{{Short description|American politician (1875–1943)}} {{other people|Lee Russell}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lee Maurice Russell | image = Lee M. Russell.jpg | party = Democratic | order1 = 40th | title1 = Governor of Mississippi | term_start1 = January 20, 1920 | term_end1 = January 22, 1924 | lieutenant1 = Homer H. Casteel | predecessor1 = Theodore G. Bilbo | successor1 = Henry L. Whitfield | order2 = 18th | title2 = Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi | term_start2 = January 18, 1916 | term_end2 = January 20, 1920 | governor2 = Theodore G. Bilbo | predecessor2 = Theodore G. Bilbo | successor2 = Homer H. Casteel | office3 = | term3 = | office4 = | term4 = | birth_date = {{birth date|1875|11|16|mf=y}} | birth_place = Lafayette County, Mississippi, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1943|5|16|1875|11|16|mf=y}} | death_place = Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. | profession = Lawyer | spouse = Ethel May Day | term_start3 = January 1912 | term_end3 = January 1916 | state_senate3 = Mississippi State | district3 = 32nd | state_house4 = Mississippi | term_start4 = January 1908 | term_end4 = January 1912 | district4 = Lafayette County | successor3 = James C. Eskridge | predecessor3 = Robert Aaron Dean }}
'''Lee Maurice Russell''' (November 16, 1875 – May 16, 1943) was an American politician from Mississippi.
He was born in Lafayette County, Mississippi, to William Eaton Russell and Louisa Jane (Mackey) Russell, and he later attended the University of Mississippi.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GiI48lqMC3cC |title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi |date=1908 |publisher=Department of Archives and History |pages=1057 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rowland |first=Dunbar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-MoGAQAAIAAJ |title=The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi |date=1912 |publisher=Department of Archives and History |pages=388 |language=en}}</ref> During his time as a student, he was the leader in a movement to abolish Greek fraternities.<ref name=":0" /> Russell graduated from the university in 1901 and enrolled in the University of Mississippi School of Law. After completing the course, he was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Oxford, Mississippi.
Russell was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1907, representing Lafayette County from 1908 to 1912, and he was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1911, representing the 32nd district from 1912 to 1916.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In 1912, he successfully passed a bill prohibiting secret and exclusive societies at the public institutions of higher learning. The law stayed on the books for twelve years.
Russell was elected to the office of lieutenant governor in 1915 and elected governor in 1919. Crop failures due to the boll weevil marked his term. Russell also filed an antitrust suit against several fire insurance companies for their business practices.
In terms of social reform Russell's time as governor was a progressive one. As noted by one historian, “Although Governor Russell was not as successful as previous governors in getting many of his major proposals enacted, the legislature's appropriations for educational and welfare purposes during his tenure set new records.” Higher state funding was provided for a TB sanitarium, an institution to house and treat mentally ill persons, charity hospitals (which included the approval of 3 new ones), and public schools and colleges. Constitutional amendments also provided for pensions for Confederate veterans or their widows, authorized a $2 poll tax on both men and women for education purposes, and a school year of at least 4 months.<ref>Mississippi A History by Westley F. Busbee, P.220</ref> A number of labor laws were also introduced.<ref>[https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/labor-legislation-1912-32-3905/labor-legislation-1920-476857?page=50 Title: Labor Legislation of 1920 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 292, P.51]</ref><ref>[https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/labor-legislation-1912-32-3905/labor-legislation-1922-493001?page=3 Title: Labor Legislation of 1922 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 330, P.23-24]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924054572023&seq=681&q1=Mississippi American labor legislation review v.11-12 1921-1922, P.237]</ref><ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924054572023&seq=681&q1=Mississippi American labor legislation review v.11-12 1921-1922, P.243]</ref>
In 1923, he was sued for seduction and breach of promise by his former secretary Frances Birkhead.<ref>{{cite book|author1-link=David Sansing |last=Sansing |first=David G. |title=The University of Mississippi: A Sesquicentennial History |year=1999 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |oclc=39811709 |page=206 |isbn=9781578060917 }}</ref> Russell was acquitted, and he blamed the lawsuit on the fire insurance industry.
Russell could not run for re-election due to the term limits in the Mississippi constitution. He retired to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. There he sold real estate for a period before returning to Jackson to practice law until his death on May 16, 1943.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ktR1AwAAQBAJ&q=mississippi American Political Leaders 1789–2009]</ref> He is buried at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17946502 Lee M. Russell's grave] at Find-A-Grave * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091020191244/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1d420646cf307010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD Profile] at National Governors Association website
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Theodore G. Bilbo}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Governor of Mississippi|years=1919}} {{s-aft|after=Henry L. Whitfield}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |before=Theodore G. Bilbo |title=Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi |after=Homer H. Casteel |years=1916–1920}} {{succession box |before=Theodore G. Bilbo |title=Governor of Mississippi |after=Henry L. Whitfield |years=1920–1924 }} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of Mississippi}} {{Lieutenant Governors of Mississippi}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Lee M.}} Category:1875 births Category:1943 deaths Category:Democratic Party governors of Mississippi Category:Democratic Party Mississippi state senators Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Category:People from Lafayette County, Mississippi Category:University of Mississippi alumni Category:Methodists from Mississippi Category:American real estate brokers Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature