who returned to the governorship in 1948.
