Russell Billiu Long (November 3, 1918 – May 9, 2003) was an American Democratic politician and United States senator from Louisiana from 1948 until 1987. The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee from 1966 to 1981, Long was instrumental in the implementation of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs. Long also served as Assistant Majority Leader (Senate Majority Whip) from 1965 to 1969, he was referred to as the 'Father of the Earned Income Tax Credit'.
The son of Senators Rose McConnell Long and Huey Long, Russell Long served during the administrations of eight US presidents, from Truman to Reagan. Long quietly wielded enormous power in the Senate and shaped some of the most significant tax legislation of the twentieth century.
As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Long held jurisdiction over 100 percent of all federal revenue and 40 percent of all government spending, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, welfare and food assistance programs, foreign trade, and tariffs. In 1980 he was voted the most effective chairman and most effective debater by his colleagues in a U.S. News & World Report survey. In a 1982 survey, Long was voted the most influential Democrat by his Senate colleagues. The Wall Street Journal once called him "the fourth branch of government." Upon his retirement in 1987, Long had a 75 percent approval rating among Louisiana voters.
Russell Billiu Long was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on November 3, 1918, the son of Huey Long and Rose McConnell Long. Originally named Huey Pierce Long III, his father arrived shortly after his birth and changed his name to Russell. He was named for Russell Billiu, his mother's favorite cousin.
Long received his Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in 1939 and his Bachelor of Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center in 1942. He was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Zeta Zeta chapter). During his undergraduate years, he served as freshman class president, sophomore arts and sciences president and chairman of the sophomore presidents, and student body president. While a student at LSU, Long met and married Katherine Hattic. They had two daughters, Kay and Pamela. In 1969 they divorced and he married Carolyn Bason.
In June 1942, during World War II, Long entered the United States Navy Reserve. He participated in the Allied invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Southern France and commanded a landing craft transport vessel in the first-wave landing at Cavalaire-sur-Mer. He was awarded four campaign medal battle stars for his service. He was discharged as a lieutenant in December 1945. In 1947, he was elected first vice commander of Louisiana's AMVETS organization.
Upon his return from the war, Long practiced law. In 1947, he campaigned for the return of his uncle, Earl Long, to the governorship. When Earl Long took office in 1948, he appointed Russell Long as his executive counsel. Russell Long was elected in 1948 to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created by the death of John Overton, which had been filled temporarily by the appointment of William Feazel. In winning election to the Senate, Long became the only person in U.S. history to be preceded in that chamber by both his father and his mother. He was elected on November 2, 1948, one day before his 30th birthday, and took office on December 31, thus meeting the constitutional requirement that Senators be at least 30 years old upon taking office. Because he had filled a vacancy, Long gained a few days of seniority over others in the Senate class of 1948, including Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey, whose terms began January 3, 1949.
From 1953 to 1987, Long was a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee; he served as its chairman for 15 years, from 1966 until 1981, when Republicans assumed control of the Senate and took over the chairmanships. Long served as President Lyndon B. Johnson's Senate floor leader, helping gain passage of the bills that enacted many of the Great Society programs, including the 1965 creation of Medicare. He served as the Democratic Assistant Majority Leader (whip) from 1965 to 1969. As the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, he served alongside Republican chairmen Bob Dole and Bob Packwood, and was instrumental in the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
In November 1966, Long had a chance encounter on an airplane with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. During the course of conversation, Long expressed his doubts about the Warren Commission, which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald and nobody else killed President John F. Kennedy. This influenced Garrison to open his investigation and led to the trial of Clay Shaw.
Long had an encyclopedic knowledge of the federal tax code. He realized that he could achieve his legislative goals most effectively by attaching his priorities as amendments to tax bills rather than sponsoring legislation under his name. With all federal revenue and forty percent of all government spending controlled by the Senate Finance Committee, Long exercised authority over all major revenue bills and entitlement programs, as well as foreign trade and tariffs. According to biographer Bob Mann, "For almost four decades, no single revenue measure passed through Congress without [Long's] influence."
Long's legislative priorities balanced a desire to help the disadvantaged, while providing tax relief for the middle class and small businesses. He was particularly sensitive to the plight of the elderly poor, and his colleagues referred to Long's various aid proposals as his "grandma amendments."
In 1956, Long led the first major expansion of Social Security to include benefits for the disabled and, later, to their dependents. Long's success in maneuvering the late President John F. Kennedy's major tax reduction bill forward in early 1964 confirmed his reputation as a rising leader.
Long created the earned income tax credit (EITC), the largest and most effective anti-poverty assistance program in the US, which reduces the tax burden on poor working families and rewards work in place of direct welfare payments. In 2016, the EITC lifted an estimate 6.5 million Americans out of poverty, including 3.3 million children. It is credited with reducing the severity of poverty for an additional 21.5 million families, including 7.7 million children. Especially crucial for low-income, single working mothers, the EITC increased lifetime average earnings for less-educated women by 17 percent, leading to long-term income growth in earnings and Social Security income. In 2019, the EITC boosted the incomes of 9 million women of color, who disproportionately benefit from the tax credit.
Long was the architect of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), employee benefit plans designed to allow employees to invest in the stock of their employers and share in the prosperity created by their work. To curb the growing influence of big money in politics, Long created the mechanism for public financing of presidential campaigns, allowing taxpayers to allocate $1 of taxes for a presidential election fund (the "dollar checkoff"). He also championed the Child Support Enforcement Act, requiring unmarried fathers to financially support their children.
During his time in the Senate, Long was a strong champion of certain tax breaks for businesses. He once said, "I have become convinced you're going to have to have capital if you're going to have capitalism." On the other hand, he was aware of some of the political ramifications of "tax reform" and stated that it simply meant, "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree!"
Long was legendary for achieving his legislative priorities by attaching small, yet significant, amendments to tax bills. In 1966, at the request of then-National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle, Long and Representative Hale Boggs used their influence to pass legislation that allowed for the merger of the American Football League and the National Football League (NFL), a provision that Long inserted into a tax bill. Without the legislation, the merger would have been prohibited by anti-trust laws governing monopolies. In exchange for ensuring the passage of the legislation, Long and Boggs requested that Rozelle award the next NFL expansion franchise to New Orleans. Rozelle complied, and Long and Boggs joined Rozelle in announcing on November 1, 1966, that New Orleans had obtained the New Orleans Saints.